Evaluation of the Overall Heat Transfer Coefficient for a Pilot Scale Heat Exchanger

Josie Prado Erin Hadi Trevor Binney

February 3rd, 2005

Presentation Overview

Project Objectives Project Planning and Execution Background and Experimental Procedure Results and Discussion Conclusions Recommendations for Future Work

Project Objectives
1) Experimentally determine the overall heat transfer coefficient (Uo) Laminar and turbulent flow regimes Co-current and counter current operation 2) Correlate Uo to the liquid flow rate in the inner pipe in the form Uo = aVb 3) Compare experimental results with predicted and reported values 4) Investigate the effect of the steam trap

Project Planning
1)

Design of Experiment
Review equipment operation Determine what parameter(s) will be varied Determine what measurements to take
Cold water rotameter Range ~ 5 -100 Quench water rotameter Range ~ 1.5-10

2) Rotameter Calibration

Project Planning
3) Data Collection

Co-current flow Without steam trap With steam trap Counter-current flow Without steam trap With steam trap

Project Planning
4) Data Analysis

Empirical Analysis

Determination of Uo from experimental data Correlation of Uo to cold water flow rate by fitting the data to a power curve Performed from fundamental principles of heat transfer

Theoretical Analysis

Project Planning

Roles and Responsibilities

Josie Prado (Team Leader)

Temperature, pressure, and flow rate measurements Scale operator and timer Data Entry

Trevor Binney (Safety Coordinator)

Erin Hadi (Operations Manager)

Project Planning

Safety Issues

Steam burns

Mitt was used for all steam valve adjustments Steam trap configuration was checked before making adjustments Hoses were kept away from major traffic areas Rubber sole shoes were worn at all times

Tripping Hazards

Slipping Hazards

Equipment Dimensions & Specifications

Double pipe exchanger

Inner Pipe: 1ID/1.125OD Outer Pipe: 2ID/2.125OD Length: 60 Tap water 9 to 10 C

Inner pipe (Cu) Outer pipe (Cu) Steam Water

Cold water supply

ri
ro

Steam Supply

26 to 29 psig ~128 C

Background

Resistance to Heat Transfer

Convective:

between surface and adjacent fluid

Water/pipe interface Steam/pipe interface

Conductive:

Through the inner pipe

Heat Exchanger Setup

Counter-Current Operation
Water Out Steam in

Thermocouples

Steam Out

Water in

Experimental Procedure

Rotameter Calibration

Set rotameter flow rate to a specific value Measure mass of water entering the drum over time

10 lbs of water per interval of time

Calculate flow rate in lb/s Generate calibration curve Flow rate required for laminar flow is outside the rotameters measuring range

Physical Constraint

Max laminar flow rate = 0.08 lb/s Quench rotameter reading of 1.35

Experimental Procedure

Collecting Data

Set equipment configuration Co-current/Counter-current Steam trap ON/OFF Set flow rate & wait for steady state to be reached Record stream temperatures, pressure, and flow rates Take several readings at each set of conditions Weigh and time the collection of steam and quench water

Experimental Data Analysis

Empirical Uo was calculated from data

For co-current:

For counter-current:

Results

Quencher Calibration Data

0.5 0.4

Mass flow rate (lb/s)

0.4 0.3 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.0 0 2 4 Rotameter Reading Quencher Linear (Quencher) 6 8 y = 0.0528x + 0.0087 R2 = 0.9985

Results

Cold Water Calibration Data

0.8 0.7

Mass flow rate (lb/s)

0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0.0 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 Rotameter reading Cold Water Linear (Cold Water) y = 0.0129x + 0.0256 R2 = 0.9983

Results
Configuration Co-current w/o steam trap # Data pts. 18 Correlation Uo = 2931.9*V0.1857 R2 0.95

Counter-current w/o steam trap

Co-current w/ steam trap

22
9

Uo = 2540.8*V0.2154
Uo = 2950.9*V0.1846 Uo = 2582.8*V0.3114

0.89
0.99

Counter-current w/ steam trap

0.99

Results

Published data: Exchanger Uo values between 2280 3400 W/m2K

Overall Heat Transfer Coefficient vs. Water Velocity
3000 2900 2800 2700 2600 2500 2400 2300 2200 2100 2000 0.00

Uo (W/m2K)

0.20

0.40

0.60

0.80

1.00

1.20

water velocity (m/s) Co-current without steam trap Counter-current without steam trap Power (Co-current without steam trap) Power (Counter-current without steam trap)

Results

Co-current & Counter-current Uo vs. water flow rate with and without steam trap in operation:
2900 2800 2700

Uo (W/m2K)

2600 2500 2400 2300 2200 2100 2000 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 1.1 1.2

water velocity (m/s)

counter-current steam trap off co-current steam trap on Power (counter-current steam trap on) Power (co-current steam trap off) counter-current steam trap on co-current steam trap off Power (counter-current steam trap off) Power (co-current steam trap on)

Results & Discussion

Why is Uo higher for co-current flow than for counter current flow? Why is the change in enthalpy of steam much lower than the change in enthalpy of water?

Hwater ~ 42 kJ/lb Hsteam ~ -11 kJ/lb

Is it possible that some of the steam is condensing?

Results and Discussion

Effect of condensation on co-current vs. counter current operation:

More drastic temperature difference in co-current mode leads to immediate formation of a condensate film In counter-current flow, condensate film formation is likely to begin further down the pipe

Results & Discussion

Comparison with theoretical values

Assuming no steam condenses:

Uo = 185 - 205 W/m2K Uo = 900 - 1740 W/m2K

Taking condensation into account

Conclusions
1) Empirical Uo values are verified by published values 2) Theoretical analysis does not invalidate experimental values if steam condensation is taken into account 3) The steam trap did not have a significant effect on the heat exchanger performance

Recommendations for Future Work

1) Investigate the effect of water velocity on Uo in laminar region A more sensitive rotameter would be required 2) Investigate heat exchanger performance while varying both water and steam flow rate

References

Incropera, Frank P. and David P. Dewitt. (2002) Fundamentals of Heat and Mass Transfer. John Wiley and Sons. New York, pp. 470, 486, 492, 647, 723.
Perrys Chemical Engineers Handbook, 7th Edition (1997). R.H. Perry, D.W. Green, and J.O. Maloney, Eds. McGraw Hill: New York, pp. 5-20, 10-5, 11-4 Welty, James R, Charles E. Wicks, Robert E. Wilson, and Gregory Rorrer (2001). Fundamentals of Momentum, Heat, and Mass Transfer. Fourth Edition. John Wiley and Sons: New York, pp. 201-209, 374, 723, 727, 733.

Questions?