Patent 8069003 was granted and assigned to Siemens Aktiengesellschaft on November, 2011 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
A method for monitoring the efficiency of a heat exchanger is provided. Heat flows from a first medium into a second medium and an actual heat flow is detected and compared with at least one reference heat flow corresponding to a respectively predetermined degree of soiling of the heat exchanger. Furthermore, a device for controlling a plant having at least one heat exchanger is described. The plant has a storage device storing at least one reference heat flow of the heat exchanger.