BUDAPEST UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND ECONOMICS

Department of Building Services and Process Engineering

SHELL AND TUBE HEAT EXCHANGER

MEASUREMENT DESCRIPTION

Made by: Dr. Orsolya Molnr

Budapest, September 2015

 BUDAPEST UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND ECONOMICS
Department of Building Services and Process Engineering

1. Introduction
A shell and tube heat exchanger is a class of heat exchanger designs. It is the most
common type of heat exchanger in oil refineries and other large chemical processes. As
its name implies, this type of heat exchanger consists of a number of tubes (tube bundle)
mounted inside a cylindrical shell (a large pressure vessel). Two fluids of different inlet
temperatures flow through the equipment. One flows through the tubes (tube side) and
the other flows outside the tubes but inside the shell (shell side). Heat is transferred from
one fluid to the other through the tube walls, either from tube side to shell side or vice
versa. The fluids can be single or two phase. Heat exchangers applying one phase (liquid
or gas) on each side can be called one-phase or single-phase heat exchangers. Two-phase
heat exchangers can be used to evaporate a liquid (called boilers), or condense steam
(called condensers), with the phase change usually occurring on the shell side.

2. Aim of the measurement

Shell and tube heat exchanger will be operated. The aims of the measurement are the
following:
- operating a shell and tube heat exchanger system of two units;
- heat balance for each heat exchanger;
- calculating logarithmic mean temperature difference for each heat exchanger;
- calculating the overall heat transfer coefficient for each heat exchanger;
- calculating heat transfer coefficient at shell side and tube side for the condenser;
- calculating Nusselt and Reynolds numbers for the condenser and plotting Nu
versus Re.

3. Description of the measuring equipment (Fig.1.)

The scheme of the measuring system can be seen on Figure 1. The product (water) is
admitted into Heat exchanger I (condenser) on the tube side. This unit is two pass on tube
side and one pass on shell side. Product is heated by steam produced by a steam generator
in the neighboring laboratory. Steam is admitted on shell side. Then the warm product is
forwarded to the tubes of the second unit, which is a two pass heat exchanger both on
tube and shell sides. It is cooled by water there. The cooling water is admitted on the shell

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 BUDAPEST UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND ECONOMICS
Department of Building Services and Process Engineering

side of Heat exchanger II. The cooled product, the used cooling water and the subcooled
condensed steam is led to the communal drainage system.
The flow rates of the product and cooling water are measured by turbine flowmeters or
rotameters, the flowrate of steam is measured by tonnage the condensate using stop-watch
and a bucket. The inlet and outlet temperatures of the product, cooling water, steam and
condensate are measured by temperature transmitters (Fe-CuNi thermocouples).

Fig.1. Flow chart of the measuring equipment

4. Procedure of measurement
At first the product and cooling water have to be admitted on the system by opening
valves V1 and V2. The flow rate of the cooling water has to be constant during the
measurement. Then steam can be admitted by opening valve V3. Pressure and
temperature of steam have to be kept constant during the measurement. Measuring the
flow rate of steam is carried out by the gravimetric method by using a bucket, a stopwatch,
and a digital scale. Temperatures of the fluids are registered by a data logger. The

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 BUDAPEST UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND ECONOMICS
Department of Building Services and Process Engineering

measurement has to be performed at 6 different product flow rates (from the largest to the
smallest value). (Steady state has to be reached!)
To shut down measurement process the steam valve has to be closed first. After cooling
the heat exchanger system for some minutes the flow rates of the product and cooling
water can be stopped also. Measured temperature data can be saved on a pendrive.

5. Evaluation of the measurement

In the first heat exchanger there is condensation on shell side and sensible heat transfer
on tube side. This is a two pass unit on tube side and one pass on shell side (Fig.2.). Such
devices can be scaled up by applying the logarithmic mean temperature difference
method.
In the second heat exchanger there is sensible heat transfer on both sides and
countercurrent flow of the product and the cooling water (Fig.2.). Logarithmic mean
temperature difference method can be used also here.

Fig.2. Sketch of the heat exchangers

Transmitted heat flow can be calculated from the heat balance equations in both units.

Heat balance in the first unit:

Deflated heat on shell side:
. =

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 BUDAPEST UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND ECONOMICS
Department of Building Services and Process Engineering

Admitted heat on tube side:

. = . . (.. .. )
where
I.prod - mass flow rate of the product [kg/s]
m
c p specific heat of the product [J/kgk]

Tin inlet temperature [ oC]

Tout outlet temperature [ oC]

Mass flow rate of the product can be calculated from the measured volume flow rate.
Density has to be considered on the temperature existing in the rotameter. Specific heat
has to be considered on the average temperature existing in the tube side of the heat
exchanger.
Heat balance with the heat loss ( ):
. = . +
The efficiency is
.
= 100 (%)
.
Transmitted heat flow can be considered as the average of deflated heat on shell side and
admitted heat on tube side:
. + .
=
2
In case of condensation the overall heat transfer coefficient can be calculated with the
logarithmic mean temperature difference:
= .

Heat balance in the second unit:

In this unit product flows in the tubes and cooling water flows in the shell counter
currently. Deflated heat on tube side:
. = . . (.. .. )
Admitted heat on shell side:
. = . . (.. .. )
Mass flow rate of the cooling water can be calculated from the measured volume flow

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 BUDAPEST UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND ECONOMICS
Department of Building Services and Process Engineering

rate. Density has to be considered on the temperature existing in the rotameter. Specific
heat has to be considered on the average temperature existing in the heat exchanger.
Heat balance with the heat loss ( ):
. = . +
The efficiency is
.
= 100 (%)
.
Transmitted heat flow can be considered as the average of deflated heat on shell side and
admitted heat on tube side:
. + .
=
2
At counter current operation mode the logarithmic mean temperature difference can be
applied to calculate the overall heat transfer coefficient:
= .

The average temperature difference or mean temperature difference (MTD) between the
two fluids in the heat exchanger varies along the lengths. In case of co-current and
counter-current operation mode the logarithmic mean temperature difference can be
applied. Logarithmic MTD also applies when there is phase change at one side of the heat
exchanger.
Tmax Tmin
Tln
T
ln max
Tmin

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 BUDAPEST UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND ECONOMICS
Department of Building Services and Process Engineering

Fig.3. Temperature profiles in heat exchangers

For example when product is heated by steam, the logarithmic mean temperature
difference can be expressed (Fig.3.):
T TI . prod.in Tsteam TI . prod.out
Tln
steam

Tsteam TI . prod.in
ln
Tsteam TI . prod.out

In the first heat exchanger where the heating medium is steam, in the shell side steam
condenses on the external surface of the tubes creating a liquid film (called condensation
film) flowing downwards to the bottom of the shell. This condensation film exists as a
resistance against the heat transfer and has to be taken in consideration at calculating the
overall heat transfer coefficient. Heat transfer coefficient of the condensation film ( hcond )
can be calculated from the following correlation:
1/ 3
k 3f 2f g

1 / 3
hcond 1,47 Re f
2
f
where,
kf thermal conductivity of the film [W/mK]
f density of the film [kg/m3]
f viscosity of the film [kg/ms]
g gravitational acceleration [m/s2]
thickness of the tube wall [m]
Re number of the film:
4
=

where,
N number of tubes where condensation takes place
Temperature of the condensation film can be assumed 2-3C less than temperature of
the steam. The accurate value of it can be determined by iteration method.

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 BUDAPEST UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND ECONOMICS
Department of Building Services and Process Engineering

The overall heat transfer coefficient of the first unit can be expressed regarding the heat
transfer coefficients and the heat conductivity of the wall:
1 1 1
tube
U I h prod k tube hcond

From this equation the product-side heat transfer coefficient can be calculated.

Nu and Re numbers have to be also calculated at each product flow rate when steady state
is reached:

=


=

where
inside diameter of the tubes [m]
heat conductivity of the product [W/mK]
kinematic viscosity of the product [ m2/s]
w velocity of the product [m/s]

6. Tasks to do
Calculations (at each product flow rate when steady state is reached):
Heat balance for both units, heat loss, efficiency
Overall heat transfer coefficients for both units ( , )
Heat transfer coefficients for the first unit ( , )
Nu and Re numbers of the product at the first unit
Plots:
o
o
o
o Nu Re (logarithmic scales)

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 BUDAPEST UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND ECONOMICS
Department of Building Services and Process Engineering

7. Necessary data
Values of density, specific heat, thermal conductivity and viscosity of water and latent
heat of the steam can be taken from standard tables in function of the temperature.
For water:

T c k 106 106
C kg/m3 kJ/kg K W/mK Ns/m2 m2/s
5,0 1000,0 4,206 0,568 1534,410 1,535
10,0 999,7 4,195 0,577 1296,439 1,300
15,0 999,1 4,187 0,587 1135,610 1,146
20,0 998,2 4,182 0,597 993,414 1,006
25,0 997,1 4,178 0,606 880,637 0,884
30,0 995,7 4,176 0,615 792,377 0,805
35,0 994,1 4,175 0,624 719,808 0,725
40,0 992,2 4,175 0,633 658,026 0,658
45,0 990,2 4,176 0,640 605,070 0,611
50,0 988,1 4,178 0,647 555,056 0,556
55,0 985,7 4,179 0,652 509,946 0,517
60,0 983,2 4,181 0,658 471,670 0,478
65,0 980,6 4,184 0,663 435,415 0,444
70,0 977,8 4,187 0,668 404,034 0,415
75,0 974,9 4,190 0,671 376,575 0,366
80,0 971,8 4,194 0,673 352,059 0,364
85,0 968,7 4,198 0,676 328,523 0,339
90,0 965,3 4,202 0,678 308,909 0,326
95,0 961,9 4,206 0,680 292,238 0,310
100,0 958,4 4,211 0,682 277,528 0,294
110,0 951,0 4,224 0,684 254,973 0,268
120,0 943,5 4,232 0,685 235,360 0,244
130,0 934,8 4,250 0,686 211,825 0,226

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 BUDAPEST UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND ECONOMICS
Department of Building Services and Process Engineering

For steam:
T P h
C bar kJ/kg
90,0 0,7011 2282,476
95,0 0,8452 2269,790
100,0 1,0132 2256,685
110,0 1,4327 2229,932
120,0 1,9854 2202,676
130,0 2,7011 2174,206
140,0 3,6138 2144,897
150,0 4,7601 2114,334
160,0 6,1802 2082,514

Other necessary data for the calculations:

Number of the tubes: N=48 pcs
Tube internal diameter: = 8
Tube external diameter: = 10

Thermal conductivity of the tube: = 14

The contact surface in the heat exchangers are: = = 1,5 2