HEAT EXCHANGERS REPORT

By

Benard Odiyo

benardodiyo@gmail.com

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 Abstract

In chemical engineering process designs, heat exchangers form a very vital component.
In any given system, molecular vibration and excitations are enhanced by an increase in
temperature. In this exercise, an evaluation of the performance of three various kinds of heat
exchangers is performed; tubular heat exchangers (WL 110.01), plate heat exchangers (WL
110.02), as well as the shell &tube heat exchangers (WL 110.03). To study the thermal
transmission of heat between two fluids at distinct temperatures, heat exchanger unit (WL 110)
has been analysed. All these heat transfers normally operate in two configurations; counter-flow
and parallel. This experiment seeks to compare the parallel flow and counter flow of various
heat exchanger types, evaluate the performance of heat exchanger when there is a change in
flow rates and fluid temperatures, and to compare the performance of heat exchanger for
various types of heat exchangers.

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Table of Contents

Abstract ........................................................................................................................................................ ii
1.0 Introduction...................................................................................................................................... 1
2. Background and Theory ....................................................................................................................... 2
2.1 Background....................................................................................................................................... 2
2.1.1Tubular Heat Exchanger .......................................................................................................... 2
2.1.2 Plate Heat Exchanger .............................................................................................................. 3
2.1.3 Shell & Tube Heat Exchanger ................................................................................................ 3
2.2 Counter current and Co-current (Parallel) Flow .......................................................................... 3
3.0 Experimental Methodology................................................................................................................. 3
3.1 Experiment and Apparatus............................................................................................................. 4
3.2 Experimental Procedure ................................................................................................................. 4
4.0 Results .................................................................................................................................................. 5
5.0 Analysis and Discussion ..................................................................................................................... 8
5.1 Analysis ............................................................................................................................................. 8
5.2 Discussion of the Results. .............................................................................................................. 9
Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................. 11
References ................................................................................................................................................ 12

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1.0 Introduction

In chemical engineering process designs, heat exchangers form a very vital part. Heat
exchangers are devices that are commonly employed in situations where heat sinks alone are
not enough to prevent a machine from overheating (Lytron Total Thermal Solutions, 2016).
Therefore, heat exchangers are very important units of operations and contribute to the overall
efficiency and process safety of many industrial applications. These devices are widely used in
air conditioning, refrigeration, and chemical processing, heating, and energy generation. From
the perspective of fluid thermodynamics, the heat exchanger can be defined as a device that is
designed to transfer thermal energy from a fluid that is relatively hot to a relatively cold fluid
(Incropera et al., 2011).

The experiment was performed between cold and hot water with an aim of
accomplishing the following objectives; to compare parallel flow and counter flow of various heat
exchanger types, to determine performance of heat exchangers when there is a change in flow
rates and fluid temperatures, and to compare the performance of heat exchanger for various
types of heat exchangers.

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 2. Background and Theory
2.1 Background

The classifications of heat exchangers are majorly done according to the construction
type and flow arrangement (Incropera et al., 2011, p.670). The classifications of heat transfers
are thus organised according to their surface compactness and quality and quantity of fluids, the
process of transfer, flow arrangement and type of construction (Moran et al., 2014).

.
Figure 2: Plate Heat Exchanger (WL110.02).
Figure 1: Tubular Heat Exchanger (WL110.01)..

2.1.1Tubular Heat Exchanger Figure 3: Shell & Tube Heat exchanger

This heat exchanger is constructed using jacket around the pipe. Besides being the simplest
type of heat exchanger, it is mainly used for low fluid flow rates. As maintained by Cengel and
Boles (2011), the fluid that should be cooled or heated flows inside the pipe, while the jacket
contains the other fluid. In this case, the heat exchange between cold fluid and hot fluid takes
place through the walls.

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 2.1.2 Plate Heat Exchanger

. These types of heat exchangers employ metal plates as the medium of transferring
heat between two fluids. As compared to shell & tube, the plate heat exchangers possess a
larger surface area for enthalpy transmission, as maintained by Kakaç, Liu, and
Pramuanjaroenkij (2013). This consequently increases the rate at which temperature changes
within the plates. The plates are attached by rubber gaskets in a large frame. These plates are
made of aluminium, stainless steel or titanium.

2.1.3 Shell & Tube Heat Exchanger

About 80 % of the heat exchangers are of Shell & Tube (Theodore, 2011) . Within the shell
itself, one fluid flows through the tubes in one process as the other one flows on the outer
surface of the tubes. Usually, there is the installation of the baffles that increases the coefficient
of convective heat transfer of the fluid in the shell-side by inducing cross-velocity and turbulence
component (Kraus, Welty and Aziz, 2011). Due to this, these types of heat exchangers have
neither pure cross-flow nor pure counter-flow (Kakaç, Liu, and Pramuanjaroenkij, 2013).

2.2 Counter current and Co-current (Parallel) Flow

Heat exchangers can exhibit parallel flow or a flow that is counter current. When the heat
exchanger exhibit counter current flow, the fluid enters the system from diametric terminals and
leave the system from opposite sides ( Rahim and Khaled, 2015). The fluids simply flow in the
opposite directions. The difference in temperature is given by;

∆ = , − , … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … . (1)

And; ∆ = , − , … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … . . … … . . … . (2)

According to Incropera et al.( 2011), in parallel flow, the temperature variation is given by;

∆ = , − … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … (3)
,
And; ∆ = , − , … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … . . … . . (4)
Where;
, = ℎ" #$% & '( ) % , ℃
, = +"$& #$% & '( ) % , ℃
, = , )- ℎ" #$% & '( ) % , ℃
, = , )- +"$& #$% & '( ) % , ℃

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 3.0 Experimental Methodology

3.1 Experiment and Apparatus

The main apparatus used in the experiment was W110 Heat Exchanger with Service
Unit series as shown in figure 5 below.

15

12

Figure 5: the Service Unit with Tubular Heat Exchanger (WL 110.01) connected.

3.2 Experimental Procedure

To perform the experiment, each heat exchanger and the service unit were connected
asynchronously.

1. First, the base plate of tubular heat exchanger (WL 110.01) was fixed on the service unit
base plate with an aid of star grip bolts.
2. The hot water temperature plug was then linked up to the centre ( 12) via the temperature
sensor socket. Similarly, the cold water temperature plug, centre( 15) was also linked to
temperature sensor socket.
3. With the flow set to co-flow direction (parallel flow), the initial temperature was set to 400 1.
The flow rate of the host stream was manually increased and held constant at 2,/'

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 during the entire experiment, while the flow rate for cold water set at 1,/' by increasing
the volumetric flow rate through the flow rate button.
4. By pressing the pump button, the pump was turned on to send the hot water through
module. With initial temperature held at 400 1, experimental data was collected for the first
set up. This marked the end of the first experiment.
5. During the second experiment, cold water flow rate was increased from 1,/' to 2,/'
.The data for the second experiment were collected once the process had established a
stable state. Corresponding temperature values were then recorded.
6. The whole process was repeated for experiment 3 and 4 with all conditions held constant
except the temperature of the hot water increased to 700 1.
7. For experiment 5, 6, 7 and 8, and with the initial steps repeated, the system was shut down
to alter the flow direction from parallel flow to counter flow direction.

4.0 Results

The results that were obtained from the three heat exchangers are as shown below

Table 1: Data for the Tabular Heat Exchanger

Cold Hot Stream Cold Stream

Hot Water Temp(℃)
Direction Temp ℃
Experiment Water Flow
of Flow
Temp(℃) rate(
4 inlet outlet middle inlet outlet middle
(5 )

01 1 40.6 38.2 39.2 23.7 28.8 26.7

Parallel
flow(co- 40
02 flow) 2 39.9 36.8 38.1 21.4 25.5 23.7

5
 03 1 68.3 59.8 63.5 15.1 33.5 25.8

70
04 2 68.0 58.0 62.4 14.7 27.6 21.9

05 1 40.0 37.4 38.8 20.9 27.3 24.3

40
06 Counter- 2 39.8 36.4 38.0 18.0 23.8 21.1

07 flow 1 68.6 60.6 64.6 15.0 34.3 25.0

70
08 2 68.2 58.2 63.1 14.7 27.5 21.1

Table 2: Data for Plate Heat Exchanger

Cold Hot Stream Cold Stream

Direction Hot Water Water Temp(℃) Temp ℃
Experiment
of flow Temp(℃) Flow
4 inlet outlet inlet outlet
rate( (5 )

01 1 39.4 31.4 15.0 32.9

40
02 Counter- 2 38.3 28.3 14.8 28.2
03 flow 1 66.7 50.1 15.3 55.9
70
04 2 64.3 41.7 14.8 43.6

Table 3: Data for Shell & Tube Heat Exchanger

Cold Hot Stream Cold Stream

Direction of Hot Water Water Temp(℃) Temp ℃
Experiment
flow Temp(℃) Flow
4 inlet outlet inlet outlet
rate( (5 )

01 Parallel 1 40.8 37.8 15.5 23.0

40
02 Flow 2 40.0 36.3 14.8 19.7
03 ( Co-Flow) 70 1 68.2 60.9 15.1 33.7

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 04 2 68.0 58.9 14.8 26.5
05 1 40.0 27.2 15.0 22.4
40
06 Counter- 2 41.0 37.2 14.8 19.9
07 flow 1 68.6 61.1 15.0 32.3
70
08 2 68.2 59.0 14.7 26.7

Table 4: Tabular Heat Exchanger Table 5: Shell & Tube Heat Exchanger
Experiment Experiment
Time(S) Temp(℃) Time Temp(℃)
10 38.6 10 62.2
20 38.1 20 62.0
30 37.9 30 62.8
40 37.9 40 61.9
50 38.0 50 61.7
60 38.3 60 61.6
70 38.4 70 61.3
80 38.5 80 61.2
90 38.6 90 61.2
100 38.6 100 61.3
110 38.6 110 61.4
120 38.5 120 61.4
130 38.5 130 61.4
140 38.4 140 61.3
150 38.3 150 61.1
160 38.2 160 68.4
170 38.1 170 68.4
180 38.0 180 68.4
190 37.9 190 68.4

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 5.0 Analysis and Discussion
5.1 Analysis

According to the data presented in Table 1, 2, and 3, an illustration of the counter and
co-flow (parallel flow) are represented in the figures below. Figure 6 below shows the first
sample of data collected from the Tabular heat Exchanger Experiment. The data was collected
when the flow rate was maintained at 1 ,/6 and the temperature for the cold water was
maintained at 40℃ in the co-flow direction. Plots of water outlet and inlet at various
temperatures are shown below.

Figure 7: Temperature Profile for Shell & Tube Heat

Figure 6: Tubular Heat Exchanger Profile
Exchanger

The graphs below further shows the relationship that exists between the temperature
and heating time as the flow rate was changed during the experiment.

Tabular Heat Exchanger Experiment

38.7
38.6
38.5
38.4
Temp(℃)

38.3
38.2
38.1
38
37.9
37.8
0 50 100 150 200
Time(S)

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 Shell & Tube Heat Exchanger
70
69
68
67
Temp(℃)

66
65
64
63
62
61
60
0 50 100 150 200
Time(S)

5.2 Discussion of the Results.

The basic principle behind the trends of the graphs demonstrated above is the heat
transfer concept. Figure 6 illustrates the temperature distribution for parallel (co-flow) flow heat
exchangers. In this case, cold and hot fluid temperature distributions that are associated with
co-flow heat exchanger depicts the shape of asymptotic curves. The change in temperature
during the start of the experiment, ∆ is large but decays with increasing pipes’ lengths in the
fluid flow direction as it approaches zero asymptotically. However, the outlet temperature of the
cold fluid, for such heat exchangers, do not exceed that of hot fluid (Incropera et al., 2011,
p.679).With the temperature of hot water held at 40℃ and a flow rate of 1,/6 , invoking
equation 1 ) & 2, the change in temperature can be found by;

∆ = , − ,
∆ = 40.6 − 23.7 = 16.9℃
Similarly,
∆ = , − ,

∆ = 38.2 − 28.8 = 9.4℃

According to Çengel, & Ghajar (2011) the sample calculations assumes that: there are
negligible changes in potential and kinetic energy, the water has a constant specific heat
capacity, the overall coefficient of heat transfer was kept constant, there was negligible axial

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conduction along the tubes, and the heat exchange only occurred between the cold and hot
fluids and never gained or lost any heat to the surrounding. However, clearly, this assumption
seems to be wrong. With the inlet temperature maintained at 40.6℃, the outlet temperature for
the hot stream recorded a temperature of 38.2℃. This represents a mean difference of 2.4℃
loss in temperature that was transmitted to the cold fluid. In addition, with the inlet cold
temperature being 23.7℃, and the outlet marked at 28.8℃, around 5.1℃ of the temperature was
gained by the cold water from the hot water.

In Figure 7, an illustration of the counter flow heat exchanger is presented. Contrary to

parallel-flow heat exchanger, the counter flow enables the transfer of heat between the colder
parts of the two fluids at one terminal and the hotter parts of the two fluids at the same end. The
second experiment used this principle to assist in determining the variations in temperatures
between cold and hot portions of water. For that reason, the change in the difference in
temperature, ∆ with respect to the tube length along the direction of the fluid flow, is much less
than in parallel heat exchanger.

From equation 3 ) & 4, the temperature difference is gotten by;

∆ = , − ,

= 40.8 − 23.0 = 17.8℃

And; ∆ = , − ,

= 37.8 − 15.5 = 22.3℃

The graph of temperature against time for Tabular Heat Exchanger portrays behaviour of
the stream at various temperatures along the tube. The graph shows flow rate fluctuations and
demonstrates that when water was being heated, its temperature remains maximum at the wall
of the heating surface but decreases considerably towards the stream centre. From the graph,
the temperature at the heat exchanger outlet decreases in first portion of the graph, then rises
considerably from 37.9℃ to 38.6℃. The temperature remains constant for a period of 20
seconds at a temperature of38.6℃, after which it decreases steadily to38.5℃. The fluid
temperature remains constant at this temperature again for 10 seconds, and eventually
decreases steadily to37.9℃. This means that during cooling, the water temperature was at
minimum at the wall but increases considerably towards the centre of the tube. The second
graph depicts the Shell & Tube Heat Exchangers. In this graph, the temperature decreases
slightly from the initial temperature of 62.2℃ and rises slightly to 62.8℃. The temperature then

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decreases steadily from 62.8℃ to 61.1℃. Clearly, the water entropy varies with time. However,
as the experiment continues, the fluid temperature then rises fast to 68.4℃, where it remains
constant throughout the experiment. This graph shows a characteristic of counter flow heat
exchanger.

Conclusion

Heat exchangers are very important units of operations and contribute to the overall
efficiency and process safety of many industrial applications. These devices are widely used in
air conditioning, refrigeration, and chemical processing, heating, and energy generation. There
are three main basic modes of energy transfer that occurs in heat exchangers: radiation,
conduction, and convection. When water is being heated, its temperature remains maximum at
the wall of the heating surface but decreases considerably towards the stream centre.
Nevertheless, during cooling, the water temperature remains at its minimum level at the wall of
the pipe but increases considerably towards the centre of the tube. It is thus i9mportant to
understand the behaviour of fluid flow in, both counter flow and co-flow, in any heat exchanger
before it is deployed in a given application.

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 References

Cengel,Y. and Boles,M., 2011. Thermodynamics:An Engineering Approach. 7th ed. New York:
McGraw-Hill.
Çengel, Y.A., & Ghajar, A. J. , 2011. Heat and Mass Transfer: Fundamentals and Applications.
4th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Rahim, A. and Khaled,A., 2015. Modelling and Theoretical Analysis of Laminar Flow and Heat
Transfer in Various Protruding-Edged Plate Systems. Journal of Electronics Cooling and
Thermal Control, 4(3), pp. 1-11.
Cengel,Y. and Boles,M., 2011. Thermodynamics:An Engineering Approach. 7th ed. New York:
McGraw-Hill.
Incropera,F.P.,Bergman,T.L., Lavine,A.S., and Dewitt D.P., 2011. Fundamentals of Heat and
Mass Transfer. 7th ed. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Kraus, A. D., Welty,J. R. and Aziz,A, 2011. Introduction to Thermal and Fluid Engineering:
Chapter 26: Heat Exchangers. 3rd ed. United Kingdom: CRC Press.
Lytron Total Thermal Solutions, 2016. What is a heat exchanger?. [Online]
Available at: http://www.lytron.com/Tools-and-Technical-Reference/Application-
Notes/What-is-a-Heat-Exchanger
[Accessed 4 November 2017].
Moran,M.J,Shapiro,H.N.,Boettner, D.D., and Margaret B. Bailey ,M.B, 2014. Fundamentals of
Engineering Thermodynamics. 8th ed. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons Ltd,.
Theodore, L., 2011. Heat Transfer Applications for the Practicing Engineer. 1 ed. New Jersey:
Wiley.

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