Experiment HT 305: Plate heat Exchanger

BACKGROUND:
Plate Heat Exchangers (PHE) shown in figure 1 are also known as Plate & Frame Heat
Exchangers was invented by Dr Richard Seligman in 1923. They are first commercially used in
the dairy industry for pasteurization of milk around 1930.

Figure 1: Plate Heat Exchanger (Red color hot fluid, Blue color- cold fluid)

The PHE consists of a stack of cold pressed, corrugated metal plates as shown in figure 2
clamped together in a frame. The fluids are spread out over the plates and thus exposed to a
much larger surface area. This makes plate heat exchanger more advantageous compared to the
conventional heat exchanger. The gap between two plates varies from 2 - 5 mm. Each plate has
four corner ports which, in pairs, provide access to the flow passages on either side of the plate.
The frame consists of an upper and lower carrying bar that supports and aligns the plates and two
covers (pressure plates- one fixed and the other movable) that compress the corrugated plates.
All wetted parts are accessible for inspection by removing the clamping bolts and rolling back
the movable cover. Sealing of the gap between two plates is accomplished by means of
elastomeric gaskets (made of Nitrile rubber, EPDM, butyl rubber, PTFE etc.) which direct the

two streams exchanging heat into their proper flow paths. The gaskets are usually designed with
a double seal to prevent intermixing of fluids. The fluid flow between the successive pairs of
plates in countercurrent/co-current mode. Successive plates are assembled with their patterns
pointing in opposite directions, thereby producing a complex three dimensional flow passage of
almost constant cross-sectional flow area. The corrugations increase the plate rigidity, increase
the effective surface area and promote turbulence. The smaller hydraulic diameter of the flow
path provides efficiencies of up to five times those achieved in a shell and tube version for a
similar application.

Figure 2: Corrugated Plates and their gaskets

Advantages of plate heat exchanger (PHE):

PHE offers a high heat transfer coefficient on both sides of the plates.

It is a cheaper alternative if exotic materials are required due to the corrosive nature of
the fluid.

It is more suitable for viscous fluid.

It is easy to clean and maintain.

It is easy to increase the heat transfer area because all connections are on one side (plate
can be added from the other side).

Disadvantages of plate heat exchanger (PHE):

It is of proprietary design from a limited number of suppliers.
High pressure drop and not suitable for application involving pressure greater than 30
bar.
Plugging in the case of services involving slurries.
Temperature is limited to about 2500C due to performance of available gasket materials.
Aim:
To determine the overall and individual heat transfer coefficients in a plate heat exchanger.
APPARATUS:

Stainless steel non-corrugated plate heat exchanger with digital temperature indicator and
thermocouples to measure cold and hot fluid temperature at the inlet and outlet.

Insulated stainless steel tank with a heater.

Hot fluid circulation pumps with a valve to control the flow rate.

Rotameters to measure the flow rate of hot and cold fluid.

THEORY:

Standard correlations for the heat transfer coefficient like Sieder-Tate and Dittus-Boelter for
circular pipes are not available for non-corrugated PHEs. However, a correlation of the kind
given in Equation (1) which is similar to the above correlations needs to be proposed.

Nu =

= const x Rea x Prb = C x

h = C 1 1

-------------- (1)

--------------(2)

For a given gap between two plates and inlet temperature of the test fluid all the terms on the
right hand side of equation [2] except u are constants thus equation [2] can be rewritten as,
h =

--------------- (3)

This can be rearranged in terms of mass flow rate through a single channel as,
h =

---------------- (4)

Where, =
Taking log on both sides of equation [4] gives,
Log(h) = log( ) + a log()

-----------------(5)

The cooling water side heat transfer coefficient (ho ) is obtained from the plot of

vs.

. hi

(experimental) can be obtained based on ho . For determining the predicted or theoretical value of
hi, the parameters b and C of Equation [1] need to be obtained by regression analysis using the
SOLVER tool of MS EXCEL. The following objective function is used for the regression
analysis:
Objective Function = Minimize

( )

------------------ (6)

=1

Steps to be used in excel to minimize the given objective function:

1. Add solver tool to the excel for that prefer following steps.
a. First, click on file
b. Click on options (excel options)
c. Click on Add ins
d. Select go (at the bottom of add-in window)
e. Select solver Add-in from add-ins available window.
f. Click ok then the MS office will add this add-in to data window
2. Make different cell for value of b and value of c (initial guess b = 0.5 and C = 0.5).
3. Calculate the value of hipre as hipre = (C x Rea x Prb x k)/De.

4. Make one cell for objective function ( )

=1

5. Click on solver tool, in set objective, select the cell of the objective function (may be $A$1).
6. Select to Minimize.
7. By changing variable cells: select cells of b and c (may be $K$2, $L$2 / use comma to make
multiple selections).
8.

Subject to the cell constraints:

a. b 0.4

C 1 (choose cells of b and c, example $K$2 0.4)

9. Click on solve then it will give the optimum value of b and c. Report this values.

PROCEDURE:
1. Check the electrical connections and connect 15 ampere and 5 ampere plug pins to stable
230 V A.C. supply. Care should be taken while connecting these two pins.
2. Switch on the control panel which contains the switch for the hot fluid circulation pump
and digital temperature indicators. Check the inlet and outlet temperatures of the fluid
indicated by digital temperature indicators. The error in the temperatures indicated by
the inlet and the outlet sensors for hot and cold fluids respectively should be taken into
account during calculations.
3. Switch on the heater of the hot fluid tank.
4. Set the temperature of the hot fluid in the temperature indicator cum controller. The set
point should be in between 65 to 70 0C.
5. Open the valve on the outlet line of the hot fluid tank. Start the hot fluid circulation pump
and control the flow rate through the valve.
6. Start the cold water supply from the tap. Adjust the cooling water flow rate to its
maximum possible rate through the heat exchanger in order to make the cooling water
side resistance to heat transfer negligible. Keep this flow rate constant throughout the
experiment.
7. Adjust the flow rate of hot fluid through the heat exchanger by adjusting the valve
provided next to the outlet of the hot fluid circulation pump. Initially, keep the flow rate
of the hot fluid to the maximum possible value, then gradually reduce it to the minimum
value at equal intervals. Measure the flow rate by rotameter.
8. Once the steady state is reached note down the inlet and outlet temperatures of hot and
cold fluids indicated by digital thermocouples.
9. Repeat steps 7 and 8 for at least eight different flow rates of hot fluid.

Given Data:
1. Number of Plates (Non-corrugated)

2. Number of channels (N)

3. Number of parallel channels for test fluid (hot) flow (Nh)

4. Number of parallel channels for cooling water flow (Nc)

5. Height of plate (H)

128 mm

6. Width of plate (w)

44 mm

7. Gap between two plates (b)

0.9 mm

OBSERVATIONS:
1) Average temperature of cooling water during run (tavg)
2) Error in the temperature reading of outlet hot fluid digital thermocouple by comparing
with cold fluid inlet thermocouple
3) Error in the temperature reading of outlet cold fluid digital thermocouple by
comparing with cold fluid inlet thermocouple

PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF THE HOT FLUID:

1) Density ()

1 [g/cc]

2) Specific heat (Cp)

4.18 [ ]

3) Thermal conductivity (k)

0.6 [ ]

4) Viscosity

()

1 Cp

PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF THE COLD FLUID:

1) Density ()

1 [g/cc]

2) Specific heat (Cp)

4.18 [ ]

3) Thermal conductivity (k)

0.6 [ ]

4) Viscosity

()

1 Cp

OBSERVATIONS TABLE:
Sr.
No.

Inlet
Temp.
flowrate of cold
of cold
fluid
fluid (lph)
TCi
Volumetric

Outlet
Inlet
Volumetric
Temp.
Temp.
flowrate of hot
Of cold
of
hot
fluid
fluid
fluid () (lph)
TCo
THi

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

CALCULATIONS:
1. Flow area (S) = b x w =
m2
2. Heat transfer area (A) = H x w x N =

3. Equivalent Diameter (De) =

4. Prandtl Number (Pr) =

2( )
(+)

m2

SAMPLE CALCULATION FOR A READING

1. Mass flow rate per plate () = .

kg/hr

Outlet
Temp.
of
hot
fluid
THo

2. Velocity (u) per plate =

m/s

3. Amount of heat transferred: Q = (Ti To) =

4. Logarithmic mean temperature difference (Tln) =

Watt
( ) ( )
( )
(
)

( )

5. Overall Heat transfer coefficient: Ui =

6. Slope of plot of log(Ui) vs. log(), a =

1

7. Intercept of plot of vs. , =

(2 )

8. ho = =

9.

10. =
11. Re =

( 2 )

12. =

(2 )

GRAPHS:
1. Plot the graph of (Ui) vs. log() on linear scale. (This should be a straight line).
1

2. Plot the graph of vs. on linear scale. (This should be a straight line).

TABLE OF CALCULATED RESULTS:

Overall
heat
Amount

of

Sr.

heat

No.

transferred
Q (Watt)

LMTD
Tln
(K)

coefficient
Ui (

(Ui)

transfer

(
)

log()

Re
(kg/hr)

(
)

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

RESULTS:
Slope of graph of (Ui) vs. log() =
Waterside heat transfer coefficient ( ho )

(2 )

CONCLUSIONS:
Comment on the variation in LMTD and Ui as a function of mass flow rate. Compare the
experimental values of hi with the theoretical prediction. Comment on the estimated values of
the parameters determined with reference to the standard correlations (Sieder-Tate and Dittus
Boelter).

Reference Plot: