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Compact Heat Exchanger

A compact heat exchanger has a higher area density than traditional heat exchangers, meaning more surface area for heat transfer in a smaller volume. This allows compact heat exchangers to be smaller, lighter, and use less fluid than traditional heat exchangers while maintaining heat transfer performance. Common types of compact heat exchangers include plate and frame, brazed plate, plate-fin, and spiral heat exchangers.

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170 views4 pages

Compact Heat Exchanger

A compact heat exchanger has a higher area density than traditional heat exchangers, meaning more surface area for heat transfer in a smaller volume. This allows compact heat exchangers to be smaller, lighter, and use less fluid than traditional heat exchangers while maintaining heat transfer performance. Common types of compact heat exchangers include plate and frame, brazed plate, plate-fin, and spiral heat exchangers.

Uploaded by

Danish Baig
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Compact Heat Exchanger

A compact heat exchanger is a heat exchanger with a high area density compared
to traditional heat exchangers (such as the S&T heat exchangers).

The area density is the ratio of heat surface transfer to heat exchanger volume. The
higher it is, the more compact the heat exchanger is: for a given power, it will be
smaller, lighter, and with a much lower fluid charge.

According to the Shah’s definition, for a heat exchanger to be considered compact,


its area density must be greater than if at least one fluid is a gas, or in the case of a
liquid/liquid exchanger.
The compactness of an exchanger can also be defined by its hydraulic diameter,
which must be less than 6 mm.

Advantages of Compact Heat Exchager:

The compactness of a heat exchanger brings many advantages:

 Higher system efficiency


 Better environmental performance
 Easier regulations requirements meeting
 Enhanced thermal performance
 Smaller, space-saving units
 Lighter weight
 Lower fluid/refrigerant charge
Heat Transfer in Compact Heat Exchanger

Higher efficiency, lower refrigerant charge, space-saving, lighter devices of


micropores are some advantages inherent to their nature of high compactness. The
smaller the size of the channels is, the higher the area density is.
The area density is a physical quantity that characterizes the compactness level. It is
defined by ratio of heat transfer surface to heat exchanger volume :

The heat transfer surface plays a key part in the process of the heat exchange
between two fluids. This is the interface where the heat transfer occurs. So, the
heat transfer rate is described by the relation

Q= UAs (Thot – Tcold)

The heat transfer rate is directly proportional to the heat transfer


surface 

The greater the exchange surface is, the more powerful the device is. The
increasing of the heat transfer surface of a device seems to be an easy way to
improve its thermal performance, but has a serious drawback: it increases the
volume of the heat exchanger as well. It means a bigger, heavier heat exchanger
using more fluids. And this a reason why compact heat exchangers are so
interesting: they allow a minimal volume increase for a maximal surface increase.

Reasons for Choosing Compact Heat Exchanger


Types of Compact Heat Exchangers

 Plate and Frame Heat Exchangers


 Brazed Plate Heat Exchangers
 Welded Plate Heat Exchanger
 Plate-Fin Heat Exchangers
 Brazed Plate-Fin Heat Exchangers
 Diffusion-Bonded Plate-Fin Heat Exchangers
 Spiral Heat Exchangers
 Printed Circuit Heat Exchangers
 Plate and Shell Heat Exchangers
 Polymer Heat Exchanger
Disadvantages of Compact Heat Exchangers

1. Fouling can be an issue.


2. Lack of user awareness as choice can also be limited to high pressure
operation.

Plate and Frame Heat Exchangers

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