Chapter One Introduction

Chapter One

Introduction 1.1

A heat exchanger is a device used to transfer energy from two or

more fluids, from a solid surface and a fluid, or from solid particulates
and a fluid, at distinctive temperatures and which are in thermal contact.
Heat exchangers are one of the important engineering devices in process
industries since the efficiency and economy of the process largely depend
on the performance of the heat exchangers (Kvenumadhav et al ., 2017).
Helical coil heat exchangers are always preferred over the straight or shell
type because of its compact size and higher film coefficient. They are most
commonly used in industries like power generation, nuclear industry,
process plant, heat recovery system, chemical process industries etc.
Temperature for exothermic reaction of a reactor can be controlled by
using these heat exchangers. The design of helical coil exchanger is less
expensive. Helical geometry permits the powerful handling at higher
temperatures and higher temperature differentials without any
exceptionally induced stress or expansion of joints. Helical coil heat
exchanger comprises of series of stacked helical coiled tubes and the tube
closures are connected by manifolds, which additionally act as fluid in and
out area. The objective behind constructing a heat exchanger is to get an
effective method of heat exchange starting with one fluid then onto the
next, by direct or indirect contact. Heat transfer occurs in three ways:
conduction, convection and radiation. In helical coil heat exchangers the
heat transfer by radiation is not taken into account as it is much less and
negligible as compared to conduction and convection. Conductive heat

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Chapter One Introduction

transfer can be experienced with a minimum thickness if wall of highly

conductive material. In the performance of a heat exchanger, convection
plays a major role. In natural convection, heat transfer occurs by density
difference in a fluid due to temperature gradient, and hence doesn’t require
any external source like pump, fan or a suction device. Fluid surrounding a
heat source receives heat, becomes less dense and rises up. The fluid that
is surrounding the hot fluid is cooler and then moves in to replace it. In
forced convection, a heat exchanger exchanges the heat from one moving
stream to an alternate stream through the pipe wall. The cooler fluid
absorbs heat from the hooter one as the flow is counter flow. If the cold
fluid moves along the direction of hot fluid it is called parallel flow and if
moves opposite to it, we call that counter flow. (Lalit R. N., 2013)

1.2 Classification of Heat Exchangers

There are many types of heat exchangers. Some of them are. (Kvenumadhav
et al ., 2017).
1. Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger
Shell and tube heat exchangers consist of series of tubes figure (1). One
set of these tubes contains the fluid that must be either heated or cooled.
A set of tubes is called the tube bundle and can be made up of several
types of tubes: plain, longitudinally finned, etc. Shell and tube heat
exchangers are typically used for high-pressure applications

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Chapter One Introduction

Fig (1) : shell and tube heat exchanger.

2. Plate Heat Exchangers

These exchangers are composed of many thin , show in figure (1).
slightly separated plates that have very large surface areas and small fluid
flow passages for heat transfer.In HVAC applications, large heat
exchangers of this type are called plate-and-frame.

Figure (2) : plate heat

exchanger.

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Chapter One Introduction

3. Plate and Shell Heat Exchanger

This type combines plate heat exchanger with shell and tube heat
exchanger technologies figure (3). Plate and shell technology offers high
heat transfer, high pressure, and high temperature. In particular; it does
completely without gaskets, which provides security against leakage at
high pressures and temperatures.

Figure (3): plate and shell heat exchanger

4. Dynamic Scraped Surface Heat Exchanger

This is mainly used for
heating viscosity products,
crystallization fouling
applications show in figure.

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Chapter One Introduction

5. Fluid Heat Exchangers

This is a heat exchanger with a gas passing upwards through a shower of
fluid (often water), and the fluid is then taken elsewhere before being
cooled. This is commonly used for cooling gases whilst also removing
certain impurities, thus solving two problems at once. It is widely used in
espresso machines as an energy-saving method of cooling super-heated
water to use in the extraction of espresso , Show in figure (4).

Figure (4): Heat Exchanger Based Espresso Machine

6. Pillow Plate Heat Exchanger

A pillow plate exchanger is
commonly used in the dairy industry
for cooling milk in large direct-
expansion stainless steel bulk tanks
show in figure . The pillow plate
allows for cooling across nearly the
entire surface area of the tank,
without gaps that would occur
between pipes welded to the exterior
of the tank.

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Chapter One Introduction

7. Plate and Fin Heat Exchanger

This type of heat exchanger uses "sandwiched" passages containing fins
to increase the effectiveness of the unit, figure (7). The designs include
cross flow and counter flow coupled with various fin configurations such
as straight fins, offset fins and wavy fins. Plate and fin heat exchangers
are usually made of aluminium alloys, which provide high heat transfer
efficieney.Plate and fin heat exchangers are mostly used for low
temperature services such as natural gas, helium and oxygen liquefaction
plants, air separation plants and transport industries such as motor and
aircraft engines.

Figure (7) : plate fin heat exchanger

8. Spiral Heat Exchanger

The Spiral Plate Heat Exchanger is actually a family of heat exchangers
based on the basic Type A spiral core. A variety of spiral heat exchangers
can be created by adding or taking away weld-seams and head
arrangements. This versatility makes the spiral attractive to many services
and applications. Figure (8)

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Chapter One Introduction

Figure (8) : Spiral Plate Heat Exchangers

9. Concentric Tube Heat Exchangers

This is the simplest of the optional heat exchangers. It has two tubes, one
inside the other. One tube carries hot fluid, the other carries cold fluid.
Heat transfers between them. Figure (9)

Figure (9) : Concentric tube or Double pipe

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Chapter One Introduction

1.3 Materials Used For Heat Exchangers

A variety of materials are used in the design of tube heat exchangers,
including carbon steel, stainless steel, copper, bronze, brass, titanium and
various alloys. Generally, the outer shell is made of a durable, high strength
metal, such as carbon steel or stainless steel. Inner tubes require an effective
combination of durability, corrosion resistance and thermal conductivity.
Regular materials used in their construction are copper, stainless steel, and
copper/nickel alloy. Other metals are used in device fittings, end bonnets and
heads. (Kvenumadhav et al ., 2017).

1.4 Helical Coil Heat Exchanger

Recent developments in design of heat exchangers to full fill the exchanger
as helical coil has many advantages over a straight tube. (Mr. Ganesh B.
Mhaske ,.2015)

(a) Advantages of Coils

1. Heat transfer rate in helical coil are higher as compared to a straight tube
heat exchanger.
2. Compact structure. It required small amount of floor area compared to
other heat exchangers.
3. Larger heat transfer surface area.

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Chapter One Introduction

(b) Disadvantages of coils : (Kvenumadhav et al ., 2017).

1. For highly reactive fluids or highly corrosive fluid coils cannot be used,
instead jackets are used.
2. Cleaning of vessels with coils is more difficult than the cleaning of shells
and jackets.
3. Coils play a major role in selection of agitation system. Sometimes the
densely packed coils can create unmixed regions by interfering with fluid
flow.
4. The design of the helical tube in tube type heat exchanger is also a bit
complex and challenging.

1.5 Applications of Helical coils

Use of helical coil heat exchangers in different heat transfer applications:

(Kvenumadhav et al ., 2017).

1. Helical coils are used for transferring heat in chemical reactors because
the heat transfer coefficients are greater in helical coils as compared to
other configurations.
2. The helical coils have a compact configuration, and because of that they
can be readily used in heat transfer application with space limitations, for
example, marine cooling systems, central cooling, cooling of lubrication
oil, steam generations in marine and industrial applications.
3. The helical coiled heat exchangers are used widely in food and beverage
industries
4. Helical coil heat exchangers are often used as condensers in used in
HVACs due to their greater heat transfer rate and compact structure.
5. Helical coiled tubes are used extensively in cryogenic industry for the
liquefaction of gases.

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Chapter One Introduction

6. Used in hydro carbon processing, recovery of CO2, cooling of liquid

hydrocarbons, also used in polymer industries for cooling purposes.

1.6 Objective of work

1. In the experimental work, a test rig is designed and built to conduct the
experiments. In the experimental analysis of tube in tube helical coil heat
exchanger find heat transfer rates, LMTD, overall heat transfer coefficient
and Reynolds number, Nusselt number ,for counter flow arrangement.
2. CFD (Ansys 19.2) simulation for helical coil tube in tube heat exchanger
will be carry out.
3. Comparison of experimental and CFD results of tube in tube helical coil heat
exchanger.

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