Heat Exchanger
Heat Exchanger
Heat Exchanger
Introduction
A heat exchanger is a component that allows the
transfer of heat from one fluid (liquid or gas) to
.another fluid
:Plate
A plate type heat exchanger, as illustrated in Figure 2,
consists of plates instead of tubes to separate the hot
and cold fluids. The hot and cold fluids alternate
between each of the plates. Baffles direct the flow of
fluid between plates. Because each of the plates has a
very large surface area, the plates provide each of the
fluids with an extremely large heat transfer area.
Therefore a plate type heat exchanger, as compared to
a similarly sized tube and shell heat exchanger, is
capable of transferring much more heat. This is due to
the larger area the plates provide over tubes. Due to
the high heat transfer efficiency of the plates, plate
type heat exchangers are usually very small when
compared to a tube and shell type heat exchanger with
the same heat transfer capacity. Plate type heat
exchangers are not widely used because of the inability
to reliably seal the large gaskets between each of the
plates. Because of this problem, plate type heat
exchangers have only been used in small, low pressure
applications such as on oil coolers for engines.
However, new improvements in gasket design and
overall heat exchanger design have allowed some large
scale applications of the plate type heat exchanger. As
older facilities are upgraded or newly designed
facilities are built, large plate type heat exchangers are
replacing tube and shell heat exchangers and
.becoming more common
Q = U A Tlm∆
o o
(2-2)
(°F
(A = Cross sectional heat transfer area (ft2
o
T = 200°F
1in
T = 145°F
1out
Uo = 70 BTU/hr-ft2-°F
A o = 75ft2
T2 = Represents the cold fluid temperature
T2in = 80°F
T2out = 120°F
(Q = 3.8*105 (BTU/hr
Inserting the above values into the heat transfer
Equation (2-2) for parallel flow heat exchanger yields
.the following result
((Q = (70 (BTU/ hr ft2 F))*(75 (ft2))*(61 (F
Tube Diameter
Low-Finned Tubes
Shell and tube exchangers employ low-finned
tubes (Fig. 3) to increase the surface area on
the shell side when the shell-side heat-transfer
coefficient is low compared to the tube-side
coefficient-for example, when shell-side fluid is
highly viscous liquids, gases, or
condensingvapors. The low-finned tubes are
generally helical or annular fins on individual
tubes.
Tube Length
Number of Tubes
Tube Count
Shell diameter
Outside diameter of the tubes ,ube pitch
Tube layout pattern-square, triangular, rotated
square, or rotated triangular
Clearance between the shell inside diameter
and the tube bundle diameter
3 TUBE ARRANGEMENTS
Tube Layout
BAFFLES
TUBESHEET
SHELLS
Shell-Side Passes
For exchangers requiring high effectiveness,
multipassing is the only alternative. Shell-side
passes could be made by the use of
longitudinal baffles. However, multipassing on
the shell with longitudinal baffles will reduce
the flow area per pass compared to a single
pass on the shell side. This drawback is
overcome by shells is series, which is also
equivalent to multipassing the shell side. For
the case of the overall direction of two fluids in
counter flow, as the number of shell-side
passes is increased to infinity (practically
above four), its effectiveness Approaches that
of a pure counter flow exchanger. In heat
recovery trains and some other applications,
up to six shells in series are commonly used.
Fouling Factor
The performance of heat exchangers usually
deteriorates with time as a result of
accumulation of deposits on heat transfer
surfaces. The layer of deposits represents
additional resistance to heat transfer and
causes the rate of heat transfer in a heat
exchanger to decrease. The net effect of these
accumulations on heat transfer is represented
by a fouling factor Rf , which is a measure of
the thermal resistance introduced by fouling.
The most common type of fouling is the
precipitation of solid deposits in a fluid on the
heat transfer surfaces. You can observe this
type of fouling even in your house. If you
check the inner surfaces of your teapot after
prolonged use, you will probably notice a layer
of calcium-based deposits on the surfaces at
which boiling occurs. This is especially the
case in areas where the water is hard. The
scales of such deposits come off by scratching,
and the surfaces can be cleaned of such
deposits by chemical treatment. Now imagine
those mineral deposits forming on the inner
surfaces of fine tubes in a heat exchanger and
the detrimental effect it may have on the flow
passage area and the heat transfer. To avoid
this potential problem, water in power and
process plants is extensively treated and its
solid contents are removed before it is allowed
to circulate through the system. The solid ash
particles in the flue gases accumulating on the
surfaces of air preheaters create similar
problems. Another form of fouling, which is
common in the chemical process industry, is
corrosion and other chemical fouling. In this
case, the surfaces are fouled by the
accumulation of the products of chemical
reactions on the surfaces. This form of fouling
can be avoided by coating metal pipes with
glass or using plastic pipes instead of metal
ones. Heat exchangers may also be fouled by
the growth of algae in warm fluids. This type of
fouling is called biological fouling and can be
prevented by chemical treatment. In
applications where it is likely to occur, fouling
should be considered in the design and
selection of heat exchangers. In such
applications, it may be
Maintenance
CAUTIONS:
Cost
Pumping Power
Type
Materials
Other Considerations
CHAPTER 23
10
HEAT EXCHANGER APPLICATIONS
:Introduction
Heat exchangers are found in most chemical or
mechanical systems. They serve as the system's means of
gaining or rejecting heat. Some of the more common
applications are found in heating, ventilation and air
conditioning (HVAC) systems, radiators on internal
combustion engines, boilers, condensers, and as pre-
heaters or coolers in fluid systems.
:Pre-heater
In large steam systems, or in any process requiring
high temperatures, the input fluid is usually
preheated in stages, instead of trying to heat it in
one step from ambient to the final temperature.
Pre-heating in stages increases the plant's
efficiency and minimizes thermal shock stress to
components, as compared to injecting ambient
temperature liquid into a boiler or other device
that operates at high temperatures. In the case of a
steam system, a portion of the process steam is
tapped off and used as a heat source to reheat the
feed water in pre-heater stages. Figure 1 is an
example of the construction and internals of a U-
tube feed water heat exchanger found in a large
.power generation facility in a pre-heater stage
:Radiator
Commonly, heat exchangers are
thought of as liquid-to-liquid devices only. But a
heat exchanger is any device that transfers heat
from one fluid to another. Some of a facility's
equipment depends on air-to-liquid heat
.exchangers
The most familiar example of an air-to- liquid heat
exchanger is a car radiator. The coolant flowing in
the engine picks up heat from the engine block and
carries it to the radiator. From the radiator, the
hot coolant flows into the tube side of the radiator
(heat exchanger). The relatively cool air flowing
over the outside of the tubes picks up the heat,
.reducing the temperature of the coolant
(Fig. (2
(Fig. (3
The condenser accomplishes this by cooling the
gas, transferring its heat to either air or water. The
.cooled gas then condenses into a liquid
In the evaporator, the sub cooled refrigerant flows
into the heat exchanger, but the heat flow is
reversed, with the relatively cool refrigerant
absorbing heat from the hotter air flowing on the
outside of the tubes. This cools the air and boils the
.refrigerant
:Large Steam System Condensers
:References
1-
heat exchanger design handbook, Faulkner, Marcel
Dekker, Inc.,NewYork.
-2
http://www.tpub.com/content/doe/h1018v1/css/h1018v1_
69.htm
-3
SCIENCES FUNDAMENTALS OF THERMAL-
FLUID , Yunus A. Çengel, Robert H. Turne
4-
http://www.ittstandard.com/Tools/Library/Upload/Project
6/Heat%20Exchanger%20Installtion%20Operation
%20Maintenance.pdf