General introduction to heat exchangers

Heat exchangers are devices that provide the flow of thermal energy between two
or more fluids at different temperatures. Heat exchangers are used in a wide variety of
applications; these include power production, process, chemical and food industries,
electronics, environmental engineering, waste heat recovery, manufacturing industry, and air
conditioning, refrigeration, and space applications. Heat exchangers may be classified
according to the following criteria:

1- Recuperators/generators.
2- Transfer process: direct contact and indirect contact.
3- Geometry of construction: tubes, plates, and extended surfaces.
4- Heat transfer mechanisms: single-phase and two-phase.
5- Flow arrangements: parallel, counter, and cross flows [1].

In heat exchangers, there are usually no external heat and work interactions. In a few heat
exchangers, the fluids exchanging heat are in direct contact. In most heat exchangers, heat
transfer between fluids takes place through a separating wall or into or out of a wall in a
transient manner. In many heat exchangers, the fluids are separated by a heat transfer face,
and ideally they do not mix or leak. Such exchangers are referred to as direct transfer type,
or simply recuperators. If no phase change occurs in any of the fluids in the exchanger, it is
sometimes refers to as a sensible heat exchangers. There could be internal thermal energy
sources in the exchangers, such as in electric heaters and nuclear fuel elements. Combustion
and chemical reaction may take place within the exchanger, such as in boilers, fired heaters,
and fluidized-bed exchangers. Mechanical devices may be used in some exchangers such as
in scraped surface exchangers, agitated vessels, and stirred tank reactors [2].

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 Shell and tube heat exchanger

In process industries, shell and tube heat exchangers are used in great numbers, far more
than any other type of exchanger. More than 90% of heat exchangers used in industry are of
the shell and tube type. These types of exchangers are the "workhorses" of industrial
process heat transfer. They are the first choice because of well-established procedures for
design and manufacture from a wide variety of materials, many years of satisfactory service,
and availability of codes and standards for design and fabrication. They are produced in the
widest variety of sizes and styles. There is virtually no limit on the operating temperature
and pressure. Shell and tube heat exchangers used in many applications such as in the
power generation, petroleum refinery, chemical industries and process industries. They are
used as oil cooler, condenser, feedwater heater, etc [3].

 The advantages of this type:

1- The configuration gives a large surface area in a small volume.
2- Good mechanical layout: a good shape for pressure operation.
3- Uses well-established fabrication techniques.
4- Can be constructed from a wide range of materials.
5- Easily cleaned.
6- Well-established design procedures [4].
 The component and mechanisms:
The major components of a shell and tube exchanger are tubes, baffles, shell, front head,
rear head, and nozzles. Expansion joint is an important component in the case of fixed tube
sheet exchanger for certain design conditions. Other components include tie-rods and
spacers, impingement plates, sealing strips, supports, and lugs. The selection criteria for a
proper combination of these components are dependent upon the operating pressures,
temperatures, thermal stresses, corrosion characteristics of fluids, fouling, and cost [3].
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 Shell and tube heat exchanger

Essentially, a shell and tube exchanger consists of a bundle of tubes enclosed in a cylindrical
shell. The ends of the tubes are fitted into tube sheets, which separate the shell-side and
tube side fluids. Baffles are provided in the shell to direct the fluid flow and support the
tubes. The assembly of baffles and tubes is held together by support rods and spacers [4].
Shell and tube heat exchangers contain a large number of tubes (sometimes several
hundred) packed in a shell with their axes parallel to that of shell. Heat transfer takes place
as one fluid flows inside the tubes while the other fluid flows outside the tubes through the
shell. Baffles are commonly placed in the shell to force the shell-side fluid to flow across the
shell to enhance heat transfer and to maintain uniform spacing between the tubes. Despite
their widespread use, shell and tube heat exchangers are not suitable for use in automotive
and air craft applications because of their relatively large size and weight [5].

 Types of shell and tube exchanger:

Shell and tube heat exchangers are classified according to the number of shell and tube
passes involved. Heat exchangers in which all the tubes make one U-turn in the shell, for
example, are called one-shell-pass and two-tube-passes heat exchangers. Likewise, a heat
exchanger that involves two passes in the shell and four passes in the tubes is called a two-
shell-passes and four-tube-passes heat exchanger [5].

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 Shell and tube heat exchanger

Figure [1]: Basics of shell and tube heat exchangers.

Figure [2]: One-shell-pass and one-tube-pass heat exchanger.

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 Shell and tube heat exchanger

The three most common types of shell and tube exchangers are:

1- Fixed tube sheet design.

2- U-tube design.
3- Floating head type.
In all three types, the front-end head is stationary while the rear-end head can be rather
stationary or floating, depending on the thermal stresses in the shell, tube, or tube sheet,
due to temperature differences as a result of heat transfer [2].
The simplest and cheapest type of shell and tube exchanger is the fixed tube sheet design
shown in figure [3]. The main advantages of this type are that the tube bundle cannot be
removed for cleaning and there is no provision for differential expansion of the shell and
tubes. As the shell and tubes will be at different temperatures, and may be of different
materials, the differential expansion can be considerable and the use of this type is limited
to temperature difference up to 80 C. Some provision for expansion can be made by
including an expansion loop in the shell but their use is limited to low shell pressure up to 8
bar. In the other types, only one end of the tubes is fixed and the tube bundle can expand
freely [4]. Fixed tube sheet heat exchangers are used where:
1- It is desired to minimize the number of joints.
2- Temperature conditions do not represent a problem thermal stress.
3- The shell-side fluid is clean and tube bundle removal is not required.
4- High degree of protection against contamination of streams.
5- Double tube sheet is possible.
6- Mechanical tube side cleaning is possible [3].

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 Shell and tube heat exchanger

Figure [3]: Fixed tube sheet exchanger.

The U-tube (U-bundle) type shown in figure [4] requires only one tube sheet and is cheaper
than the floating head type but is limited in use to relatively clean fluids as the tubes and
bundle are difficult to clean. It is also more difficult to replace a tube in this type [4].
U-tube exchangers can be used for the following services:
1- Clean fluid on the tube side.
2- Temperature conditions requiring thermal relief by expansion.
3- For H2 service in extreme pressures, utilizing an all-welded construction with a no
removable bundle.
4- To allow the shell inlet nozzle to be located beyond the bundle.
5- High degree of protection against contamination of streams.
6- Double tube sheet is possible [3].

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 Shell and tube heat exchanger

Figure [4]: U-tube heat exchanger.

The floating head shown in figure [5], is the most versatile type of shell and tube exchanger,
and also the costliest. It is so christened because while one tube sheet is fixed relative to the
shell, the other is free to "float" within the shell. Thus, it permits free expansion of the tube
bundle and also permits the cleaning of both the inside and outside of the tubes. It can
therefore be used for services where both the shell side and tube side fluids are dirty and,
consequently, it is the standard construction type used in dirty services as in oil refineries.
The higher cost of the floating-head heat exchanger is due to the fact that there are more
components in this type of construction than in the fixed tube sheet or the U-tube types [6].

Figure [5]: Floating-head heat exchanger.

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 Shell and tube heat exchanger

 Tubes:
There are basically two types, finned tubes and bar tubes. Finned tubes have external fins
mounted by various mechanical means. The necessity of having external fins mounted on
tubes is to provide more heat transfer area and thus more heat flux into the tube fluid.
Finned tubes are most common where there is a gas-liquid or gas-gas transfer of heat with
the gas always being external to the tubes. Typical applications of finned tubes are waste
heat recovery exchangers, and air-cooled exchangers. Plain or bar tubes are the most
common in shell and tube design. These tubes come in two basic types-solid wall
construction and duplex construction. The duplex design consists of a tube within a tube in
which the outer tube is mechanically drawn over the inner tube. The solid wall tube is what
the name implies, a simple tube of solid wall construction. In applying U-tube exchanger
design, tubes must be bent 1800 [7].
 Tube Pattern:
A better heat transfer coefficient can be achieved through a triangular or rotated pattern in
the tube bundle because the flow is directly against the tube. In a quadratic tube pattern,
the medium flows between the tube rows and the heat transfer coefficient are worse than
with a rotated tube pattern. If a severe fouling is expected on the shell side, for instance, in a
kettle-type evaporator, the quadratic pattern must be chosen to facilitate the cleaning of the
shell side. A compromise is the rotated quadratic pitch. The heat transfer is better because
the flow is directly against the tubes and cleaning can take place between the tube rows.
Normally, the triangular pitch is chosen because the heat transfer is good and with triangular
pitch more tubes can fit in the shell. With triangular pitch the heat exchanger area is greater
in a pipe shell [8].

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 Shell and tube heat exchanger

Figure [6]: Tube arrangement in shell and tube heat exchangers.

 Baffles:
Baffles may be classified as either longitudinal or transverse type. Longitudinal baffles are
used to control the overall flow direction of the shell fluid. Transverse baffles may be
classified as plate baffles or grid baffles. Plate baffles are used to support the tubes, to direct
the fluid in the tube bundle al approximately right angles to the tubes, and to increase the
turbulence and hence the heat transfer coefficient of the shell fluid [2].
Baffles can act as:
1- Structural supports for the tubes.
2- Dampers against vibration.
3- Devices to control and direct flow patterns of the shell-side liquid [7].

Figure [7]: Transverse baffle.

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 Shell and tube heat exchanger

 Some types of shells:

The E-shell is the most common due to its cheapness and simplicity. In this shell, the shell
fluid enters at one end of the shell and leaves at the other end, i.e. there is one pass on the
shell side. The tubes may have a single or multiple passes and are supported by transverse
baffles. This shell is the most common for single-phase shell fluid applications [1].

The F-shell is a two-pass shell where a longitudinal baffle divides the shell into two passes,
an upper pass and a lower pass. The shell side fluid enters the shell at one end in either the
upper half or the lower half, transverses the entire length of the shell through one-half the
shell cross-sectional area and then turns around and flows through the second pass, before
finally leaving at the end of the second pass. Evidently, the longitudinal baffle does not
extend to the tube sheet at the far end but stops well short, so that the shell-side fluid can
flow into the second pass. This construction is used for temperature cross situations, that is,
where the cold fluid leaves at a temperature higher than the outlet temperature of the hot
stream [6].

Figure [8]: E-shell & F-shell types.

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 Shell and tube heat exchanger

References
[1] Heat Exchangers selection, rating, and thermal design by SADIK KAKAC & HONGTAN LIU,
second edition.

[2] Fundamentals of heat exchanger design by Ramesh k. Shah and DUSAN P. SEKULIC.

[3] Heat Exchanger design handbook by KUPPAN THULUKKANAM, second edition.

[4] Chemical Engineering design "volume 6" by Coulson & Richardson's, Fourth edition.

[5] Heat and mass transfer, fundamentals and applications by YUNUS A. CENGEL & AFSHIN J.
GHAJAR, Fifth edition.

[6] Practical thermal design of shell and tube heat exchangers by R. Mukherjee.

[7] Mechanical design of process systems "volume 2" shell and tube heat exchangers
rotating equipment, bins, silos, stacks by A.KEITH ESCOE.

[8] Heat exchanger design guide, a practical guide for planning, selecting and designing of
shell and tube exchangers by M. NITSCHE AND R.O. GBADAMOSI.

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