Heat exchangers fluid velocity effects

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. 

The baffle cut determines the fluid velocity between the baffle and the shell wall, and the baffle spacing determines the parallel and cross-flow velocities that affect heat transfer and pressure drop. Often the shell side of an exchanger is subject to low-pressure drop limitations, and the baffle patterns must be arranged to meet these specified conditions and at the same time provide maximum effectiveness for heat transfer. The plate material used for these supports and baffles should not be too thin and is usually minimum thick-... 

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. 

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). 

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... 

This differential holds along the characteristic defined by the velocity, c. In effect, we may calculate the temperature of a packet of fluid moving with the stream through the heat exchanger. But to use this method, we need to fix the time interval absolutely as... 

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