The Drive Behind Critical Cooling
Air-cooled heat exchangers, commonly known as fin fans, play a critical role in oil and gas operations. Used across refineries, gas processing facilities, LNG plants, and offshore environments, they help manage process temperatures by driving large fan systems that move heat away from critical equipment and product flows.
Rob Michelson, Product Manager – Belts at Motion, explains that the Gates product is not the heat exchanger itself. It is the belt technology that helps drive the fin fan.
“Fin fans are a cooling system in the oil and gas industry,” he says. “And Gates belts are a key part of their drive systems.”
Built for Demanding Environments
These applications are demanding. Fin fan drives often operate continuously, outdoors, in high temperatures, dust, sand, moisture, and corrosive atmospheres. Access can be difficult, and in remote sites, a failed belt may mean more than a quick repair. It can reduce cooling capacity, trigger unplanned maintenance, and create broader operational risk.
Gates GT4 is the latest generation of Gates belt technology, developed from earlier GT belt platforms and introduced in 2020. For fin fan drives, the benefit is longer service life, improved reliability, and reduced maintenance compared with older belt technologies.
Rosynes Hernandez, Product Manager – Power Transmission at Gates, says the advantage is especially important where maintenance access is difficult.
Reducing Downtime and Drive Costs
“When one of these belts fails, that is downtime the customer has to consider,” she says. “With GT4 or Poly Chain, you can reduce downtime because there is no lubrication and no re-tensioning required.”
Gates GT4 technology also allows some drives to be optimised with narrower belts than older designs, helping reduce overall drive size and cost while still supporting the required power transmission.
For operations currently using V-belts, synchronous belt technology can also provide energy-efficiency benefits through positive drive performance and reduced slip.
Supported by Motion’s technical capability and supply network, Gates fin fan belt solutions help customers select the right drive for the application, maintain cooling reliability, and reduce the risk of unexpected failures.
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