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Faculty of Engineering
Chemical Engineering Department
Shell and Tube Heat Exchangers
(STHEs)
Prepared by: Muhammed Lateef Husain
Chemical Engineering 3rd Stage
and the important type and most common type of heat exchangers
is shell and tube heat exchangers due to the flexibility the designer
has to allow for a wide range of pressures and temperatures. The
shell and tube exchanger consists of four major parts:
Front Header—this is where the fluid enters the tube side of the
exchanger. It is sometimes referred to as the Stationary Header.
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Rear Header— this is where the tube side fluid leaves the
exchanger or where it is returned to the front header in exchangers
with multiple tube side passes.
Tube bundle— this comprises of the tubes, tube sheets, baffles and
tie rods etc. to hold the bundle together.
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Types of Shell and tube heat exchangers:
Fixed Tube Sheet Exchanger (L, M, and N Type Rear Headers)
U-Tube Exchangers
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unlimited thermal expansion, the tube bundle can be removed for
cleaning and small bundle to shell clearances can be achieved.
However, since internal cleaning of the tubes by mechanical
means is difficult, it is normal only to use this type where the tube
side fluids are clean.
In this type of exchanger, the tube sheet at the Rear Header end is
not welded to the shell but allowed to move or float. The tube
sheet at the Front Header (tube side fluid inlet end) is of a larger
diameter than the shell and is sealed in a similar manner to that
used in the fixed tube sheet design. The tube sheet at the rear
header end of the shell is of slightly smaller diameter than the
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shell, allowing the bundle to be pulled through the shell. The use
of a floating head means that thermal expansion can be allowed
for and the tube bundle can be removed for cleaning. There are
several rear header types that can be used but the S-Type Rear
Head is the most popular. A floating head exchanger is suitable for
the rigorous duties associated with high temperatures and
pressures but is more expensive (typically of order of 25% for
carbon steel construction) than the equivalent fixed tubesheet
exchanger.
Size - STHEs are capable of providing a larger surface area for heat
transfer to take place while having a shorter length overall due to
presence of multiple tubes.
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made to negate thermal expansion effects and the thickness can
also be varied (more in the next point)
Versatility - from the design point of view, STHEs (Shell and tube
heat exchangers) are the most versatile of all heat exchangers.
Being tubular in shape, heads / closures of required shape and
thickness can be used. The number of tubes and tube pitch can be
selected according to operating conditions. Expansion bellows can
be used to negate thermal expansion effects, baffles if different
cuts and spacings can be used to influence the overall heat
transfer coefficients and there's even something called a floating
head which can be added to negate thermal expansion of the
tubes. The number of passes on shell side and tube side can be
altered as well.
Disadvantages:
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Maintenance - cleaning of tubes is difficult and fouling is always
an issue when overall heat transfer coefficient is addressed. This
requires periodic cleaning of the shell as well as the tubes.
Cleaning tubes may be more difficult if the pitch is triangular.
Construction of STHEs
Heat exchanger manufacturers typically construct their products of
steel, titanium, copper, bronze, stainless steel, aluminum or cast
iron. One of the biggest problems with heat exchangers is
corrosion, which is common due to the constant flowing of liquid.
Unfortunately, this is very difficult to avoid. To help prevent this,
heat exchanger manufacturers need tubing that is resistant to
general corrosion, pitting, stress-corrosion cracking (SCC), selective
leaching and oxygen cell attack. Some heat exchanger designs
incorporate fins to provide greater thermal conductivity, which
also helps.
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Shell and tube heat exchangers are constructed from a mixture of
copper, nickel, titanium, steel or aluminum depending on their
applications. Each part may have different materials depending on
what is flowing through it.
Fouling
Fouling is a general term that includes any kind of deposit of
extraneous material that appears upon the heat transfer surface
during the lifetime of the heat exchanger. Whatever the cause or
exact nature of the deposit, an additional resistance to heat
transfer is introduced and the operational capability of the heat
exchanger is correspondingly reduced.
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cleaning ordinarily does not re quire removal of the equipment nor
disassembly of the piping (if properly designed), it is the most
convenient of the cleaning techniques in those cases where it can
be used.
Types of fouling
There are several different basic mechanisms by which fouling
deposits may be created and each of them in general depends upon
several variables. In addition, two or more fouling mechanisms can
occur in conjunction in a given service. In this section we will
identify the major mechanisms of fouling and the more important
variables upon which they depend.
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wall temperature. However, a deposit can "bake on" to a hot wall
and become very difficult to remove.
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cause polymerization to 46 occur, resulting in a tough layer of low-
grade plastic or synthetic rubber. These deposits are often
extremely tenacious and may require such extreme measures as
burning off the deposit in order to return the exchanger to
satisfactory operation.
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90-10 copper-nickel (AlloyC70600) or other high copper alloy
tubes. As an alternative to continuous chlorination, inter mittent
"shock" chlorination may be successful. e. Combined mechanisms:
Most of the above fouling processes can occur in combination. A
common example is the combination of (a) and (b) in cooling tower
water. Most surface waters contain both sediment and calcium
carbonates, and the concentrations of these components rise as
the water is recirculated through the cooling system. It is therefore
common to find deposits composed of crystals of inverse solubility
salts together with finely divided sediments. The behavior of these
deposits is intermediate between the two limiting cases: the
crystals tend to hold the sediment in place, but there are planes of
weakness in the structure that fail from time to time and cause the
deposit to break off in patches.
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Applications of STHEs
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References
http://nptel.ac.in/courses/103103027/pdf/mod1.pdf
https://www.3d-knowledge.com/introduction-to-shell-and-tube-type-heat-
exchanger.html
http://www.thermopedia.com/content/1121/#SHELL_AND_TUBE_HEAT_EXCHANGERS_
TABLE2
http://www.wermac.org/equipment/heatexchanger_part2.html
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