Cooling to anodising tank

Has anyone tried cooling an anodising tank by enclosing it in a water jacket and refrigerating the water instead of using immersed coils?

There is no reason this will not work, but, two things to remember . . .

1. If you don't insulate the tank you will have far greater heat gain from the surroundings because the outside wall of the tank will be the same temperature as the chilled water rather than the temperature of the anodizing solution.

2. You will have difficulty getting consistent chilled water flow through the jacket. Without good flow, you'll have warm spots where the chilled water is nearly the temperature of the anodizing solution, so you get poor heat transfer; and without good flow you'll have a low heat transfer coefficient.

What you might consider is fabricating the tank out of single-sided commercial cooling coils such as manufactured by Tranter or Mueller.

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey