Proc.

of the 5
th
International Conference on Advances in Mechanical Engineering (ICAME-2011), June 06-08, 2011
S.V. National Institute of Technology, Surat 395 007, Gujarat, India

313

Performance Analysis of different types of Heat exchangers

Abhijeet P.Shah*, Suresh M.Sawant

Rajarambapu Institute of Technology, Rajaramnagar, India.
*Corresponding author (e-mail: abhijeet.shah@ritindia.edu)

A trial is conducted on Multiple Heat Exchanger apparatus which comprises of
four heat exchangers viz. shell and tube heat exchanger, plate type heat
exchanger, concentric tube type heat exchanger, shell and coil heat exchanger
with keeping mass flow rate constant in these heat exchangers. For the
comparison among the above said heat exchangers, the effectiveness of all heat
exchangers is calculated using steady state heat transfer and found that
concentric tube type heat exchanger with counterflow arrangement is having
higher value of effectiveness compared to other types of heat exchangers.
Hence mostly in chemical plants, food processing units concentric tube type heat
exchanger is widely used. Also the said heat exchanger design is simple, not
much complicated in operation and maintenance.

Keywords- Multiple, heat exchanger, Effectiveness, Concentric tube

1. Introduction

Heat exchanger is a device that enables heat transfer between two or more fluids that
are at different temperatures. The applications of heat exchangers are multi- fold, which
include chemical processing plant, automobile radiators, steam power plants, domestic and
commercial refrigerators, freezers, water coolers, air-conditioners, food processing systems
and so on.
The heat exchanger design is quite a complex proposition, as it should address rate
of heat transfer, pressure drop, sizing and economic aspects mainly, in addition to several
other pre-requisites. As an example, applications like power plant and chemical processing
plant call for cost minimization, while space and aeronautical pose restrictions on size and
weight factors.
Though there are several considerations which one can classify the heat exchanger.
Mainly heat exchangers are classified on the basis of transfer process; timing of flow of fluids,
relative flow directions of fluids, compactness, and number of passes the fluids take and
whether or not fluids undergo phase change. If we are going to observe the most preferably
common four types of heat exchangers are used around the globe in all above said
applications.
These are
Concentric tube heat exchanger
Shell and Tube heat exchanger
Shell and Coil heat exchanger
Plate type heat exchanger

2. Concentric tube heat exchanger

Figure 1 shows concentric tube type heat exchanger, which consists of two concentric
tubes of same length. One fluid flows through the inner tube while the other fluid flows
through the annular space between the inner and outer tube. These are classified as-
a) Parallel flow type both the fluids flow in the same direction.
b) Counter flow type both the fluids flow parallel to each other but in opposite
directions.

Proc. of the 5
th
International Conference on Advances in Mechanical Engineering (ICAME-2011), June 06-08, 2011
S.V. National Institute of Technology, Surat 395 007, Gujarat, India

314



Figure 1. Concentric Tube Heat exchanger Figure 2. Shell and Tube Heat exchanger


3. Shell and tube Heat exchanger

Shell and tube type heat exchanger consist of a large number of tubes laid parallel to
each other as shown in Figure 2. The ends of these tubes are mounted in a plate known as
Tube sheet. This assembly is called as tube bundle. This tube bundle is housed in a
cylindrical vessel known as shell. The shell is closed on both sides by using dish ends. One
of the fluid enters the dish end on one side and flows through the tubes. This fluid is called as
tube side fluid. The other fluid enters the shell and flows over the tubes and is called shell
side fluid. The transfer of heat takes place between two fluids across the tube walls.
While flowing from inlet tube to outlet tube, the fluid is made to change its direction.
This is achieved by providing baffles in the shell or partitions in the dish ends. Number of
times fluid changes its direction is termed as number of passes made by that fluid. The baffles
increase the turbulence in the shell side fluid while the partitions in the dish end increases the
stay time of the tube side fluid and make the heat exchanger compact.

4. Plate type Heat Exchanger

Figure 3 shows Plate type heat exchanger which consists of parallel plates stacked
together. The hot fluid is hot water obtained from water heater. The cold fluid is tap water. Hot
water enters at the top, flows through the alternate plates in the stack and comes to the
diagonally opposite end of the plates. It reverses its direction during the flow. Cold water
enters lower part of the plates, passes through the alternate plates and leaves out the stack
through outlet at upper diagonally opposite end of plates.


Figure 3. Plate type Heat exchanger

5. Shell and Coil heat Exchanger

Shell and coil type heat exchanger are constructed using circular layers of helically
corrugated tubes placed inside a light compact shell as shown in Figure 4. The fluid in each
layer flows in the opposite direction to the layer surrounding it, producing a criss-cross
pattern. The large number of closely packed tubes creates a significant heat transfer surface
within a light compact shell. The alternate layers create a swift uniform heating of fluids
Proc. of the 5
th
International Conference on Advances in Mechanical Engineering (ICAME-2011), June 06-08, 2011
S.V. National Institute of Technology, Surat 395 007, Gujarat, India

315

increasing the total heat transfer coefficient. The corrugated tubes produce a turbulent flow
where the desired feature of fluctuating velocities is achieved. This haphazard movement of
fluid particles reduces deposit buildup by performing a "scoop and lift" action. The connection
locations and angle of entry is specially selected to reduce the probability of debris buildup.
Shell and Coil Construction Features The shell and coil tube series are manufactured as a
singe unit with no removable parts. The coiled tube bundles are welded to a compact tube
sheet located within the entry and exit connections. The cylindrical shell is terminated by
hemi-spherical heads. Designed with smooth tubes and 90 connections in flanged or NPT
termination.

Figure 4. Shell and Coil Heat exchanger

6. Effectiveness of a heat exchanger

The effectiveness of a heat exchanger is based on the maximum value of Q i.e.
amount of heat transfer which in turn is defined by dT i.e. temperature difference for one or
other of the fluids. The effectiveness thus defined as the ratio of the energy actually
transferred to the maximum theoretically possible. Equation No. 1, 2 and 3 gives the formulae
to calculate effectiveness of a heat exchanger.

EIIettveness =
Atual Energy TransIer
Theurettal Energy TransIer
(1)

s =
( T
2
-T
C1
)
( T
h1
-T
1
)
when m
h
C
ph
> m

C
p
(2)

s =
( T
h1
-T
h2
)
( T
h1
-T
1
)
when m
h
C
ph
< m

C
p
(3)

7. Multiple Heat Exchanger Apparatus

Figure 5 shows multiple heat exchanger apparatus. In this setup four commonly used
heat exchangers are assembled together with separate inlet and outlet pipes for hot and cold
water supply per type of heat exchanger. The valve arrangement is such that at a time either
we can connect one, two, three or four heat exchangers. The surface area of the all types of
heat exchanger is same. For calculating effectiveness of heat exchangers, firstly trial is taken
for each heat exchanger separately for a particular time period up to steady state of that
particular heat exchanger. Also flow rate of hot and cold water for each heat exchanger is
adjusted to common value with the help of valve arrangement. The reading thus taken for all
four types of heat exchangers. Four thermocouples are mounted for every heat exchanger to
measure hot fluid inlet/outlet temperature. Digital temperature indicator is used for display of
temperatures in degree centigrade. Three water heaters of 3000 Watts each are used for
supply of hot water.

Hot Fluid Flow rate 1300 ml/min
Cold Fluid Flow rate 1000ml/min
Proc. of the 5
th
International Conference on Advances in Mechanical Engineering (ICAME-2011), June 06-08, 2011
S.V. National Institute of Technology, Surat 395 007, Gujarat, India

316




Figure 5. Multiple Heat exchanger apparatus

The steady state temperature readings for all types of heat exchanger are shown in Table 1

Table 1. Temperatures of different heat exchangers at Steady state



Temp. in
0
C
Type of Heat Exchanger
Plate Shell and
Coil
Shell and
Tube
Finned Concentric Tube
Parallel flow Counter
flow
Hot fluid Inlet 37 41 49 39 50
Hot fluid Outlet 34 40 42 33 43
Cold fluid Inlet 30 34 31 34 33
Cold fluid Outlet 31 36 33 31 34

For comparison among these heat exchangers, it is essential to calculate
effectiveness for all four heat exchangers.

Equation No. 4 to 9 gives steps for calculating effectiveness:
Heat given by hot fluid: q
h
= m
h
C
ph
( T
ht
T
hu
) (4)
Heat collected by cold water: q

= m

C
p
( T
u
T
t
) (5)

LMTD =
( T
h|
-T
hu
) -( T
cu
-T
c|
)
|n
(T
h|
-T
c|
)
( T
cu
-T
c|
)
(6)

Internal Heat transfer Coefficient U
|
=
q
h
A
|
T
m
(7)

External Heat transfer Coefficient U
u
=
q
c
A
u
T
m
(8)

Effectiveness
Proc. of the 5
th
International Conference on Advances in Mechanical Engineering (ICAME-2011), June 06-08, 2011
S.V. National Institute of Technology, Surat 395 007, Gujarat, India

317

s =
m
h
C
ph
( T
h|
-T
hu
)
m
h
C
ph
( T
h|
-T
c|
)
(9)

8. Result and Conclusion

Table 2 gives the values for effectiveness of heat exchangers

Table 2. Effectiveness of all heat exchangers

Type of Heat Exchanger

LMTD Effectiveness
Shell and Tube 13.07 0.453
Plate type 4.83 0.143
Shell and Coil 5.48 0.211
Finned Concentric tube (Counter
flow)
4.328 0.75

After observing the results that are obtained by conducting trial on multiple heat
exchanger apparatus by keeping constant mass flow rate and equal effective heat transfer
area for all heat exchangers, it is found that concentric tube type heat exchanger with counter
flow arrangement is more effective than other types. Next to it shell and tube heat exchanger
then shell and coil heat exchanger. It is also found that Plate type heat exchanger is having
least value of the effectiveness.

References

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