ME 307

CONVECTION, BOILING, CONDENSATION

& MASS TRANSFER
Chapter 11
Heat Exchangers
 HEAT EXCHANGERS

• Heat exchangers are devices that facilitate the exchange of heat between two fluids that are at different
temperatures while keeping them from mixing with each other.
• Heat exchangers are commonly used in practice in a wide range of applications, from heating and air-
conditioning systems in a household, to chemical processing and power production in large plants.
• Heat exchangers differ from mixing chambers in that they do not allow the two fluids involved to mix.
• Heat transfer in a heat exchanger usually involves convection in each fluid and conduction through the wall
separating the two fluids.
• In the analysis of heat exchangers, it is convenient to work with an overall heat transfer coefficient U that
accounts for the contribution of all these effects on heat transfer.
 TYPES OF HEAT EXCHANGERS

• Different heat transfer applications require different

types of hardware and different configurations of
heat transfer equipment
• The simplest type of heat exchanger consists of two
concentric pipes of different diameters, as shown in
Fig. 11–1, called the double-pipe heat exchanger.
• One fluid in a double-pipe heat exchanger flows
through the smaller pipe while the other fluid flows
through the annular space between the two pipes.
 TYPES OF HEAT EXCHANGERS

• Two types of flow arrangement are possible in a

double-pipe heat exchanger
• In parallel flow, both the hot and cold fluids enter
the heat exchanger at the same end and move in the
same direction.
• In counter flow, on the other hand, the hot and
cold fluids enter the heat exchanger at opposite ends
and flow in opposite directions.
 TYPES OF HEAT EXCHANGERS

• Another type of heat exchanger, which is specifically designed to realize a large heat transfer surface area per
unit volume, is the compact heat exchanger.
• The ratio of the heat transfer surface area of a heat exchanger to its volume is called the area density .
• A heat exchanger with  > 700 m2/m3 (or 200 ft2/ft3) is classified as being compact.
• Examples of compact heat exchangers are:
• car radiators (b < 1000 m2/m3),
• glass-ceramic gas turbine heat exchangers ( < 6000 m2/m3),
• the regenerator of a Stirling engine ( < 15,000 m2/m3), and
• the human lung ( < 20,000 m2/m3).
• Another example of compact heat exchangers widely used today in industrial applications such as chemical
processing, fuel processing, waste heat recovery, and refrigeration is the printed circuit heat exchanger
referred to as PCHE
• The flow passages in these compact heat exchangers are usually small and the flow can be considered to be
laminar.
 TYPES OF HEAT EXCHANGERS

• In compact heat exchangers, the two fluids usually move perpendicular to each other, and such flow
configuration is called cross-flow.
• The cross-flow is further classified as unmixed and mixed flow, depending on the flow configuration, as shown in
Fig. 11–4.
 TYPES OF HEAT EXCHANGERS

• In (a) the cross-flow is said to be unmixed since the plate fins force the fluid to flow through a particular interfin
spacing and prevent it from moving in the transverse direction (i.e., parallel to the tubes).
• The cross-flow in (b) is said to be mixed since the fluid now is free to move in the transverse direction. Both
fluids are unmixed in a car radiator. The presence of mixing in the fluid can have a significant effect on the heat
transfer characteristics of the heat exchanger.
 TYPES OF HEAT EXCHANGERS

• Perhaps the most common type of heat exchanger in industrial applications is the shell-and-tube heat
exchanger, shown in Fig. 11–5
• Heat transfer takes place as one fluid flows inside the tubes while the other fluid flows outside the tubes
through the shell.
 TYPES OF HEAT EXCHANGERS

• Shell-and-tube heat exchangers are further classified according to the number of shell and tube passes involved.
• Heat exchangers in which all the tubes make one U-turn in the shell, for example, are called one-shell-pass and
two-tube-passes heat exchangers.
• Likewise, a heat exchanger that involves two passes in the shell and four passes in the tubes is called a two-shell-
passes and four-tube-passes heat exchanger
 TYPES OF HEAT EXCHANGERS

• An innovative type of heat exchanger that has found widespread use is the plate and frame (or just plate)
heat exchanger, which consists of a series of plates with corrugated flat flow passages.
• The hot and cold fluids flow in alternate passages, and thus each cold fluid stream is surrounded by two hot fluid
streams, resulting in very effective heat transfer.
• They are well suited for liquid-to-liquid heat exchange applications, provided that the hot and cold fluid streams
are at about the same pressure.
TYPES OF HEAT EXCHANGERS
 TYPES OF HEAT EXCHANGERS

• Another type of heat exchanger that involves the alternate passage of the hot and cold fluid streams through
the same flow area is the regenerative heat exchanger.
• The static-type regenerative heat exchanger is basically a porous mass that has a large heat storage capacity,
such as a ceramic wire mesh.
• Hot and cold fluids flow through this porous mass alternatively.
• Heat is transferred from the hot fluid to the matrix of the regenerator during the flow of the hot fluid, and from
the matrix to the cold fluid during the flow of the cold fluid.
• Thus, the matrix serves as a temporary heat storage medium.
• The dynamic-type regenerator involves a rotating drum and continuous flow of the hot and cold fluid through
different portions of the drum so that any portion of the drum passes periodically through the hot stream,
storing heat, and then through the cold stream, rejecting this stored heat.
• Again the drum serves as the medium to transport the heat from the hot to the cold fluid stream.
 THE OVERALL HEAT TRANSFER COEFFICIENT

• A heat exchanger typically involves two flowing fluids separated by a solid wall.
• Heat is first transferred from the hot fluid to the wall by convection, through
the wall by conduction, and from the wall to the cold fluid again by convection.
• The thermal resistance network associated with this heat transfer process
involves two convection and one conduction resistances, as shown in Fig. 11–8.
• Here the subscripts i and o represent the inner and outer surfaces of the inner
tube. For a double-pipe heat exchanger, the thermal resistance of the tube wall
is

• where k is the thermal conductivity of the wall material and L is the

length of the tube.Then the total thermal resistance becomes
 THE OVERALL HEAT TRANSFER COEFFICIENT

• The Ai is the area of the inner surface of the wall that separates the two
fluids, and Ao is the area of the outer surface of the wall.
• In other words, Ai and Ao are surface areas of the separating wall wetted
by the inner and the outer fluids, respectively.
• When one fluid flows inside a circular tube and the other outside of it, we
have Ai = πDiL and Ao = πDoL (Fig. 11–9).
 THE OVERALL HEAT TRANSFER COEFFICIENT

• In the analysis of heat exchangers, it is convenient to combine all the

thermal resistances in the path of heat flow from the hot fluid to the cold
one into a single resistance R, and to express the rate of heat transfer
between the two fluids as

• where As is the surface area and U is the overall heat transfer coefficient,
whose unit is W/m2·K, which is identical to the unit of the ordinary
convection coefficient h. Canceling T, this Equation reduces to
 THE OVERALL HEAT TRANSFER COEFFICIENT

• Perhaps you are wondering why we have two overall heat transfer
coefficients Ui and Uo for a heat exchanger.
• The reason is that every heat exchanger has two heat transfer surface
areas Ai and Ao which, in general, are not equal to each other.
• Note that Ui Ai = Uo Ao, but Ui  Uo unless Ai = Ao.
• Therefore, the overall heat transfer coefficient U of a heat exchanger is
meaningless unless the area on which it is based is specified.
 THE OVERALL HEAT TRANSFER COEFFICIENT

• When the wall thickness of the tube is small and the thermal conductivity of the tube material is high the
thermal resistance of the tube is negligible (Rwall  0) and the inner and outer surfaces of the tube are almost
identical (Ai  Ao  As).Then Equation for the overall heat transfer coefficient simplifies to

where U  Ui  Uo.

• The individual convection heat transfer coefficients inside and outside the tube, hi and ho, are determined using
the convection relations discussed in Chapters 8 and 7 for internal and external forced convection flows,
respectively.
 THE OVERALL HEAT TRANSFER COEFFICIENT

• The overall heat transfer coefficient U in Eq. 11–5 is dominated by the smaller convection coefficient, since the
inverse of a large number is small.
• When one of the convection coefficients is much smaller than the other (say, hi << ho), we have 1/hi >> 1/ho and
thus U  hi
• Therefore, the smaller heat transfer coefficient creates a bottleneck on the path of heat transfer and seriously
impedes heat transfer.
• This situation arises frequently when one of the fluids is a gas and the other is a liquid. In such cases, fins are
commonly used on the gas side to enhance the product UA and thus the heat transfer on that side.
• When the tube is finned on one side to enhance heat transfer, the total heat transfer surface area on the finned
side becomes
 THE OVERALL HEAT TRANSFER COEFFICIENT

Fouling Factor

• The performance of heat exchangers usually deteriorates with

time as a result of accumulation of deposits on heat transfer
surfaces.
• The layer of deposits represents additional resistance to heat
transfer and causes the rate of heat transfer in a heat exchanger
to decrease.
• The net effect of these accumulations on heat transfer is
represented by a fouling factor Rf which is a measure of the
thermal resistance introduced by fouling.
• The fouling factor is obviously zero for a new heat exchanger
and increases with time as the solid deposits build up on the
heat exchanger surface.
 THE OVERALL HEAT TRANSFER COEFFICIENT

Fouling Factor

• The overall heat transfer coefficient relation Eq. 11–4 or 11–5, for an unfinned double-pipe heat exchanger is
valid for clean surfaces and needs to be modified to account for the effects of fouling on both the inner and the
outer surfaces of the tube.
• For an unfinned double-pipe heat exchanger, it can be expressed as

where Rf, i and Rf, o are the fouling factors at those surfaces.
 MATHEMATICAL PROBLEMS

Question 1

A double-pipe (shell-and-tube) heat exchanger is constructed of a stainless steel (k = 15.1 W/m.K) inner tube of
inner diameter Di = 1.5 cm and outer diameter Do = 1.9 cm and an outer shell of inner diameter 3.2 cm. The
convection heat transfer coefficient is given to be hi = 800 W/m2K on the inner surface of the tube and ho =
1200 W/m2K on the outer surface. For a fouling factor of Rf,i = 0.0004 m2K/W on the tube side and Rf,o = 0.0001
m2K/W on the shell side, determine (a) the thermal resistance of the heat exchanger per unit length and (b) the
overall heat transfer coefficients, Ui and Uo based on the inner and outer surface areas of the tube, respectively.

Solution
MATHEMATICAL PROBLEMS
MATHEMATICAL PROBLEMS
 MATHEMATICAL PROBLEMS

Question 2

A double-pipe heat exchanger is constructed of a copper (k = 380 W/mK) inner tube of internal diameter Di =
1.2 cm and external diameter Do = 1.6 cm and an outer tube of diameter 3.0 cm. The convection heat transfer
coefficient is reported to be hi = 700 W/m2K on the inner surface of the tube and ho = 1400 W/m2K on its
outer surface. For a fouling factor Rf,i = 0.0005 m2K/W on the tube side and Rf,o = 0.0002 m2K/W on the shell
side, determine (a) the thermal resistance of the heat exchanger per unit length and (b) the overall heat transfer
coefficients Ui and Uo based on the inner and outer surface areas of the tube, respectively

Solution
MATHEMATICAL PROBLEMS
 MATHEMATICAL PROBLEMS

Question 3

Water at an average temperature of 110°C and an average velocity of 3.5 m/s flows through a 5-m-long stainless
steel tube (k = 14.2 W/mK) in a boiler. The inner and outer diameters of the tube are Di = 1.0 cm and Do = 1.4
cm, respectively. If the convection heat transfer coefficient at the outer surface of the tube where boiling is
taking place is ho = 8400 W/m2K, determine the overall heat transfer coefficient Ui of this boiler based on the
inner surface area of the tube

Solution
MATHEMATICAL PROBLEMS
MATHEMATICAL PROBLEMS
 MATHEMATICAL PROBLEMS

Question 4

Water at an average temperature of 110°C and an average velocity of 3.5 m/s flows through a 5-m-long stainless
steel tube (k = 14.2 W/mK) in a boiler. The inner and outer diameters of the tube are Di = 1.0 cm and Do = 1.4
cm, respectively. If the convection heat transfer coefficient at the outer surface of the tube where boiling is
taking place is ho = 8400 W/m2K and assuming a fouling factor Rf, i = 0.0005 m2K/W on the inner surface of the
tube, determine the overall heat transfer coefficient Ui of this boiler based on the inner surface area of the tube

Solution
MATHEMATICAL PROBLEMS
MATHEMATICAL PROBLEMS
 SELECTION OF HEAT EXCHANGERS

• An engineer going through catalogs of heat exchanger manufacturers will be overwhelmed by the type and
number of readily available off-the-shelf heat exchangers.
• The proper selection depends on several factors.

1. Heat Transfer Rate

This is the most important quantity in the selection of a heat exchanger. A heat exchanger should be capable
of transferring heat at the specified rate in order to achieve the desired temperature change of the fluid at
the specified mass flow rate.
 SELECTION OF HEAT EXCHANGERS

2. Cost
Budgetary limitations usually play an important role in the selection of heat exchangers, except for some
specialized cases where “money is no object.”
However, in some cases, none of the existing heat exchangers will do, and it may be necessary to undertake
the expensive and time-consuming task of designing and manufacturing a heat exchanger from scratch to suit
the needs. This is often the case when the heat exchanger is an integral part of the overall device to be
manufactured.
The operation and maintenance costs of the heat exchanger are also important considerations in assessing
the overall cost.
 SELECTION OF HEAT EXCHANGERS

3. Pumping Power
In a heat exchanger, both fluids are usually forced to flow by pumps or fans that consume electrical power.
The annual cost of electricity associated with the operation of the pumps and fans can be determined from

where the pumping power is the total electrical power consumed by the motors of the pumps and fans.
Minimizing the pressure drop and the mass flow rate of the fluids will minimize the operating cost of the heat
exchanger, but it will maximize the size of the heat exchanger and thus the initial cost.
As a rule of thumb, doubling the mass flow rate will reduce the initial cost by half but will increase the
pumping power requirements by a factor of roughly eight.
 SELECTION OF HEAT EXCHANGERS

4. Size and Weight

Normally, the smaller and the lighter the heat exchanger, the better it is. This is especially the case in the
automotive and aerospace industries, where size and weight requirements are most stringent. Also, a larger
heat exchanger normally carries a higher price tag. The space available for the heat exchanger in some cases
limits the length of the tubes that can be used.

5. Type
The type of heat exchanger to be selected depends primarily on the type of fluids involved, the size and
weight limitations, and the presence of any phase-change processes. For example, a heat exchanger is suitable
to cool a liquid by a gas if the surface area on the gas side is many times that on the liquid side. On the other
hand, a plate or shell-and-tube heat exchanger is very suitable for cooling a liquid by another liquid.
 SELECTION OF HEAT EXCHANGERS

6. Materials
The materials used in the construction of the heat exchanger may be an important consideration in the
selection of heat exchangers. For example, the thermal and structural stress effects need not be considered at
pressures below 15 atm or temperatures below 150°C. But these effects are major considerations above 70
atm or 550°C and seriously limit the acceptable materials of the heat exchanger.
In the case of corrosive fluids, we may have to select expensive corrosion-resistant materials such as stainless
steel or even titanium if we are not willing to replace low-cost heat exchangers frequently.
 SELECTION OF HEAT EXCHANGERS

Other Considerations
• There are other considerations in the selection of heat exchangers that may or may not be important,
depending on the application.
• For example, being leak-tight is an important consideration when toxic or expensive fluids are involved.
• Ease of servicing, low maintenance cost, and safety and reliability are some other important considerations
in the selection process.
• Quietness is one of the primary considerations in the selection of liquid-to-air heat exchangers used in
heating and air-conditioning applications.