5 Heat Exchangers
The general function of a heat exchanger is to transfer heat from one fluid to another. The
basic component of a heat exchanger can be viewed as a tube with one fluid running through
it and another fluid flowing by on the outside. There are thus three heat transfer operations
that need to be described:
1. Convective heat transfer from fluid to the inner wall of the tube,
2. Conductive heat transfer through the tube wall, and
3. Convective heat transfer from the outer tube wall to the outside fluid.
Heat exchangers are typically classified according to flow arrangement and type of
construction. The simplest heat exchanger is one for which the hot and cold fluids move in
the same or opposite directions in a concentric tube (or double-pipe) construction. In the
parallel-flow arrangement of Figure 18.8(a), the hot and cold fluids enter at the same end,
flow in the same direction, and leave at the same end. In the counterflow arrangement of
Figure 18.8(b), the fluids enter at opposite ends, flow in opposite directions, and leave at
opposite ends.
Alternatively, the fluids may be in cross flow (perpendicular to each other), as shown by the
finned and unfinned tubular heat exchangers of Figure 18.9. The two configurations differ
according to whether the fluid moving over the tubes is unmixed or mixed. In Figure 18.9(a),
the fluid is said to be unmixed because the fins prevent motion in a direction ( ) that is
transverse to the main flow direction ( ). In this case the fluid temperature varies with and
. In contrast, for the unfinned tube bundle of Figure 18.9(b), fluid motion, hence mixing, in
the transverse direction is possible, and temperature variations are primarily in the main flow
direction. Since the tube flow is unmixed, both fluids are unmixed in the finned exchanger,
while one fluid is mixed and the other unmixed in the unfinned exchanger.
To develop the methodology for heat exchanger analysis and design, we look at the problem
of heat transfer from a fluid inside a tube to another fluid outside.
(18..21)
Here we have taken into account one additional thermal resistance than in Section 17.2, the
resistance due to convection on the interior, and include in our expression for heat transfer the
bulk temperature of the fluid, , rather than the interior wall temperature, .
(18..22)
(18..23)
A schematic of a counterflow heat exchanger is shown in Figure 18.11. We wish to know the
temperature distribution along the tube and the amount of heat transferred.
18.5.1 Simplified Counterflow Heat Exchanger (With
Uniform Wall Temperature)
To address this we start by considering the general case of axial variation of temperature in a
tube with wall at uniform temperature and a fluid flowing inside the tube (Figure 18.12).
Figure 18.12: Fluid temperature distribution along the tube with uniform wall temperature
The objective is to find the mean temperature of the fluid at , , in the case where fluid
For heating ( ), the heat flow from the pipe wall in a length is
where is the pipe diameter. The heat given to the fluid (the change in enthalpy) is given by
where is the density of the fluid, is the mean velocity of the fluid, is the specific
heat of the fluid and is the mass flow rate of the fluid. Setting the last two expressions
equal and integrating from the start of the pipe, we find
(18..24)
where
This is the temperature distribution along the pipe. The exit temperature at is
(18..25)
The total heat transfer to the wall all along the pipe is
(18..26)
or
(18..27)
where is the logarithmic mean temperature difference, defined as
(18..28)
The concept of a logarithmic mean temperature difference is useful in the analysis of heat
exchangers. We will define a logarithmic mean temperature difference for the general
counterflow heat exchanger below.
(There is a negative sign because decreases as increases). The local heat balance is
(18..29)
(18..31)
where
We know that
(18..32)
Thus
(18..33)
(18..34)
Substituting (18.34) into (18.33) we obtain a final expression for the total heat transfer for a
counterflow heat exchanger:
(18..35)
or
(18..36)
This is the generalization (for non-uniform wall temperature) of our result from
Section 18.5.1.
Suppose we know only the two inlet temperatures , , and we need to find the outlet
temperatures. From (18.31),
or, rearranging,
(18..37)
(18..38)
We now have two equations, (18.37) and (18.38), and two unknowns, and . Solving
first for ,
or
(18..39)
(18..40)
Equation 18.39 gives in terms of known quantities. We can use this result in (18.38) to
find :
1.
as , surface area, .
2.
is negative, as
3.