THE HASHIMITE UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING
Department of Mechanical Engineering

Heat transfer lab Lab. - Exp # (3): Double pipe concentric tube heat exchanger Page 1 of 5



Objective:-
To study the performance and the characteristics of double pipe, water to water,
concentric tube heat exchanger in both parallel and counter flow.

Theory:-
One of the most common, conductive-convective, heat exchanger types is the concentric tube
heat exchanger.
These exchangers are built of coaxial tubes placed the ones inside the others. When both the
fluids enter from the same side and flow through the same direction we have the parallel flow
(concurrent flow), otherwise, if the fluids enter from opposite sides and flow through the
contrary direction we have the countercurrent flow.
Usually the countercurrent flow is more efficient from the heat transfer point of view.
This type of heat exchangers can also be built with the internal tube made with longitudinal fins
which could be placed either in its internal surface or in its external one or both.
This configuration is useful mainly if one of the fluids is a gas or a liquid with a very high
viscosity and it's very difficult to have a good thermal convection coefficient.
The heat transfer from the hot fluid to the cold fluid is given by the following equation:
LMTD A U q =
Where: U is the overall heat transfer coefficient.
A is the internal exchange surface area between the two fluids.
LMTD is a log mean temperature difference, and it's given by
1 2
1 2
ln( / )
T T
T T



T
1
=T
hot in
- T
cold in
T
2
=T
hot out
- T
cold out
for the parallel flow exchanger.
T
1
=T
hot in
- T
cold out
T
2
=T
hot out
- T
cold in
for the counter flow exchanger.


Counter flow

Figure(1): Temperature distribution for counter flow heat exchangers


Exp. # (3)
Double pipe concentric tube heat exchanger
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THE HASHIMITE UNIVERSITY
FACULTY OF ENGINEERING
Department of Mechanical Engineering

Heat transfer lab Lab. - Exp # (3): Double pipe concentric tube heat exchanger Page 2 of 5



Parallel flow

Figure(2): Temperature distribution for parallel flow heat exchangers.
Apparatus:-
The apparatus is a double pipe, water to water heat exchanger test unit with 4m concentric
pipes.
The built in heater includes a series of resistors with fixed and variable heating capacity.



Figure (3): double pipe heat exchanger (Photo)




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THE HASHIMITE UNIVERSITY
FACULTY OF ENGINEERING
Department of Mechanical Engineering

Heat transfer lab Lab. - Exp # (3): Double pipe concentric tube heat exchanger Page 3 of 5





Figure (): double pipe heat exchanger (layout)


Procedure:-

1. Adjust V5 and V6 valves to get the parallel flow circuit.
2. Adjust the hot circuit valve V3 so as to obtain the required flow rate m
hot
with turbulent
rate.
3. Adjust the cold circuit valve V4 so as to obtain the required flow rate m
cold
with
turbulent rate.
4. Wait until the stationary heat flow between the two fluids is obtained and measure the
values of inlet, intermediate and outlet temperature of the two circuits
5. Keep the hot flow rate m
hot
at a constant level; increase the cold flow rate, wait for
steady state then repeat the temperature reading.
6. Repeat same procedure for the counter flow circuit.









www.Husni.net
THE HASHIMITE UNIVERSITY
FACULTY OF ENGINEERING
Department of Mechanical Engineering

Heat transfer lab Lab. - Exp # (3): Double pipe concentric tube heat exchanger Page 4 of 5

Results:-

Flow meters Temperatures (

C)

LMTD
(

C)

U
(W/m
2
K)
Hot
water
(L/hr)
Cold
water
(L/hr)
Hot water Cold water
Inlet
T
1

Middle
T
2

Outlet
T
3

Outlet
T
4

Middle
T
5

Inlet
T
6


320

100

50


320

150

50


320

200

50


320

250

50


Table(1): Parallel flow results

Flow meters Temperatures (

C)

LMTD
(

C)

U
(W/m
2
K)
Hot
water
(L/hr)
Cold
water
(L/hr)
Hot water Cold water
Inlet
T
1

Middle
T
2

Outlet
T
3

Inlet
T
4

Middle
T
5

Outlet
T
6


320

100

50


320

150

50


320

200

50


320

250

50


Table (2): Counter flow results







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THE HASHIMITE UNIVERSITY
FACULTY OF ENGINEERING
Department of Mechanical Engineering

Heat transfer lab Lab. - Exp # (3): Double pipe concentric tube heat exchanger Page 5 of 5

Analysis:-

NOTE: The following analysis should be performed for both parallel and counter flow heat
exchangers.
1. Characteristic curve:
Plot T
hot
versus cold water flow rate.
2. Temperature distribution in heat exchanger.
Plot the average inlet, intermediate and outlet temperatures of the two fluids as a
function of the length of the heat exchanger.
3. Overall heat transfer coefficient U
LMTD A U Q =

LMTD A
Q
U
hot

=

hot pw hot hot
T C m Q =

cold pw cold cold
T C m Q =

cold hot loss
Q Q Q =
Plot U versus cold water flow rate.
Plot Q
loss
versus cold water flow rate
Where:
T
hot
= T
hot water inlet
T
hot water outlet

T
cold
= T
cold water outlet
T
cold water inlet

C
pw
= 4.18 kj/kgK.
A = Internal exchange surface area between the two fluids = 0.226 m
2











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