Heat Exchangers

ME 430
e

Heat Exchanger Performance

The performance of heat exchangers

operating under forced flow conditions is
defined by the amount of heat transferred
between the two fluid streams and is
characterized by the UA value or the
dimensionless factors: the effectiveness,e,
or number of transfer units (NTU’s), and
the capacity ratio,Cr,
 Energy Balance
the rate of heat transfer between mc ms
the two fluid streams in the heat Tci Tso
exchanger, Q, is,
Q  (mc p ) s (Tso  Tsi )  (mc p )c (Tci  Tco )
Q
Q0 Q0
Q

where mc p is the heat

capacity rate of one of the fluid
streams.
mc ms
Tco Tsi
Simple Configurations
Heat transfer through a wall

Q = qx A

and

Q = UA (DT)

U = (1/h1 + Rwall +1/h2)-1

Simple Configurations
for Tube & Shell

Q = UA (DT)
Need to determine DT.
This is not straightforward
as for the parallel flow case.
 UA –Value & LMTD
The unit’s overall conductance or UA value is defined as
the product of the overall heat transfer coefficient and the
heat transfer area. For counter-flow applications, the heat
transfer rate is defined as the product of overall
conductance and the log-mean temperature difference,
LMTD, i.e.,
Q  UA  LMTD
where the log-mean temperature difference is equal to,

DTout  DTin
LMTD 
 DTout 
ln  
 DTin 
 Parallel Flow

Q  UA  LMTD

DTout  DTin
LMTD 
 DTout 
ln  
 DTin 
 Counter Flow

Q  UA  LMTD

DTout  DTin
LMTD 
 DTout 
ln  
 DTin 
From “Heat Transfer”,
By Y. Cengel
Types (cont.)

• Cross-flow Heat Exchangers

Finned-Both Fluids Unfinned-One Fluid Mixed

Unmixed the Other Unmixed

 For cross-flow over the tubes, fluid motion, and hence mixing, in the transverse
direction (y) is prevented for the finned tubes, but occurs for the unfinned condition.

 Heat exchanger performance is influenced by mixing.

Types (cont.)

• Shell-and-Tube Heat Exchangers

One Shell Pass and One Tube Pass

 Baffles are used to establish a cross-flow and to induce turbulent mixing of the
shell-side fluid, both of which enhance convection.
 The number of tube and shell passes may be varied, e.g.:

One Shell Pass, Two Shell Passes,

Two Tube Passes Four Tube Passes
Types (cont.)

• Compact Heat Exchangers

 Widely used to achieve large heat rates per unit volume, particularly when
one or both fluids is a gas.
 Characterized by large heat transfer surface areas per unit volume, small
flow passages, and laminar flow.

(a) Fin-tube (flat tubes, continuous plate fins)

(b) Fin-tube (circular tubes, continuous plate fins)
(c) Fin-tube (circular tubes, circular fins)
(d) Plate-fin (single pass)
(e) Plate-fin (multipass)
Overall Coefficient
Overall Heat Transfer Coefficient
• An essential requirement for heat exchanger design or performance calculations.

• Contributing factors include convection and conduction associated with the

two fluids and the intermediate solid, as well as the potential use of fins on both
sides and the effects of time-dependent surface fouling.

• With subscripts c and h used to designate the hot and cold fluids, respectively,
the most general expression for the overall coefficient is:

1  1  1
UA UA c UA h

1 Rf , c Rf , h 1
   Rw  
o hAc o Ac o Ah o hAh
Overall Coefficient

 Rf  Fouling factor for a unit surface area (m  K/W)

2

 Table 11.1
 Rw  Wall conduction resistance (K/W)

 o  Overall surface efficiency of fin array (Section 3.6.5)

 Af 
o,c or h  1  1   f  
 A c or h

A  At  total surface area (fins and exposed base)

A f  surface area of fins only

Assuming an adiabatic tip, the fin efficiency is

 tanh  mL  
 f , c or h   
 mL c or h

mc or h   2U p / kwt c or h

 
U p , c or h   h   partial overall coefficient
 1  hR 
 f c or h
Compact HX

Compact Heat Exchangers

• Analysis based on e  NTU method

• Convection (and friction) coefficients have been determined for selected

HX cores by Kays and London 5. Proprietary data have been obtained by
manufacturers of many other core configurations.

• Results for a circular tube-continuous fin HX core:

jh  St Pr 2 / 3

St  h / Gc p

G  Vmax
 Effectiveness
The heat exchanger effectiveness, e, is defined as the ratio
of the rate of heat transfer in the exchanger, Q, to the
maximum theoretical rate of heat transfer, Qmax, i.e.,
Q
e
Qmax
mc ms
The maximum theoretical rate of heat transfer Tci Tso

is limited by the fluid stream with the smallest

heat capacity rate, i.e. Q

(mc p ) s (Tso  Tsi )

Q0 Q0
Q

e
(mc p ) min (Tci  Tsi ) mc ms
Tco Tsi

where (mc p ) min the is the smaller of (mc p ) s or (mc p )c .

 NTU
The number of transfer units (NTU) is an indicator
of the actual heat-transfer area or physical size of
the heat exchanger. The larger the value of NTU,
the closer the unit is to its thermodynamic limit. It is
defined as,

UA
NTU 
(mc p ) min
 Capacity Ratio
The capacity ratio, Cr, is representative of the operational
condition of a given heat exchanger and will vary
depending on the geometry and flow configuration (parallel
flow, counterflow, cross flow, etc.) of the exchanger. This
value is defined as the minimum heat capacity rate divided
by the maximum capacity rate, i.e.,

(mc p ) min
Cr 
(mc p ) max
It is important to note that the capacity ratio will be directly
proportional to the ratio of the mass flow rates if the specific
heats of the flows are fairly constant.
Effects of Capacity Ratio and NTU on Effectiveness
Effectiveness Relations
NTU Relations
Special Conditions

Special Operating Conditions

 Case (a): Ch>>Cc or h is a condensing vapor  Ch    .

– Negligible or no change in Th Th , o  Th ,i  .
 Case (b): Cc>>Ch or c is an evaporating liquid  Cc    .
– Negligible or no change in Tc Tc , o  Tc ,i  .
 Case (c): Ch=Cc.
– D T1  D T2  D T1m
Refrigeration
 Examples

Other Types
Heat Pipe
Rotary
ILC Enthalpy Wheel
Heat Pipe
Enthalpy Wheel
The heart of the Energy Recovery Ventilator is
the desiccant coated energy recovery wheel,
which slowly rotates between its two sections.
In one section, the stale, conditioned air is
passed through the wheel, and exhausted in
the atmosphere. During this process, the
wheel absorbs sensible and latent energy
from the conditioned air, which is used to
condition (cool / heat) the incoming Fresh Air
in the other section, during the second half of
its rotation cycle.