Plate Heat Exchangers

Advantages Flexible design: Variety of plates and pass arrangement Easily accessible heat transfer: Permit change in configuration through changing number of plates Efficient heat transfer: High heat transfer for both fluid due to turbulence and hydraulic diameter Very compact: Large heat transfer area/volume ratio. Low weight: 2500m^2 surface area in single unit Easy to transport and install Intermixing of tow fluids cannot occur in gasket failure Low fouling in plates due to high turbulence and low residence time More than two fluids in a single unit High turbulence = high heat transfer coefficient, low fouling, reduced size Produce 82% of LMTD, whereas Shell and Tube utilizes 50% LMTD due to minimum wall resistance in plates Over 90% heat recovery is possible Easy to clean and high turbulence = less fouling Disadvantages Upper size limit restricted by presses available to stamp plates Not normally available greater than 1500m^2 Capacity is limited due to high liquid rates involving excessive pressure drop. Not suitable for air to air or gas to gas (very high viscosity is problematic due to flow distribution effects) Plates are expensive Performance Limits Operating temperature: 160 to 250 Celsius (300-400 C in class) T>400C and P>200psi: Material will soften and deform (same effect vice versa) Minimum Pressure: 25-30 bar Maximum Pressure: 1-2.5 MPa (250 psi) Pressure drop maintained by short channel length and low velocity Flow velocity > 0.1m/s Gasket dictates temperature and pressure operations Applications Liquid to liquid or liquid to gas Space is problematic Fluids cannot mix Medium heat load (in between shell and tube) Corrosive fluid pick a compatible material

Need continuous process Chemical, pharmaceutical, hygiene, biochemical processing, food, diary (ease of cleaning and assembly, sanitation) Sea/offshore/on ship/ or coastal location for cooling system using sea, river, or well water (heat sink) Corrosion transferred from intercooler to plate HX Computers

Corrosion Higher corrosion allowance than shell and tube since plates are very thin compared to tubes Lower fouling than shell and tube due to 1. High turbulence 2. Easy to clean 3. Lower corrosion rate 4. Uniform velocity across plates 5. Prevent crystallization growth due to high film coefficient Maintenance Parts are interchangeable In a single unit, possible to locate all pipe connections in fixed part of frame

Compact Heat Exchangers

Advantages Easy to install and compact (Car requirements) o Compact Small face area and short flow depth for packaging o Low pressure drop Reduces pumping power for coolants o Increases temperature difference for refrigerants o Better charge air density for charge air coolers o Low weight o Reduced material cost o Improved fuel economy and or payload o Low cost and high volume o Durable Applications Gas to gas or gas to liquid Medium pressure Medium temp (300-500C) Medium/Small loads Condensors/boilers/refrigeration/AC/compressors Aircraft/space

Oil coolers Unit air heaters Automotive

Ways to Increase hA for Enhancement Increase heat transfer coefficient Increase surface area Increase both Increasing UA Reducing heat exchanger size Lower operational cost due to lower change in Temperature (more thermal efficiency) For fixed Q, the pumping power can be reduced