TWISTED TUBE HEAT EXCHANGER TECHNOLOGY

R. Donald Morgan
Brown Fintube Company
12602 FM 529 Road
Houston, Texas 77240-0082 USA
Phone: 1 (713) 849-8197
Fax: 1 (713) 466-3701
e-mail: morganOd@kochind.com
ABSTRACT
Over 85% of all new heat exchanger applications in oil refining, chemical, petro-chemical, and power
generation are accommodated through the use of conventional shell and tube type heat exchangers.
The fundamental basis for this statistic is shell and tube technology is a cost effective, proven solution
for a wide variety of heat transfer requirements. However, there are limitations associated with the
technology which include inefficient usage of shell side pressure drop, dead or low flow zones around
the baffles where fouling and corrosion can occur, and flow induced tube vibration, which can
ultimately result in equipment failure. This paper presents a recent innovation and development of a
new technology, known as Twisted Tube technology, which has been able to overcome the limitations
of the conventional technology, and in addition, provide superior overall heat transfer coefficients
through tube side enhancement. This paper compares the construction, performance, and economics of
Twisted Tube exchangers against conventional designs for various materials of construction including
reactive metals.
KEYWORDS
heat exchanger, twisted tube technology, heat transfer, corrosion resistance
CONVENTIONAL SHELL AND TUBE DESIGN
Conventional TEMA (Tubular Exchanger Manufacturers Association) type shell and tube type heat
exchangers consist of a number of round tubes attached to a tubesheet inside a cylindrical vessel, with
tube sizes, tube lengths, and shell diameters varying depending on the requirements of the application.
Heat transfer surface areas can vary from a few square feet to over 25,000 square feet. The tube bundle
normally contains a number of baffles to accomplish the dual objectives of providing a support
structure for the tubes, and to direct the shell-side flow across the tubes rather than along the tubes
(Fig 1). The resulting back and forth shell-side flow will yield a higher than expected pressure drop
per unit of heat transfer because energy is used to reverse the flow rather than to enhance heat transfer.
Also, the energy consumed in reversing the flow will tend to force the shell-side fluid through baffleto-tube and baffle-to-shell clearances yielding lower cross flow and lower heat transfer coefficients.
Finally, fluid flow around the baffles is non-uniform resulting in areas of low flow and dead spots,
which are prone to fouling accumulation, corrosion, and poor heat transfer.
The thermal effectiveness (x), of a shell and tube exchanger is normally calculated assuming perfect
radial and no axial mixing of the shell side stream. In practice however, there is considerable axial
mixing within a baffle compartment, and further, the stream is in cross-flow for part of the time rather
than axial flow. These effects are further complicated by leakage of flow that occurs at the baffle-totube
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and baffle-to-shell joints that does not take full part in the heat transfer in the bundle. The overall
effect of these limitations is the actual thermal effectiveness (x) will be lower than the theoretical
value, and it will be lower than the values obtained for other types of heat exchangers that do not
suffer from these limitations. Typically, thermal effectiveness of a conventional shell and tube type
exchanger will be in the range of 60% to 80%
The Twisted Tube Heat Exchanger
The Twisted Tube heat exchanger originated in Eastern Europe and became commercially available in
Scandinavia in the mid 1980s. It was developed primarily to

Figure 1. Conventional Heat Exchanger

overcome the limitations inherent with conventional shell and tube technology. Applications of
Twisted Tube technology were primarily in single phase and condensing duties in pulp and paper and
district heating with limited exposure in the process industries. In 1991, Koch licensed the technology
and in 1995 subsequently acquired the technology outright.
Construction
The Twisted Tube exchanger consists of a bundle of uniquely formed tubes assembled in a bundle
without the use of baffles (Fig 2). The tubes have been subjected to a unique forming process which
results in an oval cross section with a superimposed helix

Figure 2. Twisted Tube Heat Exchanger Bundle

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providing a helical tube-side flow path (Fig 3). The forming process ensures that tube wall thickness
remains constant and the material yield point is not exceeded thereby retaining mechanical integrity.
The tube ends are round to allow conventional tube to tubesheet joints.

Figure 3. Tube-side Flow Path

A wide range of tube materials can be used including carbon and stainless steels, Cr-Mo alloys, duplex
and super duplex alloys as well as titanium, zirconium and tantalum. Tube sizes may vary from inch
to 1 inch.
Tubes are assembled into a bundle on a triangular pitch one row at a time with each tube being turned
to align the twists at every plane along the bundle length. This alignment results in tubes contacting
adjacent tubes at many points along the length of the tube in the bundle (Fig 4). The completed bundle
is then tightly strapped circumferentially to ensure no tube movement and a robust bundle is the end
result. Bundles can be constructed with more than 5000 tubes and up to 6 feet in diameter with tube
lengths up to 80 feet (Fig 5).

Figure 4. Tube Alignment and Support

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Figure 5. Completed Twisted Tube Bundle

The shell-side flow path is complex and predominantly axial in nature (Fig 6). Typically, the shell side
flow area is approximately equal to the tube side flow area. The bundle is often shrouded to ensure
shell side flow remains in the bundle and minimizes bypassing. Paths are available to allow the fluid
to flow into and out of the bundle at each end. When high inlet and outlet velocities must be avoided,
vapor belts may be used as with conventional designs. The Twisted Tube design imparts a swirl
flow to the tube-side fluid enhancing the tube-side heat transfer coefficient.

Figure 6. Shell-side Interrupted Swirl Flow

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Advantages
Thermal and Hydraulic Performance
Elimination of the shell-side back and forth flow path with a more unidirectional flow yields a much
higher heat transfer coefficient per unit of pressure drop. Typically, heat transfer coefficients are 40%
higher for the same pressure drop or, conversely, pressure drops are halved for the same heat transfer
coefficient. Moreover, the tube-side swirl induced flow enhances the coefficients by an amount similar
to that of twisted tape or turbulator inserts in a plain round tube. The overall effect of this is a
substantial reduction of heat transfer area for a twisted tube exchanger compared with a conventional
exchanger for the same duty. Alternatively, significant improvements in the performance of an
existing exchanger can be achieved by replacing a conventional bundle with a Twisted Tube bundle.
Higher Thermal Effectiveness
The closer approach to pure plug flow on the shell-side means that designs achieving higher thermal
effectiveness, more typical of plate type exchangers, are possible with Twisted Tube exchangers
Lower Fouling and Cleanability
The elimination of dead spots on the shell-side and the increased turbulence, both on the shell-side and
the tube-side results in reduced fouling. Particulate fouling is reduced by the scouring action. Other
types of fouling such as scaling and chemical reaction products are prevented by the removal of hot
spots. Fouling characteristics are therefore, more typical of those found in plate exchangers rather
than shell and tube type exchangers. The lower shell side pressure drop for a given flow means that
higher velocities are possible, thereby reducing clogging and plugging with fibrous materials. Should
fouling occur, the twist alignment in the twisted tube exchanger provides cleaning lanes even though
the bundle is constructed using triangular pitch tube layout. Hence, the cleanability of a conventional
square pitch layout is combined with heat transfer area density of a triangular layout.
Vibration Elimination
Flow induced vibration can occur in conventional exchangers although special precautions such as no
tubes in window are available to overcome the problem by providing more tube support. The most
damaging vibration arises from fluid-elastic instability that can lead to damage within a few hours of
operation. The possibility of such vibration in twisted tube exchangers is completely eliminated by
axial flow and because the tubes are supported approximately every two inches along the tube length.
Clearly, there is some cross-flow at the inlet and outlet regions but good tube support effectively
mitigates this potential for failure. Further, the cleaning lanes provide additional smooth paths with a
flow entering and exiting the bundle.
Codes and Memberships
Twisted tube heat exchangers are manufactured to most codes including A D Merkblatter, ASME, B,
BS, CODAP, HPGCL, ISPSEL, STOOMWEZEN, and TEMA. Brown Fintube is a member of ASM,
ASME, AWS, AQS, HTFS, HTRI, ILTA, NACE, and SME, and manufactures Twisted Tube
exchangers in Houston TX, Luxembourg and in Asia through strategic alliance.
Applications
Over 400 Twisted Tube heat exchangers have been designed, built and delivered. A partial list of
applications can be found in Table 1. Figure 7 shows a Twisted Tube exchanger bundle being installed
in an existing shell in a North American facility. Table 2 contains a comparison of Twisted Tube
exchangers and conventional shell and tube exchangers for actual applications including heat transfer
surface area and cost savings. Data presented in table 2 are for units constructed with carbon steel,
however, in general, in the correct application, cost savings through the use of twisted tube will vary
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directly with the material cost and the surface area of the heat exchanger. Stated differently, greater
savings can be realized as the cost of the material increases.

Figure 7. Installation of Twisted Tube Bundle

Table I. Applications of Twisted Tube Heat Exchangers

Industry
Chemical
Petroleum

Pulp & Paper

Power
Steel
Mining / Mineral Processing
District Heating

Application
Sulfuric acid cooling
Ammonia preheating
Hydrogen peroxide heating / cooling
High pressure gas heating / cooling
Crude oil heating
Bitumen heating
LNG heating
Black liquor heating / cooling
White water cooling
Oil heating / cooling
Effluent cooling
Turbine steam condensing
Boiler feed water heating
Lube oil cooling
Quench oil cooling
Compressed gas cooling
Lube oil cooling
Liquor cooling
Effluent cooling
Closed loop water heating
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Steam heating

Table II. Comparison of Twisted Tube and Conventional Heat Exchangers

Service

Feed / Bottoms
Exchanger

Lean / Rich
DEA

Crude Oil
Cooler

MVGO
Product Cooler

Shell-side
Fluid
Temp In/Out deg F

Stripped Water
250 / 138

Lean DEA
244 / 134

Crude Oil
122 / 97

MVGO Product
260 / 180

Tube-side
Fluid
Temp In/Out deg F

Sour Water
100/201

Rich DEA
97 / 200

Sour Water
64 / 73

Water
125 / 174

Surface Area
Square feet

Conv / Twisted
9612 / 4746

Conv / Twisted
1151 / 764

Conv / Twisted
8966 / 5511

Conv / Twisted
2163 / 1097

Cost
$, 000

Conv / Twisted
$130 / $90

Conv / Twisted
$35 / $25

Conv / Twisted
$215 / $170

Conv / Twisted
$40 / $30

CONCLUSIONS
The construction, thermal characteristics, performance, and use of Twisted Tube type heat exchangers
have been reviewed. It has been shown that this type of exchanger offers a number of advantages over
the conventional shell and tube exchanger with segmental baffles. In suitable applications, Twisted
Tube heat exchangers offers superior economic performance as defined by cost per unit heat load
when compared to the alternative of conventional shell and tube type equipment.
REFERENCES
1.

TEMA, 1988 Standards of the Tubular Exchanger Manufacturers Association, New York 7th
ed.

2.

Butterworth, D., Guy, A. R., and Welkey, J. J., Design and Application of Twisted Tube Heat
Exchangers.

3.

Small, W. M., and Young, R. K. 1979 Heat Transfer Engineering, Vol. 1

4.

Gentry, C. C., Chem. Engng. Progress, Vol. 86, No. 7 pp 48-57

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