Heat Exchanger Design

Basics
What are Heat Exchangers?
What kinds are there?
How do we size them?
Types of Heat Exchanger
Allocation of streams
Tube side is for corrosive, fouling, scaling and
high P fluid, or lowest oP
Shell side for high viscosity, low flow, or
condensing fluids
Sizing: Basic Idea
m
T UA q A =
-
Where q = heat flow rate [kW]
U = overall heat transfer coefficient [kW/m
2
C]
A = surface area [m
2
]
AT
m
= mean temperature difference [C]
Increased Accuracy: AT
Instead of using algebraic average of temperature differences at
each end of the heat exchanger, more accurate Logarithmic Mean
Temperature Difference (LMTD usually written as AT
lm)
is used.
Before using basic equation, how to obtain AT
lm
and U has to be
determined.
q = UAAT
lm
F
t
( ) ( )
|
|
.
|

\
|

= A
1 2
2 1
1 2 2 1
ln
t T
t T
t T t T
T
lm
T
1
T
2
t
1
t
2
T
2
T
1
t
1
t
2
F
l
u
i
d

t
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
e

Heat load
NO!
GRADIEN
T
CHANGE!
Applicability
T
1
T
2
t
b
t
b
F
l
u
i
d

t
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
e

Heat load
T
c
T
c
t
2
t
1
F
l
u
i
d

t
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
e

Heat load
Boiling Condensing
T
1
T
2
t
1
t
2
F
l
u
i
d

t
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
e

Heat load
Sub-cooling
T
1
T
2
t
1
t
2
T
1
T
2
t
2
t
1
F
l
u
i
d

t
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
e

Heat load
( ) ( )
|
|
.
|

\
|

= A
2 2
1 1
2 2 1 1
ln
t T
t T
t T t T
T
lm
Back in the real world
Not really co-current: LMTD Correction
T
2
t
1
T
1
T
2
t
2
t
1
t
i
Distance
T
1
T
2
t
2
t
1
T
1
T
2
t
2
t
1
t
i
Distance
LMTD Correction
( )
( )
1 2
2 1
t t
T T
R

=
( )
( )
1 1
1 2
t T
t t
S

=
Temperature Cross
T
1
T
2
t
2
t
1
t
i
Distance
The plot of correction factors shows
that F
t
falling away from 0.8 very
rapidly. Economic exchanger design
cannot be achieved if F
t
falls below
0.8. Therefore, for practical heat
exchanger design one should look for
a F
t
> 0.8.

F
t
<0.8 is representative of the
physical condition T
2
<t
2
. This is
termed as a cross. When this
happens, it implies that a heat
transfer from the cold fluid to the hot
fluid
Glossary
Co-current- streams run opposite directions
Counter-current- streams run same direction
Sub-cooling- cooling below point of phase
change
Heat load = Q = Enthalpy difference if dP= 0
Isothermal - at constant T
Temperature correction factor = Ft
Temperature Cross - t-out > T-out or Ft<0.8

Guessing U
Increased Accuracy: U
Outside dirt h
od
Outside film h
o
Wall material k
w
Inside film h
i
Inside dirt h
id
Q
i i
o
id i
o
w
i
o
o
od o
h d
d
h d
d
k
d
d
ln d
h h U
1 1
2
1 1 1
+ +
|
|
.
|

\
|
+ + =
U

= Overall coefficient based on the outside area of the tube [W/m
2
C]

h
o
= Outside fluid film coefficient [W/m
2
C]

h
od
= Outside dirt coefficient (fouling factor) [W/m
2
C]

k
w
= Thermal conductivity of the tube wall material [W/m
2
C]

h
i
= Inside fluid film coefficient [W/m
2
C]

h
id
= Inside dirt coefficient [W/m
2
C]

d
o
= Tube outside diameter [m]

d
i
= Tube inside diameter [m]

HX Design Procedure: I
1. Establish the heat load (duty) based upon flowrate, temperatures
and specific heat capacities.
2. Establish physical properties of the process streams. Normally
evaluation of density, viscosity, etc. at the arithmetic mean
temperature is satisfactory.
3. Allocate streams to the shell side and tube sides
4. Study the temperature spreads and calculate F
t
to help the
selection of the configuration of the heat exchanger.
5. Calculate mean temperature difference.
6. Select a trial value for U


HX Design Procedure: II
7. Calculate the required surface area from basic equation You will need
to specify tube size, number of tubes, length of the tubes, tube arrangement, bundle
and shell diameters and baffle spacing and cut.
8. Calculate the individual heat transfer coefficients
9. Using the individual heat transfer coefficients, calculate the overall
coefficient U using Equation 6 and compare with the trial value. If
the calculated value differs significantly from the trial value
substitute the calculated value for the trial value and return to step
7. If the calculated value far exceeds the trial value, then too much surface area
has been included. Alternatively if the calculated value is smaller then the proposed
design does not contain sufficient surface area.
10. Calculate the exchanger pressure drop. If unsatisfactory, return to
steps 7, 6 or 4 in that order of preference
11. Optimise the design. The cheapest exchanger that will satisfy the
duty is the best design.
Safe, Robust, Economical Design!
HX area: Cost Curves
Heuristic Shortcut Method
1. Establish the heat load
2. Establish approximate physical properties of the process streams.
3. Allocate streams to the shell side and tube sides
4. Calculate F
t
to help the selection of the configuration of the heat
exchanger.
5. Calculate mean temperature difference.
6. Calculate the required surface area from basic equation with OD
tubes, triangular spacing, 16 ft long( 1ft f shell contains 100 ft2).
7. Estimate heat transfer coefficients for reboiler=200 BTU/h/ft2/F; water-
liquid and condensers=150; L2L=50; L2G and G2G=5
8. Estimate headloss as follows: 1.5 psi for boiling/condensing, 3 psi for G, 5
psi for low-viscosity L, 7-9 psi for high-viscosity L, 20 psi for process fluid
passing through a furnace.



Which method to use when?
One-page method for initial design
Two-page method for intermediate design
More detail on handout (and in C+R, Perrys
etc.) for detailed design
Pinch Analysis where appropriate (mostly it
isnt)
Process engineering is about having a robust,
safe, economical system- don't get hung up on
any one aspect
Questions?