Heat Exchangers

A heat exchanger is used to exchange heat between two

fluids of different temperatures, which are separated by a
solid wall.

Applications in heating and air conditioning, power
production, waste heat recovery, chemical processing,
food processing, sterilization in bio-processes.

Heat exchangers are classified according to flow
arrangement and type of construction.


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HEX Classification According to Flow Arrangement
double pipe heat exchanger
Configuration of an induced-draft air-cooled
heat exchanger
Task

Heat Exchanger Sizing
Given: inlet and outlet temperatures and flow rates of
the two fluids.
Find: Surface area of heat exchanger

Heat Exchanger Rating
Given: flow rates, inlet temperatures and surface area of
heat exchanger.
Find: heat transfer rate, fluid outlet temperatures.
5/24/2011 5
Heat Exchanger Analysis
In a two-fluid heat exchanger, consider the hot and cold fluids separately:
) (
) (
, , ,
, , ,
i c o c c p c c
o h i h h p h h
T T c m q
T T c m q
=
=

lm
T UA q A = and

The usual design goal is to determine the required area A for a heating
duty q
Need to determine U and AT
lm
(1&2)
(3)
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Tubular geometry
For the unfinned and clean tubular HEX, the
overall heat transfer coefficient is given by

1 1
ln( / ) 1 1
2
o o i i
t
o i
i i o o
U A U A
R
r r
h A kL h A t
= = =
(
+ +
(

Fouling
For the HEX whose walls are fouled by deposit
formation on both the inside and outside surfaces,
the total thermal resistance can be expressed as




R
w
: wall resistance
R
f
: fouling factor / unit fouling resistance


1 1 1 1 1
fi fo
t w
o o i i i i i o o o
R R
R R
UA U A U A h A A A h A
= = = = + + + +
U based on outside surface rea
U is usually based on the outer area. U based on
the outside surface area of the wall for an unfinned,
tubular HEX is given by




If fins are present on the wall(s), fin efficiency and
fin area should be considered in calculating U.
1
ln( ) 1 1
o
o o o o i
fi fo
i i i o
U
r r r r r
R R
r h r k h
=
(
+ + + +
(

Orders of Magnitude for h [w/m
2
K]
Gases (natural convection) 3-25
Engine oil (natural convection) 30-60
Flowing liquids (nonmetal) 100-10,000
Flowing liquid metals 5000-250,000
Film boiling 300-400
Dropwise condensation 60,000-120,000
AT
lm
: 1. Parallel-Flow Heat Exchangers
where
Parallel Flow Counterflow Parallel Flow Counterflow
lm
T UA q A =
) / ln(
1 2
1 2
T T
T T
T
lm
A A
A A
= A
o c o h
i c i h
T T T
T T T
, , 2
, , 1
= A
= A
AT
1
AT
2
5/24/2011 11
AT
lm
: 2. Counter-Flow Heat Exchangers
where
lm
T UA q A =
) / ln(
1 2
1 2
T T
T T
T
lm
A A
A A
= A
i c o h
o c i h
T T T
T T T
, , 2
, , 1
= A
= A
Parallel Flow Counterflow Parallel Flow Counterflow
AT
1
AT
2
5/24/2011 12
Overall Heat Transfer Coefficient
For tubular heat exchangers we must take into account the conduction
resistance in the wall and convection resistances of the fluids at the inner
and outer tube surfaces.
kL
D D
R
A h
R
A h UA
i o
cond
o o
cond
i i
t 2
) / ln(
1 1 1
=
+ + =
Parallel Flow Counterflow Parallel Flow Counterflow
where inner tube surface
outer tube surface
L D A
L D A
o o
i i
t =
t =
(4)
o o i i
A U A U UA
1 1 1
= =
5/24/2011 13
Example 1
A counterflow, concentric tube heat exchanger is used to cool the
lubricating oil for a large industrial gas turbine engine. The flow rate of
cooling water through the inner tube (D
i
=25 mm) is 0.2 kg/s, while the
flow rate of oil through the outer annulus (D
o
=45 mm) is 0.1 kg/s. The
oil and water enter at temperatures of 100 and 30C respectively. How
long must the tube be made if the outlet temperature of the oil is to be
60C?
5/24/2011 14
Heat Exchangers 15
Table 1 Nusselt number for fully developed
laminar low in an annulus with one surface
isothermal and the other adiabatic

Shell-and-Tube Heat Exchangers
Baffles are used to
establish a cross-flow and
to induce turbulent mixing
of the shell-side fluid, both
of which enhance
convection.
The number of tube and
shell passes may be varied
One Shell Pass and One Tube Pass
One Shell Pass,
Two Tube Passes
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Multipass and Cross-Flow Heat Exchangers
To account for complex flow conditions in multipass, shell and tube
and cross-flow heat exchangers, the log-mean temperature difference
can be modified:
CF lm lm
T F T
,
A = A
where F=correction factor, to be determined from
the next figure in terms of parameters P & R .

: Logarithmic mean temperature
difference for counter flow
CF
lm
T
,
A
5/24/2011 17
Correction Factor F
where t is the tube-
side fluid
temperature
5/24/2011 18
Heat Exchangers 19
Example
A shell-and-tube heat exchanger must be designed to heat 2.5 kg/s of water
from 15 to 85C. The heating is to be accomplished by passing hot engine
oil, which is available at 160C, through the shell side of the exchanger. The
oil is known to provide an average convection coefficient of h
o
=400 W/m
2
.K
on the outside of the tubes. Ten tubes pass the water through the shell.
Each tube is thin walled, of diameter D=25 mm, and makes eight passes
through the shell. If the oil leaves the exchanger at 100C, what is the flow
rate? How long must the tubes be to accomplish the desired heating?
Effectiveness-Number of Transfer Units (c-NTU)
for HEX Analysis
When exit temperatures are unknown, a trial and
error procedure may be needed. Instead, the
method of number of transfer units (NTU) based
on HEX effectiveness may be used.
The c - NTU method is based on the fact that the
inlet or exit temperature differences of a heat
exchanger are a function of UA/C
h
and C
h
/C
c
.
Where, C
h
= (mC
P
)
h
and C
c
=(mC
P
)
c

The HEX heat transfer equations may be written
in dimensionless form resulting in some
dimensionless groups.
Dimensionless groups
1. Heat capacity rate ratio:
, C
*
s 1

2. HEX heat transfer effectiveness:



c is the ratio of the actual heat transfer rate in a HEX
to the thermodynamically limited maximum possible
heat transfer rate if an infinite heat transfer area
were available in a counter flow HEX.
min
max
C
C
C
-
=
max
Q
Q
c =

The actual heat transfer is obtained either by the
energy given off by the hot fluid or the energy
received by the cold fluid


If C
h
> C
c
, then (T
h1
-T
h2
) < (T
c2
-T
c1
)
If C
h
< C
c
, then (T
h1
-T
h2
) > (T
c2
-T
c1
)

The above equations are valid for CF and PF.
The fluid that might undergo the maximum
temperature difference is the fluid having the
minimum heat capacity rate C
min
.

1 2 2 1
( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
p h h h p c c c
Q mc T T mc T T = =
Maximum heat transfer:

or

Therefore, HEX effectiveness can be written as



The above equation is valid for all heat
exchanger flow arrangements. The value of c
ranges between 0 and 1.
For a given c and Q
max
, the actual HT rate is
Q = c (mc
p
)
min
(T
h1
-T
c1
)

max 1 1
( ) ( ) if
p c h c c h
Q mc T T C C = <
max 1 1
( ) ( ) if
p h h c h c
Q mc T T C C = <
1 2 2 1
min 1 1 min 1 1
( ) ( )
( ) ( )
h h h c c c
h c h c
C T T C T T
C T T C T T
c

= =

3. Number of Transfer Units:
The third dimensionless number NTU shows the
nondimensional heat transfer size of the HEX
min min
1
NTU
A
AU
UdA
C C
= =
}
c-NTU Expressions for different types of HEX arrangements
Type of HEX c(NTU,C*) NTU(c,C*)
Counterflow
Parallel Flow
Cross flow, C
min

mixed and C
max

unmixed
Cross flow, C
max

mixed and C
min

unmixed
1 to 2 shell-and-
tube HEX
( ) | |
( ) | | NTU 1 exp 1
NTU 1 exp 1
-

-

-

=
C C
C
c
|
|
.
|

\
|

=
c
c
1
1
ln
1
1
NTU
C
C
( ) | | | | NTU 1 exp 1
1
1
-
+
-
+
= C
C
c
( )
(

-
-

=
C
C NTU exp 1
exp 1 c
( ) | | { } | | NTU exp 1 exp 1
1

-

-
= C
C
c
( )
)
`

)
`

|
|
.
|

\
|
-
+
|
|
.
|

\
|
-
+ +
-
+ +
-
+
=
2 / 1
2
1 NTU exp 1
2 / 1
2
1 NTU exp 1
2 / 1
2
1 1
2
C
C
C C
c
( ) | |
-
+ +
-
+
= C
C
1 1 ln
1
1
NTU c
( ) | | c
-
+
-
= 1 ln 1 ln
1
NTU C
C
( )
(

-
+ = C
C
c 1 ln
1
1 -ln NTU
( )
)
`

)
`

|
|
.
|

\
|
-
+ +
-
+
|
|
.
|

\
|
-
+
-
+
-
+
=
2 / 1
2
1 1 2
2 / 1
2
1 1 2
ln
2 / 1
2
1
1
NTU
C C
C C
C
c
c
Example 2.9

A two-pass tube, baffled single-pass shell, shell-and-tube
HEX is used as an oil cooler. Cooling water flows
through the tubes at 20
o
C at a flow rate of 4.082 kg/s.
Engine oil enters the shell side at a flow rate of 10 kg/s.
The inlet and outlet temperatures of oil are 90
o
C and
60
o
C, respectively. Determine the surface area of the
HEX using both the LMTD and c-NTU methods, if the
overall heat transfer coefficient based on the outside tube
area is 262 W/m
2
K. The specific heats of water and oil
are 4179 J/kgK and 2118 J/kgK, respectively.
Heat Exchanger Sizing
If inlet temperatures, one of the outlet
temperatures and mass flow rates are known, we
can use LMTD method for sizing problem:
1. Calculate Q and the unknown temperature
2. Calculate LMTD and obtain F if necessary
3. Calculate U
4. Determine A from A=Q/(UFAT
lm,cf
)
Heat Exchanger Rating
For an available heat exchanger (size, mass
flow rates, inlet temperatures and materials are
known) using c-NTU method we can rate the
heat exchanger:
1. Calculate C*=C
min
/C
max
and NTU=UA/C
min
2. Determine c from appropriate charts or c-NTU
equations
3. Calculate Q=c C
min
(T
h1
-T
c1
)
4. Calculate outlet temperatures

Sizing Using -NTU method
1. Calculate c using C
min
, C
max
and temperatures
2. Calculate C*=C
min
/C
max

3. Calculate U
4. Determine NTU from charts or equations
5. When NTU is known calculate heat transfer area
from A=(C
min
NTU)/U