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aircooledheatexchangerChEGuide

ChEGuide
ChemicalEngineer'sGuide

Tag: air cooled heat exchanger

Shortcut Sizing for Air Cooled Heat Exchanger

An air-cooled exchanger is used to cool fluids with ambient air. 1 inch OD tube is the most
popular diameter and the most common fins are 1/2 inch or 5/8 inch high. Tube
configuration used in this guideline : 1 inch OD tube, 5/8 inch fin height, 10 fins per inch and
2.5 inch triangular pitch.
APSF External area in ft/ft of bundle face area.
Rows

APSF

Face Velocity, ft/min

80.4

700

107.2

660

134.0

625

160.8

600

APF Total external area/ ft of fintube in ft/ft ~ 5.58.

Face Velocity Typical air face velocities (VFace ) used in design are tabulated above, these
value result in optimum cost of exchanger.
Obtain Process Parameters
Obtain process duty (Q), hot process side inlet (T1) and outlet (T2) temperature. Select an
overall heat transfer coefficient (U) from literature based on type of fluids. Select an air inlet
temperature (t1) that is not exceeded during a certain percentage of time over the year (e.g.
95% of the time).
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Calculate Air Density

Density at air inlet temperature and site elevation

o = 14.696 x 29 /(10.7316 x (t1 + 459.67))

Air / o = exp(-29 x z/ (1545 x (t1 + 459.67)))

where,
t1: Air Inlet Temperature, F
z : Elevation above sea level, feet
Calculate MTD
Assume an Air outlet temperature (t2) and calculate LMTD.

LMTD = ((T1-t2) -(T2-t1))/ ln((T1-t2)/(T2-t1))

R = (T1 - T2)/(t2 - t1)
S = (t2 - t1)/(T1 - t1)

LMTD Correction factor (F) is estimated based on following graphs

Cross Flow Single Pass

Cross Flow Two Pass

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Calculate Air Flowrate

Finned area is estimated using following equation :

AFinned = Q / (U * F * LMTD)

Bundle Face area is estimated using following equation :

AFace = AFinned / APSF

Air Flow is estimated using following relation :

VAir = AFace * VFace

Air Mass flowrate is estimated :

MAir = VAir * Air

Air temperature rise is calculated :

T = Q / (MAir * CpAir )

Revised air outlet temperature is calculated :

t2 = t1 + T

This temperature is again used in above steps to re-estimate air outlet temperature. Above
steps are iterated till there is no change in air outlet temperature.
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Air Cooler Dimension

Air cooler width is calculated :

W = AFace / LTube

Number of Tubes are calculated :

NTube = AFinned / (APF * LTube)

Number of Tubes per Row are calculated :

Nr

Tube

= NTube / No of Rows

where,
LTube : Length of Tube
Air Side Pressure Drop
Air Side pressure drop is calculated as following :

Total

= PStatic + PVelocity

Static Pressure Drop

Pressure drop across tube bundle.

P Static = FP * No of Rows / DR
FP = 6*10-8 * ( GFace )1.825

where,
DR : Air / Air at seal level and 70F
GFace : Air face mass velocity in lb/h.ft face area
PStatic : Static pressure drop in inch of H2O
Velocity Pressure Drop
Typically 2 fans are used in air cooler. Fan area per fan (FAPF) is calculated as following :

FAPF = 0.4 * AFace / No. of Fans

Fan Diameter is calculated :

D = (4 * FAPF / )0.5
PVelocity = (ACFM / (4005 * (* D2/4)) )2* DR

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where,
ACFM : Air flowrate in Actual Cubic Feet per Minute
PVelocity : Velocity pressure drop in inch of H2O
Power Calculation
Break power for fan is calculated as following :

BHP = P

Total

* ACFM / 6356 / Fan

Motor power is calculated as following :

Power = BHP / Motor

Spreadsheet for Shortcut Air Cooled Heat Exchanger Design

References
1. Process Heat Transfer: Principles and Applications,2007, Robert W Serth
2. Handbook of Chemical Engineering Calculations, Nicholas P Chopey
3. Rules of Thumb for Chemical Engineers, Carl R Branan
4. GPSA, Engineering Databook, 12th Edition FPS
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