Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger Design Size

1. The heat duty Q is usually fixed by the required service. The selected heat exchanger has to meet or exceed this requirement. 2. Make an approximate estimate of the size of the heat exchanger by using a reasonable guess for the overall heat transfer coefficient. For typical shell-and-tube heat exchangers in a chemical process or a refinery, Tables 12.1 or figure 2.1 (coulson vol.6) can be used as a starting point for the estimate. Using this estimate, calculate the heat transfer area A. This will give you an idea of the approximate size of the heat exchanger, and therefore its cost. 3. Select the stream that should be placed on the tube side. The tube side is used for the fluid that is more likely to foul the walls, more toxic or more corrosive, or for the fluid with the higher pressure. Cleaning of the inside of the tubes is easier than cleaning the outside. When a gas or vapour is used as a heat exchange fluid, it is typically introduced on the shell side. Also, high viscosity liquids, for which the pressure drop for flow through the tubes might be prohibitively large, can be introduced on the shell side. 4. The next step is to determine the approximate number of tubes ( ) using:

Where is the OD of tube and L is its length. Both of these are only available in discrete increments. For example, the length is selected as 8, 10, 12, 16, or 20 feet. Likewise, the OD is specified as 1/4 , 3/8 , 1/2 , 5/8 , 3/4 , 1, 1(1/4) , or 1(1/2) inch. The tubes are typically specified to be 14 BWG. The most common tube lengths are 16 and 20 feet and the most common tube OD values are 3/4 and 1 inch. So, selecting one of the values in each set will get you started in estimating the approximate number of tubes. Check the velocity through a single tube; it should not exceed roughly 10 ft/s for liquids, to keep the pressure drop under reasonable constraints, but it should be at least 1 to 3 ft/s (the specific choice depends on the viscosity as well) to maintain turbulent flow, and minimize fouling. If necessary, adjust the number of tube passes to get the velocity to fall in this range.( check Appendix 4 Unit operations 7th edition)

Further explanation:
Tube Diameter The most common sizes used are 3/4"od and 1"od Use smallest diameter for greater heat transfer area with a normal minimum of 3/4"od tube due to cleaning considerations and vibration.1/2"od tubes can be used on shorter tube lengths say < 4ft. The wall thickness is defined by the Birmingham wire gage (BWG) details are given in Appendix XI(Kern Table 10) Tube Number and Length Select the number of tubes per tube side pass to give optimum velocity 3-5 ft/s (0.91.52 m/s) for liquids and reasonable gas velocities are 50-100 ft/s(15-30 m/s) If the velocity cannot be achieved in a single pass consider increasing the number of passes. Tube length is determined by heat transfer required subject to plant layout and pressure drop constraints. To meet the design pressure drop constraints may require an increase in the number of tubes and/or a reduction in tube length. Long tube lengths with few tubes may give rise to shell side distribution problems. 5. Determine the shell size. To do this, once the number of tubes is known, select a pitch and the number of passes. Typical initial guesses are 1 or 2 tube passes. A square pitch is chosen for reasons of convenience in cleaning the outside of the tubes; when the tubes are in-line, cleaning is relatively straightforward. The standard choice is a pitch equal to 1.25 inches for 1-inch OD tubes, and a pitch of 1 inch for 3/4 inch OD tubes. Tubes on a triangular pitch cannot be cleaned by tools, but rather by passing a chemical solution through on the shell-side. Because triangular pitches allow for the packing of more tubes into a given space, they are more common when cleaning the outside is not a major issue. Rectangular pitches are uncommon. Knowing the number of tubes to be used and the number of passes, you can select the required shell size. Note that you cannot find exactly the number of tubes you estimated in this table; so, you should use the next higher discrete number that is available for the tube count.

An alternative approach is to use the method discussed in Perrys Handbook. For this, you need to know about the clearance that must be allowed between the tube bundle and the shell inside diameter. The values of this clearance for different ranges of shell ID values are discussed in page 11-36. Then, you can use Equations (11.75a-d) on page 1141 for a square pitch, or Equations (11.74a-d) on the same page for a triangular pitch (from Perrys handbook). In either case, you need to specify the number of tube-side passes. A 1-pass shell is the most common in use, but sometimes a 2-pass shell can be specified to improve thermal effectiveness. Shells are made from commercial steel pipes up to an outside diameter of 24 inches. Shells with a larger OD are made by rolling steel plate and welding.

Further explanation; The design process is to fit the number of tubes into a suitable shell to achieve the desired shell side velocity 4ft/s(1.219m/s) subject to pressure drop constraints. Most efficient conditions for heat transfer is to have the maximum number of tubes possible in the shell to maximise turbulence. Preferred tube length to shell diameter ratio is in the range 5 to 10.Tube count data are given in Perry Table 11-3 where the following criteria have been used

1) Tubes have been eliminated to provide entrance area for a nozzle equal to 0.2 times shell diameter 2) Tube layouts are symmetrical about both the horizontal and vertical axes 3) Distance from tube od to centreline of pass partition 7.9mm( 5/16 ) for shell id <559mm (22in) and 9.5mm (3/8) for larger shells. 6. Heat Transfer Area Using the maximum number of tubes, subject to adequate provision for inlet nozzle, for a given shell size will ensure optimum shell side heat transfer in minimizing tube bundle by passing. The heat transfer area required design margin is then achieved by adjusting the tube length subject to economic considerations. On low cost tube materials it may be more economical to use standard lengths and accept the increased design margin. It is a common practice to reduce the number of tubes to below the maximum allowed particularly with expensive tube material. In these situations the mechanical design must ensure suitable provision of rods, bar baffles, spacers, baffles to minimize bypassing and to ensure mechanical strength. Baffle Design Definitions Shell side cross flow area is given by Where D shell i.d. B baffle spacing C clearance between tubes PT tube pitch Minimum spacing (pitch) Segmental baffles normally should not be closer than 1/5th of shell diameter (ID) or 50.8mm(2in) whichever is greater. Maximum spacing (pitch) Spacing does not normally exceed the shell diameter. Tube support plate spacing determined by mechanical considerations e.g. strength and vibration. Maximum spacing is given by Most failures occur when unsupported tube length greater than 80% TEMA maximum due to designer trying to limit shell side pressure drop. Baffle cut Baffle cuts can vary between 15% and 45% and are expressed as ratio of segment opening height to shell inside diameter. The upper limit ensures every pair of baffles will support each tube. Kern shell side pressure drop correlations are based on 25% cut which is standard for liquid on shell side When steam or vapour is on the shell side 33% cut is used . Baffle pitch and not the baffle cut determines the effective velocity of the shell side fluid and hence has the greatest influence on shell side pressure drop. Horizontal shell side condensation require segmental baffles with cut to create side to side flow .To achieve good vapour distribution the vapour velocity should be as high as possible consistent with satisfying pressure drop constraints and to space the baffles accordingly. Baffle clearances The edge distance between the outer tube limit (OTL) and the baffle diameter has to be sufficient to prevent tube breakthrough due to vibration. For example fixed tube-sheet clearances are shown below. Refer to Perry p11-11 for floating head clearances

Summary of baffle design

You need to estimate the number of baffles to be used and the spacing among them. You can read about baffles from pages 11-42 and 11-43. Normally, baffles are equally spaced. The minimum baffle spacing is one-fifth of the shell diameter, but not less than 2 inches, and the maximum is determined by considerations involving supporting the tube bundle. A simple formula from Perry for estimating the maximum is inches. is the OD of a tube measured in inches. The number of baffles is (L/Baffle Spacing)-1, where L stands for tube length; the number of baffles must, of course, be an integer.

7. Fouling Considerations Typical fouling coefficients are shown in Appendix VII. It can be shown that the design margin achieved by applying the combined fouling film coefficient is given by:

Corrosion Fouling Heavy corrosion can dramatically reduce the thermal performance of the heat exchanger. Corrosion fouling is dependent on the material of construction selection and it should be possible to eliminate altogether with the right choice. However if economics determine that some corrosion is acceptable and no data is available from past experience an allowance of 1/16 in (1.59 mm) is commonly applied. Design Margin The design margin to be applied to the design is based on the confidence level the designer has regarding the specific application and the future requirements for multipurpose applications. Design of condensers for multipurpose use, where a wide possible variation in flow conditions can exist, provides a particular problem in this regard. It is standard practice to apply a design margin of 15% to the design (dirty) heat transfer area with the result that this is applied to the design margin resulting from the application of the fouling film coefficients discussed previously giving an added safety factor. 8. Now, we are ready to check the thermal performance of the selected heat exchanger. Calculate the tube-side and shell-side heat transfer coefficients, the tube wall contribution to the resistance, and the appropriate fouling resistances. See if the calculated matches the required that you used for estimating the heat transfer area. If it is too small, start all over again! If it is too large, then the heat exchanger is over-specified for the required thermal duty. If the calculated is too small, you need to examine whether the tube-side or the shell-side resistance is controlling (sometimes they are comparable). Remember that the smaller the heat transfer coefficient, the larger the resistance to heat transfer. If you want to improve the shell-side heat transfer, try adjusting the baffle spacing and shell diameter to increase the shell-side

mass velocity and therefore the Reynolds number. Also, for a given the pitch will play a role in influencing the Nusselt number. On the tube-side, the number of tubes and passes and the inside diameter can be varied to influence the Reynolds number and therefore the heat transfer coefficient.

9. Pressure Drop For process design using a simulation the following preliminary conservative estimates are given for pressure drops due to friction. Note an additional pressure change occurs if the exchanger is placed vertically.

10. Cost This topic is discussed in my notes on Shell-and-tube Heat Exchangers. Follow the procedure outlined there to evaluate the capital cost. Then, evaluate the pressure drop on the tube-side and that on the shell-side and work out the operating cost. You can use a figure of $ 0.06/KWH for the cost of electricity needed. By writing off the capital cost over a reasonable lifetime for a heat exchanger, you can then work out a combined yearly cost and compare your alternate designs on a cost-basis.

For more information review or visit MNL 032A Issued 29 August 08, Prepared by J.E.Edwards of P & I Design Ltd, Teesside, UK www.pidesign.co.uk