CME 341

Heat Transfer
Lecture 11_2
Design of heat exchanger Heat-
Exchanger: Effectiveness
and (NTU)

Dr. Hameed Muhamad

Chemical Engineering Department

College of Engineering

Abu Dhabi University

Heat-Exchanger Effectiveness
The Design Equation for a Heat Exchanger

A typical problem in the analysis of a heat exchanger is the Performance calculation. That is, we are asked , given inlet
conditions to evaluate how the exchanger performs, that is what are the outlet temperatures.

With the equation given above, the solution may be reached only by trial-and-error.

Effectiveness
An alternate approach lies in the concept of exchanger effectiveness, Є.

The effectiveness is defined as the ratio of the actual rate of heat transfer in a given exchanger to the maximum
possible rate of heat transfer.

Є
Overall Energy Balance
• The actual heat transfer is given by the energy balance
(m Cp ΔT)hot = (m Cp Δ T)cold
• The maximum possible temperature rise is the difference between the temperatures of the
two entering streams (Th, in – Tc, in).

• Which fluid undergoes the maximum temperature rise ? Of course, it is the one with the
least heat capacitance

if the hot fluid has the lower value of C, we will have Th,out = Tc,in, and:

On the other hand, if the cold fluid has the lower value of C, then Tc,out = Th,in, and:

Thus, in either case we can write:

(3.22)
where ΔTmax = Th,in – Tc,in is the maximum temperature difference that can be formed from the terminal stream
temperatures.

Now, by definition the effectiveness, Є, is given by:

(3.23)

Thus, the actual heat-transfer rate can be expressed as:

(3.24)

It can be shown that for a given type of exchanger the effectiveness depends on only two parameters, r and NTU, where:

(3.25)

(3.26)

Here, NTU stands for number of transfer units, a terminology derived by analogy with continuous-contacting mass-transfer
equipment. Equations for the effectiveness are available in the literature for various types of heat exchangers.

Equations for equipment configurations involving double-pipe and shell-and-tube exchangers are given in Table 3.6. Their
use is illustrated in the following example.
Example 3.6
Determine the outlet temperatures of the kerosene and gas oil streams when the exchanger of Example 3.5 is first placed in
service.
Solution
We have:

Therefore,
When the exchanger is first placed in service, the overall coefficient will be the clean coefficient computed in
Example 3.5 (neglecting the effect of different average stream temperatures on the overall coefficient). Thus,

From Table 3.6, for a 1-2 exchanger:

where

Thus,

From Equation (3.24) we have:

ΔTmax = Th,in – Tc,in

The outlet temperatures can now be computed from the energy balances on the two streams.

Thus, as expected, the exchanger will initially far exceed the design specification of 250F for the kerosene
outlet temperature.