FUNDAMENTAL AND PRINCIPLES OF HEAT EXCHANGER Fluid flow The fluid flow inside a heat exchanger can be laminar

r and turbulent. Both types of flow have its own edge and weakness: turbulent is better in heat transfer, but it mixes the fluid, while the laminar-flow of heat transfer totally relies on the thermal conductivity of the fluid from the inside stream to heat exchanger wall. The type of flow can be determined by calculating the Reynolds number as: ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) If the Reynolds number is less than 2100, the flow will be laminar. Meanwhile, the flow will be turbulent if Reynolds number exceeds 4400. In between the range of laminar and turbulent, the flow is said to be transition. It is crucial to know the type of flow that we have as it can help to calculate the pressure drop of a fluid when it flows through a heat exchanger. It also aids us to find the pumping power through the pressure drop that we calculated. Normally, the manufacture will determine the pressure drop in the exchanger. However, it is very useful to first predict the pressure drop that can be happen in the changing rate of flow. Laminar flow produces small loses with a linearly increasing velocity. Balance and efficiency The characteristic of the flow gives a significant property to a heat exchanger the heat transfer rate ( ). Based on the energy balance equation, the heat that transfer by the colder stream must equal with the heat transfer involved by the hotter stream: ( ) ( )

where is mass flow rate and Cp is the specific heat capacity of the fluid. This equation should be solved before the design of heat exchanger is conducted. Normally, heat exchanger is specified according to a desired temperature, but at the bottom line, the prime criterion is still the heat transfer rate. Other than that, we also must know about the efficiency of the heat exchanger. Efficiency is the ratio of the actual heat transferred to the heat that could be transferred by an exchanger of infinite size. Below is the equation about it: ( ) ( ( ) ( ) ) ( ( ) ) ( ( ) )

Exchanger equation The heat transfer rate of a heat exchanger depends on it design and the properties of both fluid streams. The relationship can be express as: where U is the overall heat transfer coeffiecient, A is the surface area of the heat exchanger and is the average effective temperature between the two stream over the length of the heat exchanger. The performance of the heat exchanger can be predicted by finding U and A. The

inlet temperature of two streams can be measured, which gives us three unknowns to solve the exit temperature of both stream and the heat transfer rate. The unknowns can be solved by combining the energy balance equation and the equation mentioned before:
( ) ( )

TYPE OF HEAT EXCHANGER Spiral heat exchanger

Figure 1: Spiral heat exchanger.

As shown in Figure 1, the hot fluid will flow at the center of the spiral elements and enter to the periphery, while the cold fluid will enter at the periphery and flow to the center of the spiral. Heat transfer coefficient is very high at both sides. Due to the true countercurrent action, there is no difference of log mean temperature. Therefore, this case may cause to the surface requirements 20% or less than those in shell-and-tube heat exchanger. Spiral heat exchanger might work best with highly viscous fluid at medium pressure. Compact (plate-fin) heat exchanger

Figure 2: Compact (plate-fin) heat exchanger.

As appeared in Figure 2, compact heat exchanger also has the passage for both hot fluid and cold fluid but it is superior for gas service only. Usually, they have surface of order of 1200m2/m3 and corrugation height of 3.8-118 mm, corrugation thickness 0.2-0.6mm, and fin density 230-700 fin/m2. The large extended surface area enables it to allow four times the heat transfer rate per unit volume that can be achieved by shell-and-tube exchanger. It has been designed to sustained pressure up to 80 atm or so. The close spacing prevent against fouling service. Typically, it is

used in the industries that involve cryogenic processes, and also heat recovery at high temperature in connection with gas turbine. If the exchanger is fitted inside a motor vehicle, then the exchanger will be constructed to be lightweight and small, but the mechanism will be almost the same. It is feasible for any arrangement of cross or countercurrent flows in it, and it can accommodate three or more different stream in the same equipment. Shell-and tube heat exchanger This type of heat exchanger is made up of numbers of tubes in parallel and series where one fluid is flowed and enclosed in a shell through which the other fluid is conducted. Construction The shell side is given with a number of baffles in order to increase the rate of fluid flow and also the efficiency of the cross flow on the outside of the tubes. The versatility and widespread use of this exchanger has provided improvements to the development of industry-wide standard, for instance TEMA standards. Baffle pitch, or distance between baffles, normally is 0.2-1.0 times the inside diameter of the shell. It must be well designed as the heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop are depended on the baffle pitch, so that the exchanger can reach its optimum state. The window of segmental baffles commonly is about 25%, but it is also a parameter in the thermal-hydraulic design of equipment. This exchanger is usually built with even number of tubes passes to simplify the external piping. There are few possible arrangements of the tubes in Figure 3, where the full lines represent the partitions in one head of the heat exchanger and the dashed line partitions in the opposite head. Partitioning reduces the number of tubes that can be accommodated in the shell of a given size. Square tube pitch accommodates fewer tube compared to triangular one, but preferable if the shell side must clean by brushing. Two shell passes are obtained with a longitudinal baffle. Normally, there is no single shell that has two shell passes. However, a 4-8 arrangement is thermally equivalent to 2-4 shells in series and so on. Advantages o Single phases, condensation or boiling can be put either in the tube or shell,in any position (vertical or horizontal). o Pressure range and pressure drop is independent variable and it can be different for shell and tubes. o Thermal stress can be accommodated inexpensively. o The shell and tubes can be constructed using a lot of material. o A great range of thermal capacities can be obtained. o Extended surface for improved heat transfer can be used on other side. o The equipment is ready to be dismantled for cleaning and repairing purposes.