Heat exchanger velocity effect

Unhke other refrigeration systems, the chiUed-water flow rate is of no particular importance in steam-jet system design, because there is, due to direct heat exchange, no influence of evaporator tube velocities and related temperature differences on heat-transfer rates. Widely varying return chiUed-water temperatures have Uttle effect on steam-jet equipment. 

Another serious problem in heat exchangers is corrosion. Severe corrosion can and does occur in tubing and very often with common fluids such as water. Proper material selection based on a full analysis of the operating fluids, velocities and temperatures is mandatory. Very often, heavier gauge tubing is specified to offset the effects of corrosion, but this is only a partial solution. This should be followed by proper start-up, operating and shut-down procedures. 

Typical velocities in plate heat exchangers for waterlike fluids in turbulent flow are 0.3-0.9 meters per second (m/s) but true velocities in certain regions will be higher by a factor of up to 4 due to the effect of the corrugations. All heat transfer and pressure drop relationships are, however, based on either a velocity calculated from the average plate gap or on the flow rate per passage. 

A variety of animals and plants, as well as colonies of microorganisms, may deposit from natural sea water onto the metal surface. The life processes and decomposition products may contribute directly to attack on the metal. Fouling may obstruct flow in heat exchangers and pipes, leading to such corrosive effects as are caused by overheating or impingement at local high-water velocities. 

The chemical process gives the enthalpy of reaction, the flow rate, the reaction time, and the required reaction temperature. The first step in the sizing procedure is to calculate the required number of channels for the heat exchanger. Then the pass arrangement is selected in order to achieve the highest possible Reynolds number within an acceptable pressure drop. For example, if the total number of channels is fixed by the residence time channels in series will induce high velocities and high pressure drop channels in parallel will induce low velocities and low pressure drop. The second step is to estimate the heat transfer coefficient and to check that the heat flux can effectively be controlled by the secondary fluid (the lower heat transfer coefficient should be on the reaction side). 

In Section 3.3, we have shown that the entropy generation rate in the case of heat transfer in a heat exchanger is simply the product of the thermodynamic driving force X = A(l/T), the natural cause, and its effect, the resultant flow / = Q, a velocity or rate. Selected monographs on irreversible thermodynamics, see, for example, [1], show how entropy generation also has roots in other driving forces such as chemical potential differences or affinities. 

Because of the fouling effects, there may be a limit on the velocity of one of the fluids in a heat exchanger. For example, the velocity of cooling water in tubes of a shell-and-tube exchanger is often specified as 3 ft/s. If the velocity of one fluid is specified, the coefficient for that fluid is set, and the independent variables become At, and the film coefficient of the other fluid. 

Example 4.6 Entropy production in a packed duct flow Fluid flow and the wall-to-fluid heat transfer in a packed duct are of interest in fixed bed chemical reactors, packed separation columns, heat exchangers, and some heat storage systems. In this analysis, we take into account the wall effect on the velocity profile in the calculation of entropy production in a packed duct with the top wall heated and the bottom wall cooled (Figure 4.7). We assume... 

It is the purpose of this chapter to discuss presently known methods for predicting the performance of nonisothermal continuous catalytic reactors, and to point out some of the problems that remain to be solved before a complete description of such reactors can be worked out. Most attention will be given to packed catalytic reactors of the heat-exchanger type, in which a major requirement is that enough heat be transferred to control the temperature within permissible limits. This choice is justified by the observation that adiabatic catalytic reactors can be treated almost as special cases of packed tubular reactors. There will be no discussion of reactors in which velocities are high enough to make kinetic energy important, or in which the flow pattern is determined critically by acceleration effects. 

---