Heat transfer

Heat exchanger
By: Omar Samir
117781

Abstract
The aim of this experiment is to demonstrate the concentric tube
heat exchange device, and how both parallel and counter-current
flow process are implemented and the differences between them. In
order to calculate the Overall Heat coefficient (U), there are couple
of calculations like LMTD, Qc,Qh must be obtained first to approach
this experiment's aim.

Table of Contents
2.................................................................................................... Abstract
4.............................................................................................. Introduction
9....................................................... Experimental Method and Procedure
10.............................................................................. Experimental results
12...................................................................... Discussion and conclusion
13...................................................................................... Sources of error
14.............................................................................................. Bibliography

List of figuers
4....................................................................................................... Figure
5....................................................................................................... Figure
5....................................................................................................... Figure
6....................................................................................................... Figure
8....................................................................................................... Figure
8....................................................................................................... Figure

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List of equation
7................................................................................................... Equation
7................................................................................................... Equation
7................................................................................................... Equation
10................................................................................................. Equation
10................................................................................................. Equation
10................................................................................................. Equation
11................................................................................................. Equation
11................................................................................................. Equation

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Introduction
In the chemical/operation engineering firm there are usually large
set of heat exchanger which there existence is important. These
heat exchangers mainly aims to change a temperature of a
particular flow by flowing another fluid close to the required
temperature. This simple and efficient device is called concentric
tube heat exchanger, which includes a relatively small tube (inner
tube) encompassed by a larger tube (outer tube) with an expected
different diameters. The internal structure of the concentric tube
heat exchanger gives the chance for a rapid heat exchange between
both fluids while they are separated by a specific thin tube, also to
ensure that they will never mix as the aim of this device is to
transfer heat either to hot or cold fluid (Holman, 2002). The heat
exchangers are globally used in several applications such as: air
conditioning, chemical plants, petroleum refineries, refrigeration,
power plants and others. A more reliable demonstrative application
for such a process is the car radiator, the transfer of heat occurs
between the following hot water inside tubes of the radiator and the
flowing air inside the near spaced thin plates from the other side
linked to the tubes. The following Figure1 represents the
construction of the car's radiator.

Figure 1

Mainly the heat exchanger contains two major process which are
convection and conduction. The convection process deals with the
heat transfer between fluids while conduction deals with heat
transfer between walls (tubes/solids) that separates both fluids from
each. within the analysis of this experiment the overall heat
coefficient (U) must be taken in consideration when calculating, as it
interferes with all of the heat transfer effect. (Lienhard, 2006. )

There are two major types of heat exchanger depending on their

flow array, parallel flow(co-current flow) and counter-current flow.
For the counter-current floe type, the entrance of both fluids to the
exchanger are counteractive to each end, a proof of the efficient of
the counter current flow that it can transfer heat as much s possible
to the other fluid. On the other hand, the parallel (counter) flow, as
the entrance of both fluids are at the same side, they are also
parallel aligned to each other as the fluid passes. The configurations
of both flows are represented in the two figures 2 and 3 below
(Joshua, 2009). Each type represents the concentric tube array as
one of the two fluids paths in the inner tube while the second fluid
passes through the gap between the tubes. In the case of parallel
flow, both the hot and cold fluids flows within the same direction,

while in counter current-current flow case, the two fluids direction is

opposite to each other.

Figure 3

Figure 2

The

applications of heat transfer varies

from a type to another that requires respective types of hardware

and diverse configurations equipment of heat transfer. The
endeavor to link between the hardware of the heat transfer and with
its requirements outcomes several types of creative heat exchanger
designs like: Plate heat exchanger, adiabatic wheel, Plate fin, Pillow
plate heat exchanger and other. To be consistent to this particular
experiment, the Double Pipe Heat Exchanger will be the specific
device to demonstrate this experiment on.
The most straight forward type of heat exchanger is the concentric
tube heat exchanger, that includes two concentric pipes with
different diameter. The device that apply this method is the doublepipe heat exchanger. The figures above represents a simple version
of the double -pipe heat exchanger. A privilege given by such heat
exchanger is that it allows both types of flow array to take place that
gives the variety in results. The following figure illustrate the design
of the Double-Pipe Heat Exchanger device. (Eckert, 1987. )

Figure 4

As

fluid goes through the content of the concentric tube heat

exchanger, the temperature difference (T) will exists as it changes
as both fluid's temperature changes. Depending on the array of the
heat exchanger the temperature's rate will change between the
inlet and the outlet of each stream. The two types of flows (parallel,
counter flow) configuration are expected to make difference
resulting two scenarios. In one case, the hot fluid and the cold fluid
can flow parallel to each other where the heat exchanger is named
parallel flow arrangement. Substitution, the hot fluid and the cold
fluid can flow oppositely to each other which as stated before it's
known as counter-current flow arrangement. (Nedderman, 1985)

A prerequisite calculations of the (T) must be performed for both

arrays which is called Logarithmic Mean Temperature Difference
(LMTD) or(Tln) Equation 1. When the flow is parallel Equations 2 will
be used to calculate (T1) and (T2), while in the case of countercurrent flow, EQUATION 3 will be used to calculate (T1) and (T2)
with different priorities. (Sons, 2003)

LMTD=

( T 1 )( T 2)
ln( T 1)/( T 2)

1 Equation
.

( T 1 ) =ThiTci
( T 2)=ThoTco

Equation 2

( T 1 ) =ThiTco
( T 2)=ThoTci

Equation 3

Where :

Thi : hot fluid entrance temperature

Tci : cold fluid entrance temperature
Tho: hot fluid exit temperature
Tco: cold fluid exit temperature

The following diagrams illustrate both parallel flow and countercurrent flow cases, which represents how both fluids acts at each
case.

Figure 5

Figure 6

Experimental Method and Procedure

A-Calibration
1. Calibrate the temperature sensors.
2. Calibrate the turbine flow meters.

B-Process
1. Verify that valves are opened and that we have set countercurrent flow configuration.
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2. Check that the heating tank is full of water, above the level
switch.
3. Switch on the pump and the resistance (equipment power
supply).
4. Set the temperature of the tank to 60C (ST-16).
5. Set the hot water flow at about 2.5 L/min (SC-1) and set the cold
water flow to reach stationary operation conditions, keeping the set
temperature in the tank constant.
6. Record the temperature and flow measurements.
7. Set the valves in the correct position to invert the direction of the
cold water flow to produce parallel flow conditions.
8. Make sure that the temperature is kept constant at 60C in the
tank and that cold and hot water flows and input temperatures have
the same/similar values to those obtained in the counter-current
configuration.
9. Once the system is stabilized, record the temperature and flow
measurements.
10. Calculate the heat transferred by the hot fluid, the heat gained
by the cold fluid and the heat losses. Determine the logarithmic
difference of average temperatures and the global heat transfer
coefficient and represent the temperature distribution graphically.

Experimental results

ST16 ( C)
ST1 (oC)
ST2 (oC)
ST3 (oC)
ST4 (oC)
ST5 (oC)
ST6 (oC)
SC1

Counter current flow

60
53.2
47.3
45.1
27.3
25.6
23.7
3

Parallel current flow

60
52.2
47.1
44.8
24
26.8
28.6
3
10

(L/min)
SC2
(L/min)

2.1276

m
1000=
v

2.1898

m
mh=0.5 kg /s
3
1000 x 60
Equation 4

Givens :

Area=0.00192

mc=3kg/s

1) Heat transferred by hot water:

cp=4.179819

Q h=m h Cph (T h iT h o)

Equation 5

Parallel flow

T1h=ST1-ST3=52.2-44.8=7.40C
Therefore: Qh =0.05(4.179819)(7.4)=1.546J/Kg

Counter flow
T1h=ST1-ST3=53.2-45.1=8.10C

Therefore: Qh=(0.05)(4.179819)(8.1)=1.692J/Kg

2) Heat absorbed by cold water :Q c=m c Cp c (T coT ci)

Equation 6

Parallel flow
T2c=ST6-ST4=28.6-24=4.60C

Therefore: Qc=3(4.179819)(4.6)=57.681J/Kg

Counter flow
T2c=ST4-ST6=27.3-23.7=3.60C
Therefore: Qc =3(4.179819)(3.6)=45.142J/Kg
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3) Logarithmic Mean Temperature difference (LMTD) of average

temperatures between hot water and cold water can be calculated by
the following Equation 7.

LMTD=

( T 1 )( T 2)
ln( T 1)/( T 2)
7 Equation

For the Parallel flow case

7.44.6
T=
7.4 =5.8890C
ln
4.6

For the Counter flow case

8.13.6
T=
8.1
= 5.5490C
ln
3.6

1) Heat transfer global coefficient (U):

U . A=

Qh
Tlm
Equation 8

Where: Area=0.00192

Parallel
U0.00192=

1.546
5.889

=136.731W/m2 0C

Counter flow
U0.00192=

1.6
5.549

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= 150.177 W/m2 0C

Discussion and conclusion

To conclude it all without any exaggerations, This experiment offers
a general outline of the analytical methods viable to the design of
the Concentric Tube Heat Exchanger. Logarithmic mean temperature
difference (LMTD) calculations was used to reinforce the analysis of
the design. The overall heat coefficient (U), and the efficiency were
computed.. upon the experimental calculations and the data
analysis, the calculated temperature from the counter-current and
the parallel heat exchanger is higher when correlated with hot
fluids than the cold fluids. Furthermore, the hypothesis that claims
that the counter-flow is more efficient than the parallel flow has
been proven, as the results reinforces the hypothesis. Also it was
obvious that the process of heat transfer rate has a directly
proportional relation with the flow rate of the streams. That
demonstrates the indirect relation between heat transfer and the
basic law of Thermodynamics (Equation 5,Equation 6). Due to the
amount of heat lost through the surroundings which is not taken in
consideration, the amount of heat loss from the hot fluid isn't
sharply equal to the amount of heat gained by the cold fluid, which
doubt's the theoretical calculations.

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Sources of error
1) Neglecting the heat loss to the surroundings in calculations
doesn't obtain a true value of the Overall Heat Coefficient (U)
2) Fouling factor (dirt's) could affect the heat exchange rate as a
resistance, where the fouling factor wasn't taken in
consideration within the calculations.
3) Bubbles included in the water (which is caused by several
reasons) could affect the flow rate of the fluid.
4) Calibrating the temperature sensors could have been not
performed properly, which causes error in temperatures
reading.
5) Calibrating the flow rate sensors could have been not
performed properly, which causes error in flow rate readings.
6) The heating water tank may didn't reach the level switch,
which obeys the requirements of the experiment.
7) A human error while setting the valves position, when
converting from counter-current to parallel vice versa, the
student could confuse on switching one of the valves from a
position to another.
8) Room temperature must be maintained, to avoid the tubes
gain or loss heat from the surroundings that affect the heat
exchange.

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Bibliography
Eckert, E. (1987. ). Analysis of heat and mass transfer. . Washington, DC,
USA.: Hemisphere Publ., .
Holman, J. (2002). Heat transfer. 9th ed., . New York, NY, USA, : McGraw
Hill, .
Joshua, F. (2009). Design and Construction of a Concentric Tube Heat
Exchanger. Journal 132 , 128 -133.
Lienhard, J. I. (2006. ). A heat transfer textbook. 3rd ed. MA, USA.:
Phlogiston Press Cambridge, .
Nedderman. (1985). Fluid Mechanics and Transfer Processes.
Saunders, E. (1988). Heat exchanger selection, design and construction. .
New York, NY, USA: John Wiley & Sons.
Sons, R. K. (2003). Fundamentals of Heat Exchanger Design.
Vairam, D. S. (2013). Engineering Chemistry. New Delhi : John Wiley &
Sons Ltd.

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