Shell and tube heat exchanger

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heat exchanger
n.
A device, such as an automobile radiator, used to transfer heat from a fluid on one
side of a barrier to a fluid on the other side without bringing the fluids into direct (Click to
contact. enlarge)
heat
exhanger
Sci-Tech Encyclopedia parallel
Home > Library > Science > Sci-Tech Encyclopedia flow heat
Heat exchanger exhanger
A device used to transfer heat from a fluid flowing on one side of a barrier to (Precision
another fluid (or fluids) flowing on the other side of the barrier. Graphics)
When used to accomplish simultaneous heat transfer and mass transfer, heat exchangers
become special equipment types, often known by other names. When fired directly by a
combustion process, they become furnaces, boilers, heaters, tube-still heaters, and engines. If
there is a change in phase in one of the flowing fluidscondensation of steam to water, for
examplethe equipment may be called a chiller, evaporator, sublimator, distillation-column
reboiler, still, condenser, or cooler-condenser.
Heat exchangers may be so designed that chemical reactions or energy-generation processes
can be carried out within them. The exchanger then becomes an integral part of the reaction
system and may be known, for example, as a nuclear reactor, catalytic reactor, or polymerizer.
Heat exchangers are normally used only for the transfer and useful elimination or recovery of
heat without an accompanying phase change. The fluids on either side of the barrier are
usually liquids, but they may also be gases such as steam, air, or hydrocarbon vapors; or they
may be liquid metals such as sodium or mercury. Fused salts are also used as heat-exchanger
fluids in some applications.
Most often the barrier between the fluids is a metal wall such as that of a tube or pipe.
However, it can be fabricated from flat metal plate or from graphite, plastic, or other
corrosion-resistant materials of construction.
Heat exchangers find wide application in the chemical process industries, including petroleum
refining and petrochemical processing; in the food industry, for example, for pasteurization of
milk and canning of processed foods; in the generation of steam for production of power and
electricity; in nuclear reaction systems; in aircraft and space vehicles; and in the field of
cryogenics for the low-temperature separation of gases. Heat exchangers are the workhorses
of the entire field of heating, ventilating, air-conditioning, and refrigeration. See also
Conduction (heat); Convection (heat); Cooling tower; Distillation; Evaporator; Heat radiation;
Heat transfer; Vapor condenser.

Home > Library > Reference > Britannica Concise Encyclopedia

heat exchanger
Any of several devices that transfer heat from a hot to a cold fluid. In many engineering
applications, one fluid needs to be heated and another cooled, a requirement economically
accomplished by a heat exchanger. In double-pipe exchangers, one fluid flows inside the inner
pipe, and the other in the annular space between the two pipes. In shell-and-tube exchangers,
many tubes are mounted inside a shell; one fluid flows in the tubes and the other flows in the
shell, outside the tubes. Special-purpose devices such as boilers, evaporators, superheaters,
condensers, and coolers are all heat exchangers. Heat exchangers are used extensively in
fossil-fuel and nuclear power plants, gas turbines, heating and air conditioning, refrigeration,
and the chemical industry. See also cooling system.
For more information on heat exchanger, visit Britannica.com.
Architecture

heat exchanger
A device designed to transfer heat between two physically separated fluids; generally consists
of a cylindrical shell with longitudinal tubes; one fluid flows on the inside, the other on the
outside.

heat exchanger
A heat exchanger is a device built for efficient heat transfer from one fluid to another, whether
the fluids are separated by a solid wall so that they never mix, or the fluids are directly
contacted. They are widely used in petroleum refineries, chemical plants, petrochemical
plants, natural gas processing, refrigeration, power plants, air conditioning and space heating.
One common example of a heat exchanger is the radiator in a car, in which a hot engine-
cooling fluid, like antifreeze, transfers heat to air flowing through the radiator.
Flow arrangement

Countercurrent (A) and parallel (B) flows

Heat exchangers may be classified according to their flow arrangement. In parallel-flow heat
exchangers, the two fluids enter the exchanger at the same end, and travel in parallel to one
another to the other side. In counter-flow heat exchangers the fluids enter the exchanger from
opposite ends. The counter current design is most efficient, in that it can transfer the most
heat. See countercurrent exchange. In a cross-flow heat exchanger, the fluids travel roughly
perpendicular to one another through the exchanger.
For efficiency, heat exchangers are designed to maximize the surface area of the wall between
the two fluids, while minimizing resistance to fluid flow through the exchanger. The
exchanger's performance can also be affected by the addition of fins or corrugations in one or
both directions, which increase surface area and may channel fluid flow or induce turbulence.

Fig. 1: Shell and tube heat Fig. 2: Shell and tube heat Fig. 3: Shell and tube heat exchanger,
exchanger, single pass (1-1 exchanger, 2-pass tube side 2-pass shell side, 2-pass tube side (2-
parallel flow) (1-2 crossflow) 2 countercurrent)
Types of heat exchangers
Shell and Tube heat exchanger
A typical heat exchanger, usually for higher-pressure applications, is the shell and tube heat
exchanger which consists of a series of tubes, through which one of the fluids runs. The
second fluid runs over the tubes to be heated or cooled. The set of tubes is called tube bundle,
and may be composed by several types of tubes,: plain, logitudinally finned, etc.
Plate heat exchanger
Another type of heat exchanger is the plate heat exchanger. One is composed of multiple,
thin, slightly-separated plates that have very large surface areas and fluid flow passages for
heat transfer. This stacked-plate arrangement can be more effective, in a given space, than the
shell and tube heat exchanger. Advances in gasket and brazing technology have made the
plate type heat exchanger increasingly practical. In HVAC applications, large heat exchangers
of this type are called plate-and-frame; when used in open loops, these heat exchangers are
normally of the gasketed type to allow periodic disassembly, cleaning, and inspection. There
are many types of permanently-bonded plate heat exchangers such as dip-brazed and vacuum-
brazed plate varieties, and they are often specified for closed-loop applications such as
refrigeration. Plate heat exchangers also differ in the types of plates that are used, and the
configurations of those plates. Some plates may be stamped with "chevron" or other patterns,
where others may have machined fins and/or grooves.
Regenerative heat exchanger
A third type of heat exchanger is the regenerative heat exchanger. In this, the heat from a
process is used to warm the fluids to be used in the process, and the same type of fluid is used
either side of the heat exchanger. (These heat exchangers can be either plate and frame or
shell and tube construction.) Also see: Countercurrent exchange, Regenerator, Economizer
Adiabatic Wheel heat exchanger
A fourth type of heat exchanger uses an intermediate fluid or solid store to hold heat, which is
then moved to the other side of the heat exchanger to be released. Two examples of this are
adiabatic wheels, which consist of a large wheel with fine threads rotating through the hot and
cold fluids, and fluid heat exchangers. This type is used when it is acceptable for a small
amount of mixing to occur between the two streams.
Fluid heat exchangers
This is a heat exchanger with a gas passing upwards through a shower of fluid (often water),
and the water 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's widely
used in espresso machines as an energy-saving method of cooling super-heated water to be
used in the extraction of espresso.
Dynamic Scraped surface heat exchanger
Another type of heat exchanger is called dynamic heat exchanger or scraped surface heat
exchanger. This is mainly used for heating or cooling with high viscosity products,
crystallization processes, evaporation and high fouling applications. Long running times are
achieved due to the continuous scraping of the surface, thus avoiding fouling and achieving a
sustainable heat transfer rate during the process.
Phase-change heat exchangers
In addition to heating up or cooling down fluids in just a single phase, heat exchangers can be
used either to heat a liquid to evaporate (or boil) it or used as condensers to cool a vapor to
condense it back to a liquid. In chemical plants and refineries, reboilers used to heat incoming
feed for distillation towers are often heat exchangers. Distillation set-ups typically use
condensers to condense distillate vapors back into liquid.
Power plants which have steam-driven turbines commonly use heat exchangers to boil water
into steam. Heat exchangers or similar units for producing steam from water are often called
boilers. In the nuclear power plants called pressurized water reactors, special large heat
exchangers which pass heat from the primary (reactor plant) system to the secondary (steam
plant) system, producing steam from water in the process, are called steam generators. All
power plants, fossil-fueled and nuclear, using large quantities of steam have large condensers
to recycle the water back to liquid form for re-use.
In order to conserve energy and cooling capacity in chemical and other plants, regenerative
heat exchangers can be used to transfer heat from one stream that needs to be cooled to
another stream that needs to be heated, such as distillate cooling and reboiler feed pre-heating.
This term can also refer to heat exchangers that contain a material within their structure that
has a change of phase. This is usually a solid to liquid phase due to the small volume
difference between these states. This change of phase effectively acts as a buffer because it
occurs at a constant temperature but still allows for a the heat exchanger to accept additional
heat. One example where this has been investigated if for use in high power aircraft
electronics.
HVAC air coils
One of the widest uses of heat exchangers is for air conditioning of buildings and vehicles.
This class of heat exchangers is commonly called air coils, or just coils due to their often-
serpentine internal tubing. Liquid-to-air, or air-to-liquid HVAC coils are typically of modified
crossflow arrangement. In vehicles, heat coils are often called heater cores.
On the liquid side of these heat exchangers, the common fluids are water, a water-glycol
solution, steam, or a refrigerant. For heating coils, hot water and steam are the most common,
and this heated fluid is supplied by boilers, for example. For cooling coils, chilled water and
refrigerant are most common. Chilled water is supplied from a chiller that is potentially
located very far away, but refrigerant must come from a nearby condensing unit. When a
refrigerant is used, the cooling coil is the evaporator in the vapor-compression refrigeration
cycle. HVAC coils that use this direct-expansion of refrigerants are commonly called DX
coils.
On the air side of HVAC coils a significant difference exists between those used for heating,
and those for cooling. Due to psychrometrics, air that is cooled often has moisture condensing
out of it, except with extremely dry air flows. Heating some air increases that airflow's
capacity to hold water. So heating coils need not consider moisture condensation on their air-
side, but cooling coils must be adequately designed and selected to handle their particular
latent (moisture) as well as the sensible (cooling) loads. The water that is removed is called
condensate.
For many climates, water or steam HVAC coils can be exposed to freezing conditions.
Because water expands upon freezing, these somewhat expensive and difficult to replace thin-
walled heat exchangers can easily be damaged or destroyed by just one freeze. As such, freeze
protection of coils is a major concern of HVAC designers, installers, and operators.
The heat exchangers in direct-combustion furnaces, typical in many residences, are not 'coils'.
They are, instead, gas-to-air heat exchangers that are typically made of stamped steel sheet
metal. The combustion products pass on one side of these heat exchangers, and air to be
conditioned on the other. A cracked heat exchanger is therefore a dangerous situation
requiring immediate attention because combustion products are then likely to enter the
building.
Selection
Due to the many variables involved, selecting optimal heat exchangers is challenging. Hand
calculations are possible, but many iterations are typically needed. As such, heat exchangers
are most often selected via computer programs, either by system designers, who are typically
engineers, or by equipment vendors.
Monitoring and maintenance
Condition monitoring of heat exchanger tubes may be conducted through eddy current
inspection. This is often simulated through the use of computational fluid dynamics or CFD.
A serious problem of some heat exchangers is fouling. As very often cooling water from
rivers or sea is used, a lot of biological debris enters the heat exchanger and build layers,
decreasing the heat transfer coefficient. Another possible problem is scale, which is chemical
deposit layers such as calcium carbonate or magnesium carbonate.
In case of plate heat exchangers they need to be cleaned periodically. To do this they will be
de-assembled and re-assembled. In case of tube heat exchangers there are possibilities like
acid cleaning, bullet cleaning and HydroDrilling. Conco Systems in 1923 originally
devoloped off-line cleaning utilizing bullets to be shot through the heat exchanger tubing
scraping off debris and removing fouling in a single pass. For heat exchangers severely
compromised with fouling material such as oil solids, Conco through their Global HydroDrill
division utilize a drill rod the same size as the heat exchanger (up to 40 feet) to drill through
the deposits.
In large-scale cooling water systems for heat exchangers, water treatment such as purification,
addition of chemicals, and testing, is used to minimize fouling of the heat exchange
equipment. Other water treatment is also used in steam systems for power plants, etc. to
minimize fouling and corrosion of the heat exchange and other equipment.
A variety of companies have started using waterbourne oscillations techology to prevent
biofouling. Without the use of chemicals, this type of technology has helped in providing a
low-pressure drop in heatexchangers. The pioneers of such technology has been "MerusUSA"
if there are issues of bio-fouling causing pressure-drop issues in your heat exchangers.
Heat exchangers in nature
Heat exchangers occur naturally in the circulation system of whales. Arteries to the skin
carrying warm blood are intertwined with veins from the skin carrying cold blood causing the
warm arterial blood to exchange heat with the cold venous blood. This reduces overall heat
loss by the whale when diving in cold waters. Wading birds use a similar system to limit heat
losses from their body through their legs into the water.
In species that have external testes (such as humans), the artery to the testis is surrounded by a
mesh of veins called the pampiniform plexus. This cools the blood heading to the testis, while
reheating the returning blood.
See also
Reboiler
Steam generator (nuclear power)
Heat pump
Architectural engineering
Mechanical engineering
Heat recovery ventilation
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
Heat exchangers
Pressure Equipment Engineering Services, Inc.
Specifying Heat Exchangers
Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger Design Software for Educational Applications (PDF)
EU Pressure Equipment Guideline
A Thermal Management Concept For More Electric Aircraft Power System Application
(PDF)
Mechanical design fundamentals for heat exchangers
Heat transfer fundamentals

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Heat transfer
Heat, a form of kinetic energy, is transferred in three ways: conduction, convection, and
radiation. Heat transfer (also called thermal transfer) can occur only if a temperature
difference exists, and then only in the direction of decreasing temperature. Beyond this, the
mechanisms and laws governing each of these ways are quite different. See also Conduction
(heat); Convection (heat); Heat radiation.
By utilizing a knowledge of the principles governing the three methods of heat transfer and by
a proper selection and fabrication of materials, the designer attempts to obtain the required
heat flow. This may involve the flow of large amounts of heat to some point in a process or
the reduction in flow in others. All three methods operate in processes that are commonplace.
In industry, for example, it is generally desired to extract heat from one fluid stream and add it
to another. Devices used for this purpose have passages for each of the two streams separated
by a heat-exchange surface in the form of plates or tubes and are known as heat exchangers.
The automobile radiator, the hot-water heater, the steam or hot-water radiator in a house, the
steam boiler, the condenser and evaporator on the household refrigerator or air conditioner,
and even the ordinary cooking utensils in everyday use are all heat exchangers. See also Heat;
Heat exchanger.

Industrial Heat Transfer

Heat Transfer Fluids, Expertise System Help, Safety Information
www.paratherm.com/fluids
Heat Transfer Services UK
J&A - high quality transfers and badges with speed and reliability
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In thermal physics, heat transfer is the passage of thermal energy from a hot to a cold body.
When a physical body, e.g. an object or fluid, is at a different temperature than its
surroundings or another body, transfer of thermal energy, also known as heat transfer, occurs
in such a way that the body and the surroundings reach thermal equilibrium. Heat transfer
always occurs from a hot body to a cold one, a result of the second law of thermodynamics.
Transfer of thermal energy occurs only through conduction, convection, radiation or any
combination of these. Heat transfer can never be stopped; it can only be slowed down.
Heat transfer is of particular interest to engineers, who attempt to understand and control the
flow of heat through the use of thermal insulation, heat exchangers, and other devices. Heat
transfer is typically taught as undergraduate and graduate subjects in both chemical and
mechanical engineering curricula.

Heat - a transfer of thermal energy, (i.e., of energy and entropy) from hotter material to cooler
material. Heat transfer may change the internal energy of materials.
Internal Energy the internal vibrational energy that the molecules or electrons composing
all materials contain (except at absolute zero)
Conduction transfer of heat by electron diffusion or phonon vibrations (see below)
Convection transfer of heat by conduction in a moving medium, such as a fluid (see below)
Radiation transfer of heat by electromagnetic radiation or, equivalently, by photons(see
below).

Heat conduction
Conduction is the transfer of thermal energy from a region of higher temperature to a region
of lower temperature through direct molecular communication within a medium or between
mediums in direct physical contact without a flow of the material medium. The transfer of
energy could be primarily by elastic impact as in fluids or by free electron diffusion as
predominant in metals or phonon vibration as predominant in insulators. In other words, heat
is transferred by conduction when adjacent atoms vibrate against one another, or as electrons
move from atom to atom. Conduction is greater in solids, where atoms are in constant contact.
In liquids (except liquid metals) and gases, the molecules are usually further apart, giving a
lower chance of molecules colliding and passing on thermal energy.
Metals(eg. copper) are usually the best conductors of thermal energy. This is due to the way
that metals are chemically bonded: metallic bonds (as opposed to covalent or ionic bonds)
have free-moving electrons and form a crystalline structure, greatly aiding in the transfer of
thermal energy.
Fluids (liquids (except liquid metals) and gasses) are not typically good conductors. This is
due to the large distance between atoms in a gas: fewer collisions between atoms means less
conduction. As density decreases so does conduction. Conductivity of gases increases with
temperature but only slightly with pressure near and above atmospheric. Conduction does not
occur at all in a perfect vacuum.
To quantify the ease with which a particular medium conducts, engineers employ the thermal
conductivity, also known as the conductivity constant or conduction coefficient, k. The main
article on thermal conductivity defines k as "the quantity of heat, Q, transmitted in time t
through a thickness L, in a direction normal to a surface of area A, due to a temperature
difference T [...]." Thermal conductivity is a material property that is primarily dependent on
the medium's phase, temperature, density, and molecular bonding.
A heat pipe is a passive device that is constructed in such a way that it acts as though it has
extremely high thermal conductivity.
Convection
Main articles: convection and convective heat transfer
Convection is a combination of conduction and the transfer of thermal energy by circulation
or movement of the hot particles to cooler areas in a material medium. This movement occurs
from or to a fluid or within a fluid. In solids, molecules keep their relative position to such an
extent that bulk movement or flow is prohibited.
Convection occurs in two forms: natural and forced convection.
In natural convection, fluid surrounding a heat source receives heat, becomes less dense and
rises. The surrounding, cooler fluid then moves to replace it. This cooler fluid is then heated
and the process continues, forming a convection current. The driving force for natural
convection is buoyancy, a result of differences in fluid density when gravity or another body
force is present.
Forced convection, by contrast, occurs when pumps, fans or other means are used to propel
the fluid and create an artificially induced convection current. Forced heat convection is
sometimes referred to as heat advection, or sometimes simply advection for short. But
advection is a more general process, and in heat advection, the substance being "advected" in
the fluid field is simply heat (rather than mass, which is the other natural component in such
situations, as mass transfer and heat transfer share generally the same equations).
In some heat transfer systems, both natural and forced convection contribute significantly to
the rate of heat transfer.
To calculate the rate of convection between an object and the surrounding fluid, engineers
employ the heat transfer coefficient, h. Unlike the thermal conductivity, the heat transfer
coefficient is not a material property. The heat transfer coefficient depends upon the
geometry, fluid, temperature, velocity, and other characteristics of the system in which
convection occurs. Therefore, the heat transfer coefficient must be derived or found
experimentally for every system analyzed. Formulae and correlations are available in many
references to calculate heat transfer coefficients for typical configurations and fluids.
Radiation
Main article: Thermal radiation
Radiation is transfer of heat through electromagnetic radiation. Hot or cold, all objects radiate
energy at a rate equal to their emissivity times the rate at which energy would radiate from
them if they were a black body. No medium is necessary for radiation to occur; radiation
works even in and through a perfect vacuum. The energy from the Sun, travels through the
vacuum of space before warming the earth. Also, the only way that energy can leave earth is
by being radiated to space.
Both reflectivity and emissivity of all bodies is wavelength dependent. The temperature
determines the wavelength distribution of the electromagnetic radiation as limited in intensity
by Planks law of black-body radiation. For any body the reflectivity depends on the
wavelength distribution of incoming electromagnetic radiation and therefore the temperature
of the source of the radiation while the emissivity depends on the wave length distribution and
therefore the temperature of the body itself. For example, fresh snow, which is highly
reflective to visible light, (reflectivity about 0.90) appears white due to reflecting sunlight
with a peak energy wavelength of about 0.5 micron. Its emissivity, however, at a temperature
of about -5C, peak energy wavelength of about 12 microns, is 0.99.
Gases absorb and emit energy in characteristic wavelength patterns that are different for each
gas.
Visible light is simply another form of electromagnetic radiation with a shorter wavelength
(and therefore a higher frequency) than infrared radiation. The difference between visible
light and the radiation from objects at conventional temperatures is small: they are simply
different "colors" of electromagnetic radiation.
Insulation and radiant barriers
Main articles: Thermal insulation and Radiant barrier
Thermal insulators are materials specifically designed to reduce the flow of heat by limiting
conduction, convection, or both. Radiant barriers are materials which reflect radiation and
therefore reduce the flow of heat from radiation sources. Good insulators are not necessarily
good radiant barriers, and vice versa. Metal, for instance, is an excellent reflector and poor
insulator.
The effectiveness of an insulator is indicated by its R- (resistance) value. The R-value of a
material is the inverse of the conduction coefficient (k) multiplied by the thickness (d) of the
insulator. The units of resistance value are in SI units: (Km/W)

Rigid fiberglass, a common insulation material, has an R-value of 4 per inch, while poured
concrete, a poor insulator, has an R-value of 0.08 per inch.[1]
The effectiveness of a radiant barrier is indicated by its reflectivity, which is the fraction of
radiation reflected. A material with a high reflectivity (at a given wavelength) has a low
emissivity (at that same wavelength), and vice versa (at any specific wavelength, reflectivity =
1 - emissivity). An ideal radiant barrier would have a reflectivity of 1 and would therefore
reflect 100% of incoming radiation. Vacuum bottles (Dewars) are 'silvered' to approach this.
In space vacuum, satellites use multi-layer insulation which consists of many layers of
aluminized (shiny) mylar to greatly reduce radiation heat transfer and control satellite
temperature.
Heat exchangers
Main article: Heat exchanger
A Heat exchanger is a device built for efficient heat transfer from one fluid to another,
whether the fluids are separated by a solid wall so that they never mix, or the fluids are
directly contacted. Heat exchangers are widely used in refrigeration, air conditioning, space
heating, power production, and chemical processing. One common example of a heat
exchanger is the radiator in a car, in which the hot radiator fluid is cooled by the flow of air
over the radiator surface.
Common types of heat exchangers include parallel flow, counter flow, cross flow, shell and
tube, and plate heat exchangers.
Heat transfer in education
Heat transfer is typically studied as part of a general chemical engineering or mechanical
engineering curriculum. Typically, thermodynamics is a prerequisite to undertaking a course
in heat transfer, as the laws of thermodynamics are essential in understanding the mechanism
of heat transfer. Other courses related to heat transfer include energy conversion, thermofluids
and mass transfer.
Heat transfer methodologies are used in the following disciplines, among others:
Automotive engineering
Thermal management of electronic devices and systems
HVAC
Insulation
Materials processing
Power plant engineering
See also
Heat
Thermal contact conductance
Thermal insulation
Thermal physics
Thermal science
Heat transfer mechanisms
Other fundamental engineering topics
Analysis of resistive circuits
Dynamics
Thermodynamics
Fluid dynamics
Engineering economics
Materials science
Strength of materials
Statics
References
^ Two websites: E-star and Coloradoenergy
Additional information from:
Welty, J., Wicks, Charles, E. & Wilson, R. (1984). Fundamentals of Momentum, Heat, and
Mass Transfer. New York: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 0-471-87497-3
Related Journals
Heat Transfer Engineering[1]
Experimental Heat Transfer[2]
International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer[3]
ASME Journal of Heat Transfer[4]
Numerical Heat Transfer Part A[5]
Numerical Heat Transfer Part B[6]
Nanoscale and Microscale Thermophysical Engineering[7]
External links
Heat Transfer Podcast - Arun Majumdar - Department of Mechanical Engineering -
University of California, Berkeley
Heat Transfer Basics - Overview
A Heat Transfer Textbook - Downloadable textbook (free)
Hyperphysics Article on Heat Transfer - Overview
Heat transfer fundamentals

http://www.answers.com/topic/heat-transfer-1?cat=technology

Log mean temperature difference

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The log mean temperature difference (LMTD) is used to determine the temperature driving force for
heat transfer in flow systems (most notably in heat exchangers). The LMTD is a logarithmic average of
the temperature difference between the hot and cold streams at each end of the exchanger.

For Countercurrent flows (i.e. where the hot stream,liquid or gas, goes from say left to right, and the
cold stream, again liquid or gas goes from right to left), is given by the following equation:

And for Co-current flows (i.e. where the hot stream,liquid or gas, goes from say left to right, and so
does the cold stream), is given by the following equation:

Hot Stream Inlet Temp.

Hot Stream Outlet Temp.
 Cold Stream Inlet Temp.
Cold Stream Outlet Temp.

It makes no difference which temperature differential is 1 or 2 as long as you're consistent in your

nomenclature. The larger the LMTD, the faster heat transfers.
A heat exchanger is a device built for efficient heat transfer from one fluid to another, whether the
fluids are separated by a solid wall so that they never mix,

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http://www.cheresources.com/heat_transfer_basics.shtml
Heat transfer is one of the most important industrial processes. Throughout any industrial facility, heat
must be added, removed, or moved from one process stream to another. Understanding the basics of
the heart of this operation is key to any engineers mastery of the subject. There are three basic types
of heat transfer: conduction, convection, and radiation. The two most common forms encountered in
the chemical processing industry are conduction and convection. This course will focus on these key
types of heat transfer.

Any overall energy balance starts with the following equations:

(1)

(2)

Where:

Q = heat transferred in thermal unit per time (Btu/h or kW)

M = mass flow rate

T = temperature

Cp = heat capacity or specific heat of fluid

Subscript H = hot fluid

Subscript C = cold fluid

In theory, the heat given up by the hot fluid is never exactly equal to the heat gained by the cold fluid
due to environmental heat losses. In practice, however, they are generally assumed to be equal to
simplify the calculations involved. Any environmental losses are generally minimized with insulation of
equipment and piping.
When examining industrial systems, it is common practice to use a graphical form of these equations
know as T-Q diagrams to enhance understanding and to make sure that the Second Law of
Thermodynamics is not disobeyed. In other words, heat can only move from a higher to a lower
temperature fluid. Here is how the generic diagram is constructed:

Its easy to see how viewing a particular heat transfer problem in this way is extremely valuable.

Now thats weve seen how heat moves from a hot fluid to a cold fluid, lets examine the third basic
equation that is used to govern the equipment used for transferring heat.

The Heat Exchanger Equation takes the form:

(3)

Where:

Q = heat transferred in thermal unit per time (Btu/h)

f = temperature correction factor

U = overall heat transfer coefficient (Btu/h ft2 F)

A = heat transfer area (ft2)

LMTD = log mean temperature difference

These three (3) equations are the basis for virtually all heat exchanger design.

Examining the Heat Exchanger Equation

If we take a closer look at the heat exchanger equation, its worth noting some assumptions that are
made in its derivation. First, the overall heat transfer coefficient and the specific heat (also called heat
capacity) of the fluids are assumed to remain constant through the heat exchanger.

If we look at the change in the heat capacity of water, for example, over a reasonable temperature
range, here is what we find:

Specific heat of water at 100 F and atmospheric pressure = 0.9979 Btu / lb F

Specific heat of water at 210 F and atmospheric pressure = 1.0066 Btu / lb F

So, we can see that this is a fairly reasonable assumption for water and it remains reasonable for
most industrial fluids. The specific heat of a substance is defined as the amount of heat required to
raise the temperature of one pound of the substance by a single degree Fahrenheit (other units can
apply as well).

The overall heat transfer coefficient is a calculated variable based on the physical properties of the
fluids involved in the heat transfer (hot and cold) as well as the geometry and type of heat exchanger
to be used. Well examine this closer a little later.

The log mean temperature difference or LMTD is used to describe the average temperature difference
throughout the exchanger. The difference between the temperatures of the fluids provides the driving
force for the heat transfer to occur. The larger the temperature difference, the smaller the required
heat exchanger and vice versa.

Youll notice from our T-Q diagram used to explain the equations:

(1)

(2)

that it appears that the temperature difference between the fluids remains almost constant throughout
the heat exchanger. This is rarely the case. Lets look at a more practical example. Lets assume
that a process stream containing water at 200 F is to be cooled to 150 F using cooling tower water
available at 85 F. It is common practice in industry to return cooling tower no higher than 120 F. In
other words, the cooling tower water flow must be such that its outlet temperature from the heat
exchanger is less than 120 F. The reason for this is that cooling tower water often contains treatment
chemicals that can plate out onto heat transfer surfaces and cause severe fouling or degradation of
the heat transfer rate at elevated temperatures.

Here is what the T-Q diagram may look like for our example case:

You can see that the temperature difference between the two streams will vary widely. This is why the
log mean temperature difference is used. Here is how the log mean temperature difference works:
So, for a heat exchanger as described above, we calculate the LMTD as follows:

(4)

There can be special cases where the LMTD equation shown above is not applicable. Consider the
case below.

If you tried apply the LMTD equation to this special case, youd find that the result would be zero. In
this case the LMTD is the same as the temperature difference on each end of the heat exchanger, or
100 F.

A Brief Word on Flow Direction

Notice that up to this point, the two fluids considered in a heat exchanger have been moving in
opposite directions to one another. This is known as counter-current flow. This is the predominantly
preferred flow direction because it results in higher temperature difference driving forces within the
heat exchanger, thus minimizing the heat transfer area required.

The other flow configuration, where the fluids flow in the same direction, is called co-current flow. Co-
current flow, while it is rarely used, does have the advantage of lowering the heat exchanger wall
temperature on the hot side fluid. This can be useful for temperature sensitive fluids or as a means of
minimizing deposits that are temperature sensitive.
The Temperature Correction Factor, f

The temperature correction factor, f, is used to correct the log mean temperature difference for heat
exchangers than lack truly counter-current flow. Many different heat transfer technologies lack truly
counter-current flow patterns as a result of their inherent mechanical design. Generally, the value for f
should be between 0.75 of 0.97. There are cases when this value can be taken as one, but only if the
flow in the exchanger is purely counter-current. There are countless charts available to look up the
temperature correction factor for a given configuration.

The Overall Heat Transfer Coefficient

The overall heat transfer coefficient describes the rate of heat transfer in the heat exchanger.
Generically, it is described by the following equation:

(5)

Where:

U = overall heat transfer coefficient (Btu / h ft 2 F)

hH = hot side heat transfer coefficient

hC = cold side heat transfer coefficient

Delta x = exchanger wall thickness

k = exchanger wall material thermal conductivity

Rf = fouling coefficient (h ft2 F / Btu)

The equation for the overall heat transfer coefficient is often reduced to the following:

(6)

because the term Delta x / k seldom has any significant impact on the overall U-value.

The overall heat transfer coefficient can either be calculated, looked up in reference materials for a
given duty, estimated from past plant experience, or supplied by a heat exchanger vendor.

Brief Overview of Heat Exchanger Types

In the chemical processing industry, there are numerous types of heat exchanger devices. The types
of exchangers can be classified by the duty that they perform, surface compactness, construction
features, flow arrangements, and others. In general, a heat exchanger can fall into one of these
processing categories:
No Phase Change

Liquid to Liquid heat transfer

Liquid to Gas heat transfer

Gas to Gas heat transfer

Phase Change

Condensing a vapor with a liquid or gas service fluid

Vaporizing a liquid with a liquid, gas, or condensing fluid

Heat exchangers can also be broken down into the following two types of mechanical geometries:

Shell and Tube Heat Exchangers

Compact and Extended Surface Heat Exchangers

Approximately 70-80% of the heat exchanger market is dominated by the shell and tube type heat
exchanger. It is largely favored due to its long performance history, relative simplicity, and its wide
temperature and pressure design ranges. We will explore this technology in further detail later.

The second category mentioned, compact and extended surface heat exchangers, play a smaller role
in the chemical processing industry. Some of the available technologies that fit into this category are
the plate and frame heat exchanger, finned tube heat exchangers, spiral heat exchangers, fin-fan heat
exchangers, and many others.

Compact Heat Exchanger Technologies

The plate exchanger, shown below, consists of corrugated plates assembled into a frame. The hot
fluid flows in one direction in alternating channels while the cold fluid flows in true countercurrent flow
in the opposite alternating channels. The fluids are directed into their proper channels either by a
rubber gasket or a weld depending on the type of exchanger chosen.

Traditionally, plate and frame exchangers have been used almost exclusively for liquid to liquid heat
transfer. Today, many variations of the plate technology have proven useful in applications where a
phase change occurs as well. This includes condensing duties as well as vaporization duties. Plate
heat exchangers are best known for having overall heat transfer coefficients (U-values) in excess of 3-
5 times the U-value in a shell and tube designed for the same service.

Plate exchangers can be especially attractive when more expensive materials of construction are
required. The significantly higher U-value results in far less area for a given application, thus a lower
purchased and installed cost due to its relatively small size. The higher U-values are gained by
inducing extremely high wall shear on the plate surface. The best way to think of a plate heat
exchanger is that it is essentially a static mixer that happens to transfer heat very well. The plate
exchanger, by virtue of its high wall shear stress also minimizes fouling very well.

Typical plate thicknesses range from 0.40 mm to 0.60 mm and passage channel openings can range
from 1.5 mm up to 11.0 mm depending on the application and required design pressure (the larger the
opening, the lower the design pressure available). These small passages also restrict the size of
solids that can be successfully passed through the exchanger.
Perhaps the biggest advantage of the plate and frame heat exchanger, and a situation where it is
most often used, is when the heat transfer application calls for the cold side fluid to exit the exchanger
at a temperature significantly higher than the hot side fluid exit temperature. This situation is best
explained with another set of T-Q diagrams:

Duty 1 shown above is easily accomplished in a single and tube heat exchanger.
Duty 2 shows a severe temperature cross or the cold side fluid exiting higher than the hot side fluid. This would
require several shell and tube exchangers in series due to the lack of purely counter-current flow. On the other hand,
this duty is easily accomplished in a single plate and frame heat exchanger.

Finned tube heat exchangers are commonly used to transfer heat between a gas and liquid. The tubes used in these
units are equipped with fins that extend outward from the tubes as shown below.

The fins on the tubes allow for a much larger surface area to be packed into a small volume. This is especially
important when transferring heat to or from a gas as gasses have extremely low heat transfer coefficients (meaning
that large amounts of area are required).

Fin-fan heat exchangers are designed to use air to cool process fluids. Think of them as a giant radiator. The
process fluid is passed through the coils and a fan helps pull air over the outside surface to promote cooling. These
units again must provide a very large surface area to make up for the poor heat transfer of the air.
Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger Technologies

Shell and tube heat exchangers are known as the work-horse of the chemical process industry when it comes to
transferring heat. These devices are available in a wide range of configurations as defined by the Tubular Exchanger
Manufacturers Association (TEMA, www.tema.org). In essence, a shell and tube exchanger is a pressure vessel with
many tubes inside of it. One process fluids flows through the tubes of the exchanger while the other flows outside of
the tubes within the shell. The tube side and shell side fluids are separated by a tube sheet.

The shell and tube type is usually indicated as a three (3) letter code from the TEMA specifications shown below:
The shell side of a shell and tube exchanger usually contains baffles as shown above to direct the shell side flow
around the tubes to enhance heat transfer. As you can see, shell and tube exchangers can be configured for liquid-
liquid, gas-liquid, condensing, or vaporizing heat transfer.
The tubes can be a different material than shell and the shell can either be cladded or of solid construction. Its
impossible to go over all of the mechanical details of the shell and tube here, but this should provide you with a
general overview of the construction. There are numerous other sources of information freely available on these types
of units.

The tubes and shell can be designed for a variety of design temperatures and pressures.

The thermal design of shell and tube heat exchangers is often performed by vendors. The process engineer generally
completes a TEMA specification sheet and submits it to vendors for bids. If youre interested in more details on the
thermal design aspects of shell and tube heat exchangers, you can visit Wolverine Engineerings website at:

http://www.wlv.com/products/databook/databook.pdf

This online design manual is extremely well done and is a valuable, freely available resource.

There are well documented sources of estimated overall heat transfer coefficients and fouling factors that can be
specified. Fouling factors are historic safety factors that allow for the oversizing of a shell and tube in anticipation of
eventual surface build-up that will form a resistance to heat transfer. Remember, the overall heat transfer coefficient
of a new heat exchanger will slowly degrade over time until it levels off to what is known as the service U-value.
This is the actual rate of a heat transfer that the unit will achieve on a nominal basis. The combination of a well
selected U-value and a fouling factor should ensure a good shell and tube design. Typical U-values for various
services and fouling factors can be found on the internet or in various text references.

Included with this course is a MS Excel spreadsheet that can be downloaded and used to specify heat transfer
equipment. There is a version which uses U.S. Customary units as well as a version which employs SI units.

Understanding the basics of industrial heat transfer will help you better understand opportunities for cost savings in
your plant. With energy prices showing no sign of declining, a good basis in heat transfer will help you calculate just
how much you can save by installing a new heat exchanger in your plant. With the use a T-Q diagram and a basic
understanding of the equipment available to you, making the right choice in heat transfer equipment can yield results
for years to come.

By: Christopher Haslego, Owner and Chief Webmaster (read the author's Profile)

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 Heat Transfer
The transfer of heat is normally from a high temperature object to a lower
temperature object. Heat transfer changes the internal energy of both systems
involved according to the First Law of Thermodynamics.

Heat transfer from a cold to a hotter region

Radiation cooling
time

Heat Conduction
Conduction is heat transfer by means of molecular agitation within a material
without any motion of the material as a whole. If one end of a metal rod is at
a higher temperature, then energy will be transferred down the rod toward the
colder end because the higher speed particles will collide with the slower
ones with a net transfer of energy to the slower ones. For heat transfer
between two plane surfaces, such as heat loss through the wall of a house, the
rate of conduction heat transfer is:

Calculation

= heat transferred in time =

= thermal conductivity of the barrier

 = area

= temperature

= thickness of barrier

Thermal conductivity table

Discussion of thermal conductivity
Home heat loss by conduction.

Heat Convection
Convection is heat transfer by mass motion of a fluid such as air or water
when the heated fluid is caused to move away from the source of heat,
carrying energy with it. Convection above a hot surface occurs because hot
air expands, becomes less dense, and rises (see Ideal Gas Law). Hot water is
likewise less dense than cold water and rises, causing convection currents
which transport energy.
 Convection can also lead to
circulation in a liquid, as in
the heating of a pot of water
over a flame. Heated water
expands and becomes more
buoyant. Cooler, more dense
water near the surface
descends and patterns of
circulation can be formed,
though they will not be as
regular as suggested in the
drawing.

Convection cells are visible in the

heated cooking oil in the pot at left.
Heating the oil produces changes in
the index of refraction of the oil,
making the cell boundaries visible.
Circulation patterns form, and
presumably the wall-like structures
visible are the boundaries between
the circulation patterns.

Convection is thought to play a

major role in transporting energy
from the center of the Sun to the
surface, and in movements of the
hot magma beneath the surface of
the earth. The visible surface of
the Sun (the photosphere) has a
granular appearance with a
typical dimension of a granule
being 1000 kilometers. The
image at right is from the NASA
Solar Physics website and is
credited to G. Scharmer and the
Swedish Vacuum Solar
Telescope. The granules are
described as convection cells
which transport heat from the
interior of the Sun to the surface.

In ordinary heat transfer on the Earth, it is difficult to quantify the effects of

convection since it inherently depends upon small nonuniformities in an
otherwise fairly homogeneous medium. In modeling things like the cooling of
the human body, we usually just lump it in with conduction.
http://www.answers.com/topic/chiller
chiller

York International water-cooled chiller.

A chiller is a machine that removes heat from a liquid via a vapor-compression or absorption
refrigeration cycle. Most often water is chilled, but this water may also contain ~20% glycol
and corrosion inhibitors; other fluids such as thin oils can be chilled as well.

Chilled water is used to cool and dehumidify air in mid- to large-size commercial, industrial,
and institutional (CII) facilities. Most chillers are designed for indoor operation, but a few are
weather-resistant. Chillers are precision machines that are very expensive to purchase and
operate, so great care is needed in their selection and maintenance. Engineers are normally
retained to evaluate applications' cooling needs, and to specify the optimal machines.

Use in air conditioning

In air conditioning systems, chilled water is distributed to heat exchangers, or coils, in air
handling units, and used water is returned to the chiller. These cooling coils transfer sensible
heat and latent heat from the air to the chilled water, thus cooling and usually dehumidifying
the air stream. A typical chiller for air conditioning applications is rated between 15 to 1500
tons (180,000 to 18,000,000 BTU/h or 53 to 5,300 kW) in cooling capacity.

Use in industry
In their industrial application, cooled water or other liquid from the chiller is pumped through
process or laboratory equipment. Industrial chillers are used for controlled cooling of
products, mechanisms and factory machinery in a wide range of industries. They are often
used in the plastic industry in injection and blow molding, metal working cutting oils, welding
equipment, die-casting and machine tooling, chemical processing, pharmaceutical
formulation, food and beverage processing, vacuum systems, X-ray diffraction, power
supplies and power generation stations, analytical equipment, semiconductors, compressed air
and gas cooling. They are also used to cool high-heat specialized items such as MRI machines
and lasers.
The chillers for industrial applications can be centralized, where multiple chillers serve
multiple cooling needs, or decentralized where each application or machine has its own
chiller. Each approach has its advantages. It is also possible to have a combination of both
central and decentral chillers, especially if the cooling requirements are the same for some
applications or points of use, but not all.

Decentral chillers are usually small in size (cooling capacity), usually from 0.2 tons to 10
tons. Whereas central chillers start at about 10 tons, but are commonly hundreds to thousands
of tons in capacity..

Technology
There are basically five different types of chillers: Reciprocating compression, scroll
compression, screw-driven compression, and centrifugal compression are all mechanical
machines that can be powered by electric motors, steam, or gas turbines. They produce their
cooling effect via the "reverse-Rankine" cycle, also known as 'vapor-compression'. With
evaporative cooling heat rejection, their coefficients-of-performance (COPs) are very high
and typically 4.0 or more.

Absorption chillers' thermodynamic cycle are driven by heat source; this heat is usually
delivered to the chiller via steam, hot water, or combustion. Compared to electrically powered
chillers, they have very low electrical power requirements - very rarely above 15 kW
combined consumption for both the solution pump and the refrigerant pump. However, their
heat input requirements are large, and their COPs are often 0.5 (single-effect) to 1.0 (double-
effect). For the same tonnage capacity, they require much larger cooling towers than vapor-
compression chillers. However, absorption chillers, from an energy-efficiency point-of-view,
excel where cheap, high grade heat or waste heat is readily available. In extremely sunny
climates, solar energy has been used to operate absorption chillers.

Chillers can be air-cooled or water-cooled. Water-cooled chillers incorporate the use of

cooling towers which improve the chillers' thermodynamic effectiveness as compared to air-
cooled chillers. This is due to heat rejection at or near the air's wet-bulb temperature rather
than the higher, sometimes much higher, dry-bulb temperature.

Where available, cold water readily available in nearby water bodies might be used directly
for cooling, or to replace or supplement cooling towers. The Deep Lake Water Cooling
System in Toronto, Canada, is an example. It dispensed with the need for cooling towers, with
a significant cut in carbon emissions and energy consumption. It uses cold lake water to cool
the chillers, which in turn are used to cool city buildings via a district cooling system. The
return water is used to warm the city's drinking water supply which is desirable in this cold
climate. Whenever a chiller's heat rejection can be used for a productive purpose, in addition
to the cooling function, very high thermal effectivenesses are possible.

Industrial chiller technology

Industrial chillers typically come as complete packaged closed-loop systems, including the
chiller unit, condenser, and pump station with recirculating pump, expansion valve, no-flow
shutdown, internal cold water tank, and temperature control. The internal tank helps maintain
cold water temperature and prevents temperature spikes from occurring. Closed loop
industrial chillers recirculate a clean coolant or clean water with condition addititives at a
constant temperature and pressure to increase the stability and reproducibility of water-cooled
machines and instruments. The water flows from the chiller to the application's point of use
and back.

If the water temperature differentials between inlet and outlet are high, then a large external
water tank would be used to store the cold water. In this case the chilled water is not going
directly from the chiller to the application, but goes to the external water tank which acts as a
sort of "temperature buffer." The cold water tank is much larger than the internal water tank.
The cold water goes from the external tank to the application and the return hot water from
the application goes back to the external tank, not to the chiller.

The less common open loop industrial chillers control the temperature of a liquid in an open
tank or sump by constantly recirculating it. The liquid is drawn from the tank, pumped
through the chiller and back to the tank. An adjustable thermostat senses the makeup liquid
temperature, cycling the chiller to maintain a constant temperature in the tank.

One of the newer developments in industrial water chillers is the use of water cooling instead
of air cooling. In this case the condenser does not cool the hot refrigerant with ambient air, but
uses water cooled by a cooling tower. This development allows a reduction in energy
requirements by more than 15% and also allows a significant reduction in the size of the
chiller due to the small surface area of the water based condenser and the absence of fans.
Additionally, the absence of fans allows for significantly reduced noise levels.

Most industrial chillers use refrigeration as the media for cooling, but some rely on simpler
techniques such as air or water flowing over coils containing the coolant to regulate
temperature. Water is the most commonly used coolant within process chillers, although
coolant mixtures (mostly water with a coolant additive to enhance heat dissipation) are
frequently employed.

Industrial chiller selection

Important specifications to consider when searching for industrial chillers include the power
source, chiller IP rating, chiller cooling capacity, evaporator capacity, evaporator material,
evaporator type, condenser material, condenser capacity, ambient temperature, motor fan
type, noise level, internal piping materials, number of compressors, type of compressor,
number of fridge circuits, coolant requirements, fluid discharge temperature, and COP (the
ratio between the cooling capacity in KW to the energy consumed by the whole chiller in
KW). For medium to large chillers this should range from 3.5-4.8 with higher values meaning
higher efficiency.

Process pump specifications that are important to consider include the process flow, process
pressure, pump material, elastomer and mechanical shaft seal material, motor voltage, motor
electrical class, motor IP rating and pump rating. If the cold water temperature is lower than
5C, then a special pump needs to be used to be able to pump the high concentrations of
ethylene glycol. Other important specifications include the reservoir capacity and full load
amperage.
Control panel features that should be considered when selecting between industrial chillers
include the local control panel, remote control panel, fault indicators, temperature indicators,
and pressure indicators.

Additional features include emergency alarms, hot gas bypass, city water switchover, and
casters.

Refrigerants
A vapor-compression chiller uses internally a refrigerant as its working fluid. Many
refrigerants are, and have been available; when selecting a chiller, the cooling need and
refrigerant's cooling characteristics need to be matched. Important parameters to consider are
the operating temperatures and pressures. Also, the ozone depletion potential (ODP) and
global warming potential (GWP) of the refrigerant need to be considered. R-12, now banned
chloroflorocarbon (CFC), has an ODP of 1.0. Newer R-134a has a zero ozone depletion factor
and a low global warming potential of 1300; other refrigerants like R-404a and R-507a have a
global warming potential of above 3200 each.

See also

http://web.mit.edu/lienhard/www/download-ahtt.shtml