INDIAN

INSTITUTE OF
TECHNOLOGY
BANARAS HINDU
UNIVERSITY

Project Report on
Heat transfer and pressure drop
characteristics of PHE Experiment and
Data analysis

Project undertaken by:

Under Supervision of:

Ajay Sharma ( 11406EN007 )

Dr. J. Sarkar

Vishal Khandelwal ( 11406EN009 )

Dr. P. Ghosh

Table of contents

Introduction:
For well over a century, efforts have been made to produce more efficient
heat exchangers by employing various methods of heat transfer
enhancement. The study of enhanced heat transfer has gained serious
momentum during recent years, however, due to increased demands by
industry for heat exchange equipment that is less expensive to build and
operate than standard heat exchange devices. Savings in materials and
energy use also provide strong motivation for the development of
improved methods of enhancement. When designing cooling systems for
automobiles and spacecraft, it is imperative that the heat exchangers are
especially compact and lightweight. Also, enhancement devices are
necessary for the high heat duty exchangers found in power plants (i. e.
air-cooled condensers, nuclear fuel rods).
The plate heat exchanger normally consists of corrugated plates
assembled into a frame. The hot fluid flows in one direction in alternating
chambers while the cold fluid flows in true counter-current flow in the
other alternating chambers. A schematic diagram of the flow is shown in
Figure 1. The fluids are directed into their proper chambers either by a
suitable gasket or a weld depending on the type of exchanger chosen.
Traditionally, plate and frame exchangers have been used almost
exclusively for liquid to liquid heat transfer. The best example is in the
dairy industry. Today, many variations of the plate technology have
proven useful in applications where a phase change occurs as well. This
includes condensing duties as well as vaporization duties. Plate heat
exchangers are best known for having overall heat transfer coefficients
(U-values) in excess of 35 times the U-value in a shell and tube designed
for the same service. Plate heat exchanger is an attractive option when
more expensive materials of construction can be employed. The
significantly higher U-value results in far less area for a given application.
The higher U-values are obtained by inducing turbulence between the
plate surfaces.

Plate Heat Exchangers:

The plate heat exchanger (PHE) is a specialized design well suited to
transferring heat between medium- and low-pressure fluids. Welded, semiwelded and brazed heat exchangers are used for heat exchange between highpressure fluids or where a more compact product is required. In place of a pipe
passing through a chamber, there are instead two alternating chambers,
usually thin in depth, separated at their largest surface by a corrugated metal
plate. The plates used in a plate and frame heat exchanger are obtained by
one piece pressing of metal plates. Stainless steel is a commonly used metal
for the plates because of its ability to withstand high temperatures, its strength,
and its corrosion resistance. The plates are often spaced by rubber sealing
gaskets which are cemented into a section around the edge of the plates. The
plates are pressed to form troughs at right angles to the direction of flow of the
liquid which runs through the channels in the heat exchanger. These troughs
are arranged so that they interlink with the other plates which forms the
channel with gaps of 1.31.5 mm between the plates.
The plates produce an extremely large surface area, which allows for the
fastest possible transfer. Making each chamber thin ensures that the
majority of the volume of the liquid contacts the plate, again aiding
exchange. The troughs also create and maintain a turbulent flow in the
liquid to maximize heat transfer in the exchanger. A high degree of
turbulence can be obtained at low flow rates and high heat transfer
coefficient can then be achieved.
A plate heat exchanger consists of a series of thin, corrugated plates
which are mentioned above. These plates are gasketed, welded or brazed
together depending on the application of the heat exchanger. The plates
are compressed together in a rigid frame to form an arrangement of
parallel flow channels with alternating hot and cold fluids.

As compared to shell and tube heat exchangers, the temperature

approach in a plate heat exchangers may be as low as 1 C whereas shell
and tube heat exchangers require an approach of 5 C or more. For the
same amount of heat exchanged, the size of the plate heat exchanger is
smaller, because of the large heat transfer area afforded by the plates
(the large area through which heat can travel). Increase and reduction of
the heat transfer area is simple in a plate heat-exchanger, through the
addition or removal of plates from the stack.

Basic Construction:
The plate-and-frame or gasketed plate heat exchanger (PHE) consists of
a number of thin rectangular metal plates sealed around the edges by
gaskets and held together in a frame as shown. The frame usually has a
fixed end cover (headpiece) fitted with connecting ports and a movable
end cover (pressure plate, follower, or tailpiece). In the frame, the plates
are suspended from an upper carrying bar and guided by a bottom
carrying bar to ensure proper alignment. For this purpose, each plate is
notched at the center of its top and

bottom edges. The plate pack with fixed and movable end covers is

clamped together by
Figure: Gasketed plate- and-frame heat exchanger( Shah and Focke,
1988).
long bolts, thus compressing the gaskets and forming a seal. The carrying
bars are longer than the compressed stack, so that when the movable
end cover is removed, plates may be slid along the support bars for
inspection and cleaning.
Each plate is made by stamping or embossing a corrugated (or wavy)
surface pattern on sheet metal. On one side of each plate, special
grooves are provided along the periphery of the plate and around the
ports for a gasket, as indicated by the dark lines. Typical plate geometries
(corrugated patterns) are shown in Fig, and over 60 different patterns
have been developed worldwide. Alternate plates are assembled such
that the corrugations on successive plates contact or cross each other to
provide mechanical support to the plate pack through a large number of
contact points. The resulting flow passages are narrow, highly interrupted,
and tortuous, and enhance the heat transfer rate and decrease fouling
resistance by increasing the shear stress, producing secondary flow, and
increasing the level of turbulence. The corrugations also improve the

rigidity of the plates and form the desired plate spacing. Plates are
designated as hard or soft, depending on whether they generate a high or
low intensity of turbulence.

Figure: Plates showing gaskets around the ports (Shah and Focke, 1988).

Flow Arrangements:
A large number of flow arrangements are possible in a plate heat
exchanger depending on the required heat transfer duty, available
pressure drops, minimum and maximum velocities allowed, and the flow
rate ratio of the two fluid streams. In each pass there can be an equal or
unequal number of thermal plates.

Figure: Flow arrangement ( Genemco, Inc. 2006)

Whether the plate exchanger is a single- or multipass unit, whenever
possible, the thermodynamically superior counterflow or overall
counterflow arrangement is used exclusively. One of the most common
flow arrangements in a PHE is a 1-pass1-pass U configuration. This is
because this design allows all fluid ports to be located on the fixed end
cover, permitting easy disassembly and cleaning/repair of a PHE without
disconnecting any piping. In a multipass arrangement, the ports and fluid
connections are located on both fixed and movable end covers. A
multipass arrangement is generally used when the flow rates are
considerably different or when one would like to use up the available
pressure drop by multipassing and hence getting a higher heat transfer
coefficient.

Advantages and Limitations:

Some advantages of plate heat exchangers are as follows:
They can easily be taken apart into their individual components for
cleaning, inspection, and maintenance. The heat transfer surface area
can readily be changed or rearranged for a different task or for
anticipated changing loads, through the flexibility of plate size,
corrugation patterns, and pass arrangements. High shear rates and shear
stresses, secondary flow, high turbulence, and mixing due to plate
corrugation patterns reduce fouling to about 10 to 25% of that of a shelland-tube exchanger, and enhance heat transfer. Very high heat transfer
coefficients are achieved due to the breakup and reattachment of
boundary layers, swirl or vortex flow generation, and small hydraulic
diameter flow passages. Because of high heat transfer coefficients,
reduced fouling, the absence of bypass and leakage streams, and pure
counterflow arrangements, the surface area required for a plate
exchanger is one-half to one-third that of a shell-andtube exchanger for a
given heat duty, thus reducing the cost, overall volume, and space

requirement for the exchanger. Also, the gross weight of a plate

exchanger is about one sixth that of an equivalent shell-and-tube
exchanger. Leakage from one fluid to the other cannot take place unless a
plate develops a hole. Since the gasket is between the plates, any
leakage from the gaskets is to the outside of the exchanger. The high
thermal effectiveness (up to about 93%) facilitates economical low-grade
heat recovery. The flow-induced vibrations, noise, thermal stresses, and
entry impingement problems of shell-and-tube exchangers do not exist
for plate heat exchangers.
Some inherent limitations of the plate heat exchangers are caused by
plates and
gaskets as follows:
The gasket materials (except for the PTFE-coated type) restrict the use of
PHEs in highly corrosive applications; they also limit the maximum
operating temperature to 2608C (5008F) but are usually operated below
1508C (3008F) to avoid the use of expensive gasket materials. Gasket life
is sometimes limited. Frequent gasket replacement may be needed in
some applications. Pinhole leaks are hard to detect. For equivalent flow
velocities, pressure drop in a plate exchanger is very high compared to
that of a shell-and tube exchanger. However, the flow velocities are
usually low and plate lengths are short, so the resulting pressure drops
are generally acceptable. The normal symmetry of PHEs may make
phase-change applications more difficult, due to large differences in
volumetric flows. For some cases, heat exchanger duties with widely
different fluid flow rates and depending on the allowed pressure drops of
the two fluids, an arrangement of a different number of passes for the two
fluids may make a PHE advantageous. However, care must be exercised
to take full advantage of available pressure drop while multipassing one
or both fluids.

Objective of present study:

The primary focus of the study is to find the overall heat transfer
coefficient and pressure drop characteristics of PHE. The work has been
divided into to two phases:
1. Rectification of the setup and performing the experiment with
distilled water and obtaining the important results. The results
obtained after full rectification of the setup will serve as references
for all the next steps of experimentation. The objective also included
error analysis of the data.
2. Performing the experiment with different concentrations of
nanofluids with varying temperature and flow rate and compare
experimentally the heat transfer performances of various nanofluids.
Perform data analysis using optimization techniques and find the
optimal values of various parameters for maximum heat transfer
coefficient.

Experimental Setup:
An experimental setup that was been developed by Dr. A. Tiwari, Dr. J.
Sarkar & Dr. P. Ghosh has been used to investigate the heat transfer and
pressure drop characteristics of the corrugated channels under different
flow conditions. Commercial PHE manufactured by Alfa Laval India Limited

(model M3 FG) has been used for this purpose. The geometric details of
the plates and the heat exchanger are provided in Table and Figure below
Table Geometrical parameters of tested plate
Plate width inside gasket, Lw (mm)
Vertical distance between centers of ports, Lv (mm)
Horizontal distance between centers of ports, Lh (mm)
Port diameter, Dp (mm)
Number of plates
Heat exchanger area, A (m2)
Mean channel spacing, b (mm)
Gap between two consecutive plate, (mm)
Corrugation pitch, Pc (mm)
Plate thickness, t (mm)
Plate pitch, p (mm)
Gasket width, (mm)
Gasket thickness, (mm)
Chevron angle

heat exchanger
100
355
60
30
10
0.3
2.8
2.4
14.2
0.5
2.8
7.4
0.37
30 degrees

Figure: Basic geometric parameters of chevron plate ()

The experimental setup mainly includes two flow loops, for the cold and
hot fluids (distilled water flow loops). Hot water loop comprises with an
insulated hot water tank of 25 L capacity with four 2 kW immersion
heaters. The desired temperature of hot water inlet to the PHE has been
controlled through temperature controller (onoff control mechanism). Hot
water has been circulated through PHE using gasketed hot water pump.
Cold fluid is stored in a 15 L container and recirculated by means of a
centrifugal pump. Before entering the PHE, the cold fluid is cooled so that
the inlet temperature is maintained at a constant value. Two differential

pressure manometers have been used between inlet and outlet ports of
the PHE for hot water and cold water. The temperatures of each stream
are measured using high accuracy J-type thermocouples located at the
inlet and outlet of the cold and hot-water streams, respectively. The cold
water tank and piping were thermally insulated properly to minimize heat
loss. Four terminal temperatures and flow rates of hot water and cold
water have been measured under steady state during experimentation.
Cold water flow rate has been varied from (34) lpm whereas inlet cold
stream temperature ranges from 35 to 37 degrees celcius. Hot stream
flow rate has been varied from (34) lpm with readings noted at different
hot water inlet temperature variying from 60-75 degrees celcius. A typical
test normally lasted approximately 150 min. This time interval was
required for the system to achieve steady-state conditions. In order to
establish if such steady-state conditions were reached, the temperatures
were constantly monitored. Once the thermal equilibrium conditions were
obtained, the flow rate and temperature readings were recorded. Each
measurement was compared to the obtained average value and
estimated errors are deducted.

Photograph of Experimental setup

Setup Rectification:
The setup was not working since more than 2 years and had multiple
problems due to its dormant nature. According to the specifications, the

setup should have been used every 3 months so that there is no rust
formation inside the flow system and no blockage due to the dirt.
As per the inspection performed initially and followed by testing of flow
circuits with the distilled water without using the heating equipment's,
following inferences were drawn 1) Leakage in hot water circuit pump.
Possible reasons2) Out of the 3 motors, motor 2 corresponding to the cooling water
circulation system was found not working.
Possible reasons 3 Manometer tapping leakage was evident from various places.
4) Leakages in the link between hot water container outlet and motor
inlet.
5) Hot water side manometer not working properly due to air bubbles in
the flow side.
6) Various valve leakages leading to unnecessary heat losses and
pressure drop.
7) More number of clamping clips were required to hold on the tapping in
place.
8) Cold water circuit manometer dysfunctional, needed to be replaced.
The following problem posed challenges as this were to be rectified within
proposed time limits and without making major changes in the existing
system.
Each problem was tackled stepwise and until it was solved, next step was
not taken.
The main corrections that were made are as follows:
1) Motor 2 corresponding to the cooling water circulation system was
removed and inspected.
Following possible reasons for its collapse were identified:
a. Shaft jam
b. Electrical connections
The electrical connections were checked first and loose connections were
tightened and checked with electronic multimeter for assurance. This
exercise revealed that electrical connections were okay and shaft jam had
to be the reason for the dysfunction.
The motor was taken up to the fitting workshop and opened. The impellor
was in perfect condition but the coupling the connected the fan with
motor was jammed. The following figures show the shaft coupling that
was jammed.

Shaft coupling Photograph

The seal that covered the joint was also hampered and needed
replacement. That breaking of the seal was the main reason for the
leakage. The shaft coupling was polished and grinded in the fitting shop.
The re-assembling of the parts of motors was done and then tested. The
motor was then again fitted back and all the connections were retained.
2) The next problem that was tackled was leakages in the hot water
circuit pump.
Initial inspection laid us to following conclusion:
a. Coupler problem
b. Loose inlet/outlet connection
The problem was rectified same as the cooling water circulation pump.
The only problem that still persists in the motor is overheating and the
reasons are excessive vibration.
3) Both Cold and Hot water sides had leakages which on first visual
inspection concluded that many of the tapping were not properly fixed
with the clips and there was a shortage of C-clips that were bought. 80%
of the leakage problem was solved by this simple measures and
remaining 20 % required use of sealing agent and coverings.
4) The bubbles of the hot water side were removed using the tapping
technique and the system was made completely close with no bubbles.
5) The cold water manometer was the main cause of concern as due to
the large diameter of the pipe at the outlet of the plate, a very low
pressure zone was created due to partial filling of the pipe. The other half
of pipe contained air. This air had to be removed for correct pressure
readings.
The decision had to be made on the liquid that had to be filled in the
manometer. Carbon tetrachloride was selected owing to its density ( 1.54
g/cm^3). The carbon tetrachloride is slightly denser than water and was
expected to serve our purpose the best.
An additional tapping was made on the cold side to remove excessive
air and make the system completely closed. This tapping was expected to

serve as a savior against the low pressure zone that was created in the
pipe.

Final: With tapping

Manometer Without Calibration

Initial: Without tapping

Manometer With Calibration

After the following modifications were made, the carbon tetrachloride was
poured into the manometer. It was observed that for the complete range
of the flow rate of the water in the system, the liquid in the manometer
was never sucked into the flow. This proved that the following
modifications made stood up to the expectations.
After the first phase of rectification, attention was drawn to some deeper
aspects such as the following:
1. Manometer calibration
2. J-type thermocouple open junction problem
3. J-type thermocouple calibration

Manometer calibration:
Manometer was initially filled with carbon tetrachloride and a dummy test
was conducted on how much pressure difference does the manometer

show. A pressure gauge was brought for the reference and it was found
that the manometer had little less carbon tetrachloride. An accurate
amount of fluid had be poured. This was done by a repetitive process
which consisted of pouring and measuring. Finally and exact amount of
fluid was poured. Now the air bubbles were to be removed from the
system. Tapping were held open until all the air bubbles were removed
and manometer fluid level was constantly monitored.
Once the complete system was made air bubble free, the reference
pressure was set from the pressure gauge and the manometer was
calibrated.

J-type thermocouple open junction problem:

Thermocouple showed no numbers on the digital indicator. After a little
research it was known that the thermocouple circuit was open and had to
be removed from the tubes and rectified. The junction were removed and
it was evident that the thermocouple were having a open junction as
sown below. The junctions were rejoined and made sure that they dont
fall apart again.

Open junction Thermocouple

Junction closed and secured

J-type thermocouple calibration:

A thermocouple is calibrated by comparing its response with a standard thermometer at the same
temperature. The standard thermometer may be another thermocouple, a platinum resistance
thermometer or a liquid in glass thermometer.The thermocouples are calibrated by one or more of
three general methods, depending on

the type of thermocouple,

the temperature range,
the accuracy required.

In the first method, thermocouples are calibrated by comparison with a reference thermocouple.In
the second method, thermocouples are calibrated against a standard platinum resistance
thermometer. In the third method, thermocouples are calibrated at four defining temperatures, the
freezing points of zinc, aluminum, silver, and gold.
Calibration problem areas are immediately apparent. There must be available:
Means for measuring the output of the temperature sensor
Satisfactory temperature standard
Controlled temperature environment
The first method of calibrating the thermocouples was adopted with reference thermocouple was
digital thermometer.
The six thermocouples junctions were made naked and an intimate contact was made manually
from hand assuring its existence inside the pipe under heavy flow conditions. The contacts were
coated with epoxy resin araldite that ensured the contact all the times between two metals. The
completed junctions were calibrated at various temperature with a reference digital thermometer.
Owing to the fact that thermocouples dont follow the linear relationship with temperature gradient,
the calibration had to be done over a range of temperature keeping the error within 1%.
Thermocouple was calibrated at 0 and 80 degrees Celsius alternatively to ensure the error
remains within 1%.

After calibration of thermocouples

Calibration over a range of temperature

After the calibration the thermocouple were put back in the drilled holes. The holes were sealed
and made air tight to restrict any passage of air in or out. After the cement got dried, the
temperature reading without heaters been operated were noted and the error was found to be
within .5%.
After the successful calibration of both manometer and thermocouple, heaters were been
investigated. The heaters were found to be in perfect condition.
The additional 2 thermocouple with control mechanisms were investigated and found perfect. The
settings were made for the experiment.
After completion of the rectification a thorough inspection was done and all the thermocouples,
manometers were double checked.
Experiment was performed at this stage and data analysis was done on excel. Various graph of
important parameters have been plotted which are shown under results and discussions part.
The various data and calculations have attached in the annexure with relevant names.

Results and Discussions:

Conclusion:
Future work
After successful completion of the first phase of project, we look forward
to take our much gained experience further. We intend to perform the
experiment with different concentrations of nanofluids and use
optimization technique to arrive at optimal solution of overall heat
transfer coefficient for given set of variables.
The data and the results of the above work would be used as a reference
and validation for the next set of results. Our final objective is to find the
optimized set of parameters for maximum heat transfer coefficient of the
PHE.

References: