DATA:

Overall heat transfer coefficient of boiler: 1.16 BTU/ hr-ft2-oF (Angeles, 1999)
Overall heat transfer coefficient of condenser: 7.09 BTU/ hr-ft2-oF
Design value (theo amount of condensate/distilled water produced)= 1 gallon/hour
Effect of changing air velocity
Heat transfer area= 11.57849 ft2
 According to Perry & Green (2008), the general equation for a heat-exchanger equipment

is given by the equation below. Integrating this equation and assuming that the process proceeds

at steady-state conditions will give Equation 1-1.

𝑑𝑞
𝑑𝐴 = 𝑈∆𝑇 (Equation 1-1)

𝑞 = 𝑈𝐴∆𝑇 (Equation 1-2)

where:
𝑑𝐴 is the required surface area
𝑑𝑞 is the required amount of heat
𝑈 is the overall heat-transfer coefficient
∆𝑇 is the overall bulk temperature difference

Equation 1-2 can only be used to calculate for the rate of heat transfer at a point in a heat

exchanger since the change in temperature varies along the equipment (Geankoplis, 1993). Thus,

the mean temperature difference (∆𝑇𝑚 ) was introduced. Perry & Green (2008) stated that this is

only applicable if the specific heat of each stream and the overall heat-transfer coefficient is

constant and there are negligible heat losses in the system. However, for completely cocurrent and

countercurrent flow, ∆𝑇𝑚 is modified and the logarithmic-mean temperature difference (∆𝑇𝑙𝑚 )

must be used. The equation for ∆𝑇𝑚 and ∆𝑇𝑙𝑚 is given by Equation 1-3 and Equation 1-4,

respectively as listed by Geankoplis (1993).

∆𝑇1 +∆𝑇2
∆𝑇𝑚 = (Equation 1-3)
2

∆𝑇2 −∆𝑇1
∆𝑇𝑙𝑚 = ∆𝑇2 (Equation 1-4)
ln( )
∆𝑇1

where:
∆𝑇1 and ∆𝑇2 are the temperature difference in the terminals
Integrating Equation 1-4 to Equation 1-2 will give Equation 1-5 and Equation 1-6 which

give the specific equations for the overall heat-transfer coefficient of the condenser and boiler,
respectively (Angeles (1999), as stated by Famularcano (2003)). Aside from the assumption that

U is constant and there is negligible heat loss, the equation for 𝑈𝑐 assumes that there is no partial

phase change and no subcooling occurs while the one for 𝑈𝑏 assumes that the mass flowrates are

constant and that the specific heat of water is independent of temperature Famularcano (2003).

𝑄𝑐
𝑈𝑐 = 𝐴 (Equation 1-5)
𝑐 ∆𝑇𝑙𝑚

𝑄𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑑
𝑈𝑏 = (Equation 1-6)
𝐴𝑏 ∆𝑇𝑏

The rate of heat transfer of the condenser and the boiler can be calculated if an individual

heat balance is to be made on the condenser and the boiler. Figure 1-1 shows the flow of fluid in

an air-cooled condenser.

Steam

Cold Air Condenser Hot air

Condensate

Figure 1-1. Flow of fluid in a cross-flow air-cooled condenser.

This shows that the heat transferred in the condenser is equal to the heat lost by the steam

and to the sensible heat by subcooling. Transforming this into equation will give Equation 1-7. For

the boiler, the heat balance will show that the heat transferred is equal to heat required to change
the temperature (sensible heat) and the heat required to change the phase of the fluid (latent heat).

This is given by Equation 1-8, as stated by Famularcano (2003).

𝑄𝑐 = 𝑚𝑠 𝜆𝑠 + 𝑚𝑠 𝐶𝑝𝑤 ∆𝑇𝑠𝑢𝑏𝑐𝑜𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 (Equation 1-7)

𝑄𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑑 = 𝑚𝑤 𝐶𝑝𝑤 ∆𝑇𝑤 + 𝑚𝑣 𝜆𝑣 (Equation 1-8)

where:
𝑙𝑏𝑚
𝑚𝑠 is the mass flowrate of steam ( )
ℎ
𝑙𝑏𝑚
𝑚𝑤 is the mass flowrate of water to boil ( )
ℎ
𝑙𝑏𝑚
𝑚𝑣 is the mass flowrate of steam to be generated ( )
ℎ
∆𝑇𝑠𝑢𝑏𝑐𝑜𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 is the change in air temperature (℉)
∆𝑇𝑤 is the change in water temperature (℉)
𝐵𝑇𝑈
𝐶𝑝𝑤 is the heat capacity of water (𝑙𝑏 ∙℉)
𝑚
𝐵𝑇𝑈
𝜆𝑠 , 𝜆𝑣 is the latent heat of vaporization ( 𝑙𝑏 )
𝑚

The shell-side coefficients can be approximated using the Donohue equation, as shown in

Equation 1-_ (McCabe, 2001). While Equations 1-_ and 1-_ shows the formulas to calculate for

the baffle window and area for transverse flow across the tubes.

ℎ𝑜 𝐷𝑜 𝐷𝑜 𝐺𝑒 0.6 𝑐𝑝 𝜇 0.33 𝜇 0.14

= 0.2 ( ) ( ) (𝜇 ) (Equation 1-)
𝑘 𝜇 𝑘 𝑤

where:
𝐺𝑒 is the weighted average mass velocity of the fluid flowing parallel and across the
tubes
𝐺𝑒 = √𝐺𝑏 𝐺𝑐
𝐺𝑏 is the mass flowrate of fluid in the shell that is parallel or tangent to the tubes
𝑚̇
𝐺𝑏 = 𝑆
𝑏
𝐺𝑐 is the mass flowrate of fluid in the shell that is flowing across the tubes
𝑚̇
𝐺𝑐 = 𝑆
𝑐
𝐷𝑜 is the outer diameter of the tubes
k is the thermal conductivity of the fluid in the shell
𝑐𝑝 is the specific heat capacity of the fluid in the shell
𝜇 is the viscosity of the fluid in the shell at Tb
𝜇𝑤 is the viscosity of the fluid in the shell at Tw
 𝜋𝐷𝑠2 𝜋𝐷𝑜2
𝑆𝑏 = 𝑓𝑏 − 𝑁𝑏
4 4
where:
𝑆𝑏 is the baffle window
𝑓𝑏 is the fraction of cross-sectional area of shell occupied by baffle window (commonly
0.1955)
𝐷𝑠 is the inside diameter of shell
𝐷𝑜 is the outside diameter of tubes
𝑁𝑏 is the number of baffle window

𝐷𝑜
𝑆𝑐 = 𝑃𝐷𝑠 (1 − )
𝑝
where:
𝑆𝑐 is the area for transverse flow across the tubes
P is the baffle pitch
p is the center-to-center distance between tubes

The heat transfer coefficient for finned tubes can be calculated using Equation ____

according to Threkeld (1962), as stated by Famularcano in 2003. This equation can be used

assuming that (1) the heat transfer is at steady-state; (2) the fin surfaces are dry; and (3) contact

resistance between the base of the fin and the tube is negligible.

1
𝑈𝑜 = 𝑎𝑜 𝑥𝑝
𝑎𝑜 1−𝜑 1
+ + 𝑎𝑝,𝑜 +
𝑎𝑝,𝑖 ℎ𝑖 𝑎𝑝,𝑚 𝑘𝑝 ℎ𝑜
ℎ𝑜 ( 𝑎 + 𝜑)
𝑓

where:
𝑈𝑜 is the heat transfer coefficient for air-cooled condensers (BTU/hr-ft2-°F)
𝑎𝑜 is the external surface area (ft2/ lineal lineal ft of tube) = 𝑎𝑝,𝑚 + 𝑎𝑓
𝑎𝑝,𝑖 is the tube inside surface area (ft2/ lineal lineal ft of tube)
𝑎𝑝,𝑜 is the tube outside surface area (ft2/ lineal lineal ft of tube)
𝑎𝑝,𝑚 is the tube mean surface area (ft2/ lineal lineal ft of tube)
𝑎𝑓 is the tube fin surface area (ft2/ lineal lineal ft of tube)
𝑥𝑝 is the pipe wall thickness (ft)
ℎ𝑖 is the steam heat transfer coefficient (BTU/hr-ft2-°F)
ℎ𝑜 is the air heat transfer coefficient (BTU/hr-ft2-°F)
𝑘𝑝 is the pipe thermal conductivity (BTU/hr-ft2-°F)
𝜑 is the fin efficiency
 Reynolds and Prandtl numbers are computed using Equation ___ and ___ (McCabe,

Smith & Harriott, 1993).

𝐷𝑣𝑎𝑖𝑟 𝜌𝑎
𝑁𝑅𝑒 =
𝜇𝑎

where:
𝑁𝑅𝑒 is the Reynold’s number
𝐷 is the diameter of the tube
𝑣𝑎𝑖𝑟 is the velocity of air (ft/hr)
𝜇𝑎 is the viscosity of air at arithmetic mean air temperature (lbm/ft-hr)

𝜇𝑎 𝐶𝑝𝑎
𝑃𝑟 =
𝑘𝑎

where:
𝑃𝑟 is the Prandtl number
𝑘𝑎 is the thermal conductivity of air at arithmetic mean air temperature (BTU/hr-ft-°F)

McAdams, as stated by Famularcano in 2003 suggests the Nusselt equation to be increased

to 20% for film type condensation on vertical surfaces. With this the equation for the steam heat

transfer coefficient is as follows:

1
𝑘𝑙3 𝜌𝑙 (𝜌𝑙 − 𝜌𝑣 )Δ𝐻𝑣 𝑔 4
ℎ𝑖 = 1.13 [ ]
𝜇𝑙 𝐿(𝑇𝑣 − 𝑇𝑠𝑓

where:
𝑘𝑙 is the thermal conductivity of the liquid phase (BTU/hr-ft-°F)
𝜌𝑙 is the liquid phase density (lbm/ft3)
𝜌𝑣 is the vapor phase density (lbm/ft3)
Δ𝐻𝑣 is the latent heat of steam condensation (BTU/lbm)
𝜇𝑙 is the viscosity of the liquid phase (lbm/ft-hr)
𝑔 is the gravitational acceleration constant (ft/hr2)
𝐿 is length of tube (ft)
𝑇𝑣 is the vapor saturation temperature (°F)
 𝑇𝑠𝑓 is the inside surface temperature (°F)

Perry & Brown (1997) defined fin efficiency as the ratio of the mean temperature difference

from surface to fluid and from fin to fluid at the base or root of the fin. It can be determined using

Equation ____.

tanh 𝑚𝑏𝑓
φ=
𝑚𝑏𝑓

Where:
𝑏𝑓 is the height of the fin
1⁄
ℎ𝑓 𝑝𝑓 2
𝑚= ( )
𝑘𝑎𝑥
ℎ𝑓 is the outside film coefficient
𝑝𝑓 is the perimeter of the fin
𝑎𝑥 is the cross-sectional area of the fin
𝑘 is the thermal conductivity of the material from which the fin is made
 REFERENCES

FAMULARCANO, J.R. (2003). Performance evaluation of a modified boiler for a gas-fired

distilling apparatus with an air-cooled steel condenser. Undergraduate thesis, CEAT.
UPLB.

GEANKOPLIS, C.J. (1993). Transport processes and unit operations (3rd ed.). New
Jersey:Prentice-Hall International.

MCCABE, W., SMITH, J., & HARRIOTT, P. (1993). 5th ,ed. Unit operations of chemical
engineering. McGraw-Hill.

PERRY, R.H., & GREEN, D.W. (1997). Perry’s chemical engineers’ handbook (7th ed.). New
York: McGraw-Hill

PERRY, R.H., & GREEN, D.W. (2008). Perry’s chemical engineers’ handbook (8th ed.). New
York: McGraw-Hill