Introduction to Heat Exchangers

Course objectives
What are exchangers for?
Exchanger types
How are they specified?
The design task
Hyprotech 2002

Objectives
By the end of the course you will
be familiar with the main exchanger types
know which is likely to be the best type for a given
application
understand what are the key factors in exchanger design
be able to estimate the size and cost of key exchanger
types
have the background necessary to start using
commercial exchanger design software
be an informed purchaser of heat exchangers

Hyprotech 2002

Lecture series
Introduction to heat
exchangers
Selection of the best
type for a given
application
Selection of right
shell and tube
Design of shell and
tube
Hyprotech 2002

Q = U A T

Contents

Why we need heat exchangers

The basics of their design
Some general features of exchangers
Different types of exchanger
The design process

Hyprotech 2002

Example of an exchanger

Bundle for shell-and-tube exchanger

Hyprotech 2002

What are heat exchangers for?

To get fluid streams to the right temperature
for the next process
reactions often require feeds at high temp.

To condense vapours
To evaporate liquids
To recover heat to use elsewhere
To reject low-grade heat
To drive a power cycle

Hyprotech 2002

Feed-effluent exchanger

Feed-effluent
exchanger

Exothermic reaction

Heat recovery
Hyprotech 2002

Distillation
Reflux condenser

Top product
Feed

Column
Reboiler

Hyprotech 2002

Bottom product

Typical crude oil distillation

Naphtha
and gases
Top pump
around

Top pump
around

E2

Bottom
pump
around

Heavy gas oil

E3

E5

Distillation tower

E2

Desalter

Kerosene
Light
gas oil

Heavy
gas oil

Light gas oil

Kerosene

E4
E1

Bottom pump
around

E5
Storage
Hyprotech 2002

Furnace

E6
Reduced crude

Reduced
crude

Power cycle

Steam turbine

Boiler
Hyprotech 2002

Feedwater
heater

Condenser

Q = U A T
yw
Thot
Tcold

We have thermal resistances in series

yw
1
1
1

rcold
rhot
U cold
w
hot
Hyprotech 2002

Heat utilities
Hot utilities
Boiler generating service steam (maybe a
combined heat and power plant)
Direct fired heaters (furnace)
Electric heaters

Cold utilities
Cooling tower (wet or dry) providing service
cooling water
Direct air-cooled heat exchanger
Hyprotech 2002

Thermal integration
or process integration

Reducing the hot and cold utility needs by

interchanging heat between process
streams
If the plant needs are primarily heat,
thermal integration is usually by pinch
technology - Software HX-Net
If the plant is concerned with heat and
work, pinch technology is supplemented
with exergy analysis
Hyprotech 2002

Local and mean values

Overall means from the hot side to the cold
side including all resistances
However it is still at a particular point in the
exchanger: i.e. it is local
Hence you can have a local, overall coefficient
LOCALLY
FOR WHOLE EXCHANGER

Hyprotech 2002

q UT
Q T U m AT Tm

Integrating over the exchanger area

Local equation

Rearranging

and integrating

Hyprotech 2002

dQ
q
UT
dA
dQ
UdA
T
dQ
Q T
T

UdA

AT

dQ
dA

Total area AT

Definitions of mean values

From previous slides

Comparing the two sides

1
1

Tm Q T
Hyprotech 2002

dQ
Q T

Q T
U m AT
Tm
dQ
Q T A UdA
T
T

1
Um
AT

UdA

AT

 Eqn. integrates to
give log. mean
temperature
difference - LMTD

Tm TLM
Hyprotech 2002

Ta Tb

ln( Ta / Tb )

Temperature

Special case where Ts are linear with Q

Ta

Q
Tb

Multipass exchangers

Tm FT TLM
Hyprotech 2002

Temp.

For single-phase duties,

theoretical correction
factors, FT, have been
derived
FT values are less than 1
Do not design for FT less
than 0.8

T1
T2
t2
t1
Q

Typical FT correction factor curves

For shell and tube with 2 or more tube-side passes

Curves are for different values of R

t2 t1
T1 T2
P
;R
T1 t1
t2 t1
Hyprotech 2002

T, t = Shell / tube side

1, 2 = inlet / outlet

Thermal effectiveness
Stream temperature rise divided by the
theoretically maximum possible temperature rise

T1,in

T2,out
Hyprotech 2002

T1,in T1,out
T1,in T2 ,in
T1,out

T2,in

Compactness
Can be measured by the heat-transfer area
per unit volume or by channel size
Conventional exchangers (shell and tube)
have channel size of 10 to 30 mm giving
about 100m2/m3
Plate-type exchangers have typically 5mm
channel size with more than 200m2/m3
More compact types available
Hyprotech 2002

Compactness

Hydraulic diameter, mm
10
1

60

0.1
Human lungs

Special
Car radiator
Plate fin
Plate
Shell-&-tube
100
Hyprotech 2002

1000

m2/m3

10 000

Main categories of exchanger

Heat exchangers

Recuperator
s
Wall
Wall separating
separating streams
streams

Regenerators
Direct contact

Most heat exchangers have two streams, hot

and cold, but some have more than two
Hyprotech 2002

Recuperators/regenerators
Recuperative
Has separate flow paths for each
fluid which flow simultaneously
through the exchanger transferring
heat between the streams
Regenerative
Has a single flow path which the hot
and cold fluids alternately pass
through.

Hyprotech 2002

Rotating wheel

Double Pipe
Simplest type has one tube inside another - inner
tube may have longitudinal fins on the outside

However, most have a

number of tubes in the outer
tube - can have very many
tubes thus becoming a shelland-tube
Hyprotech 2002

Shell and Tube

Typical shell and tube exchanger as used in the process industry

Hyprotech 2002

Shell-side flow

Hyprotech 2002

Complete shell-and-tube

Hyprotech 2002

Plate and frame

Plates hung vertically and
clamped in a press or frame.
Gaskets direct the streams
between alternate plates and
prevent external leakage
Plates made of stainless steel or
higher quality material
Plates corrugated to give points
of support and increase heat
transfer
Hyprotech 2002

Plate types
Corrugations on plate
improve heart transfer
give rigidity
Many points of
contact and a
tortuous flow path
Chevron
Hyprotech 2002

Washboard

General view of
plate exchanger
Plate exchanger
normally refers to
a gasketted plateand-frame
exchanger

Hyprotech 2002

Flow Arrangement within a PHE

Gaskets
arranged for
each stream to
flow between
alternate plates

Alternate plates (often same plate types inverted)

Hyprotech 2002

Air-cooled exchanger
Air blown across finned tubes (forced
draught type)
Can suck air across (induced draught)

Finned tubes
Hyprotech 2002

ACHE bundle

Hyprotech 2002

Plate-fin exchanger

Made up of flat plates (parting sheets) and

corrugated sheets which form fins
Brazed by heating in vacuum furnace
Hyprotech 2002

Can have many streams

7 or more streams are typical

Hyprotech 2002

Typical plate-fin

Hyprotech 2002

Spiral (plate)

Good for streams with large solids

Hyprotech 2002

Cooling Towers
Large shell with packing at the bottom over which
water is sprayed
Cooling by air flow and evaporation
Air flow driven by forced or natural convection
Need to continuously make up the cooling water lost
by evaporation

Hyprotech 2002

 Used for batch heating

or cooling of fluids
An agitator and baffles
promote mixing
A range of agitators are
used
Often used for batch
chemical reaction

Hyprotech 2002

Agitated Vessel

Proprietary types
Types described so far are generic types
These can be made by any company with
necessary skills (no real patent protection)
There are now many special, proprietary
exchangers made by one company or a
small number of companies under licence
One example is the printed circuit
exchanger by Heatric
Hyprotech 2002

Printed circuit heat exchanger

Plates are etched to
give flow channels
Stacked to form
exchanger block
Block diffusion welded
under high pressure
and temperature
Bond formed is as
strong as the metal
itself
Hyprotech 2002

Printed circuit exchanger

Hyprotech 2002

Note that compact does not

mean small but means large
surface area per unit volume

Distribution of types
in terms of market value in Europe

Cooling Towers
9%

Waste Heat
Boilers
5%

Other Heat
Recovery
10%

Air Coolers
10%
Other Proprietary
2%
Other Plate
4%
Plate & Frame
13%
Other Tubular
5%

Hyprotech 2002

Shell & Tube

42%

Preliminary points on selection

Tubes and cylinders can withstand higher
pressures than plates
If exchangers can be built with a variety of
materials, then it is more likely that you can
find a metal which will cope with extreme
temperatures or corrosive fluids
More specialist exchangers have fewer
suppliers, longer delivery times and must be
repaired by experts
S&Ts cannot normally give high thermal
effectiveness,
Hyprotech 2002

Design sequence

Design the process flow flow-sheet

Specify the heat exchanger requirements
Select the best exchanger type for the job
Thermal design of exchanger
Mechanical design of exchanger
Looping back may be necessary at any
stage but can be difficult because of the
project timetable
Hyprotech 2002

Who does what?

Design the process flow flowsheet
Specify the heat exchanger
requirements
Select the best exchanger type
for the job
Thermal design of exchanger
Mechanical design of exchanger

Processor/
end user

Contractor

Manufacturer
Hyprotech 2002

Exchanger specification
Heat load (duty) along with the terminal
temperatures of the streams
Maximum pressure drop each streams
liquids - 0.5 bar
gases/vapours below 2bar - 10% of inlet pressure

Design pressures and temperatures

Size/weight constraints
Standards to apply
General standards like ISO, TEMA, ASME etc
Companies own standards

Other requirements
Hyprotech 2002

The designer must supply an

exchanger which
Meets the stated specification
Has reasonable initial costs and operating
costs (most exchangers are bought on the
basis of the cheapest tender)
Has a reasonable lifetime
no damaging vibration
no thermal fatigue
no unexpected fouling or corrosion

Hyprotech 2002