“PLATE -AND-FIN HEAT EXCHANGERS FOR CRYOGENIC SERVICE - or many years, eryogenie processors have been using the plate-and-fin heat exchanger in such applications ‘as separating the components of air and natural gas, helium refrigeration and liquefaction, gas purifica- tion, and the liquefaction of natural gas. Thousands of these exchangers have been installed in chemical process plants over the past forty years. This article deseribes the construc- tion, design, and application and specification of this very compact and efficient type of heat exchanger. Construction ‘The basic core arrangement of a brazed-aluminum plate-and- fin heat exchanger, or BAHX, is analogous to numerous layers of corrugated cardboard pieces glued together to form a rectangular solid or right parallelepiped structure. ‘The alternate layers could be situated in the same direction for counterflow, or perpendicular for erossfiow, as shown in Rig. 1. A (typically) rectangular aluminum cap-sheet, clad with brazing alloy on the inner side, is placed in the core assembly fixture. This flat plate forms the bottom surface of the heat- exchanger core block. Next, the side- and end-bars, or edge- sealing strips, are positioned on the upper-surface periphery of the cap sheet. The distribution sections and effective heat-transfer fin sections are laid in the resulting form and covered with a parting (separator) sheet that has a thin cladding of brazing alloy on both sides. The core is repeatedly stacked in this» ‘manner until the appropriate number of finned passages are sandwiched that will provide the desired heat-transfer and flow-handling capabilities. Once the heat-exchanger core matrix is stacked and clamped, itis placed in a furnace for brazing at a temperature in excess of 1,000°F. During the brazing eyele, the alloy film that is clad on the separator sheets melts, flows and cools, to attach the sheets to the fins and edge-sealing strips. ‘ ‘Next, headers and nozzles must be welded to the core. The rounded headers, or collector tanks, connect common passages. Nozzles are attached to the headers. It may be necessary to manifold a number of exchangers in parallel to obtain greater | flow capacities Brazed-aluminum heat ex- changers are widely used at low temperatures. In their | Design specialized sphere, they | ‘The basic heat-transfer equation, Q = UAAT = mC,AT, relates heat-exchange are cheaper and more effi- | duty or total heat transferred (usually in Btu/h) to exchanger characteristics and cient than the customary | to the driving-temperature potential. There is no unique mathematical solution in shell-and-tube exchangers. | the design of this heat exchanger, and trial-and-error iterative methods, coupled with experience and good judgment, are employed. It is necessary to know the Riderick E lowe thermodynamics of the process in which the exchanger or exchangers will be zl involved. = Mechaniea Engnest It is essential to select a configuration resulting in a UA, or overall he ‘CHEMICAL ENGINEERING/AUGUST 17,198" 181transfer coefficient, in Btu/(h)(F), times the effective heat- transfer area, in ft, to satisfy the equation Q = UAAT. Also, pressuredrop considerations affect the exchanger cross-sections and free-stream areas, which are the cross- __ sectional areas open to fluid flow through the heat-transfer section of the exchanger. Fig. 2 is a schematic of a simple ———twostream plateand-fin heat exchanger. Empirical data for each available fin geometry, in the form of the Reynolds number, Naz, versus the dimensionless ‘” (friction factor or Fanning frietion factor) and “7” (Colburn factor) factors, is gathered in the laboratory and used in the design calculations. Each manufacturer makes tests of stan- dardsize core blocks with various fin configurations to derive the “f” factor that defines surface friction character. istics when plotted versus the Reynolds Number. This “” factor is used to find exchanger differential pressures, and the “7” factor to find the heat-transfer coefficient. Fig. 3is a typical graph of fand j versus Nz, for various, fin types. The convective flim coefficients are’ then deter- mined for each fluid stream in the exchanger, provided that choices have been made for the fin geometry and number and width of fin passages, which define the free stream areas necessary to calculate the mass velocities. The separator sheets become the primary heat-transfer surface, and the corrugated fins make up the secondary one. Because the finned surfaces are much larger than the prima- Nomenclature A Total effective exchanger heat transfer area, ft? Specific heat at constant pressure of the stream fluid, evaluated at arithmetic mean temperature (found on standard fluid property curves), Btu/ (XP) f Theffactor, which is used to determine pressure drop through the heat exchanger j The j factor, which is used to determine the convective film coefficient; it is the product of the Stanton number and the Prandt! number to the 2/8 power, dimensionless m Mass of fluid flowing in exchanger Np, Prandtl number, which is a fluid-property pa- rameter evaluated at arithmetiemean fluid tem- perature, dimensionless Nee Reynolds number, dimensionless Q Total heattransfer rate, or heat duty, Btu/h T Fluid temperature, “F (the subscripts designate point locations in the exchanger for the various streams) Differential temperature between two points, ‘F Overall heat-transfer coefficient, Btu/(h\ft?\"F) ry heat-transfer surface, the fin efficiencies are an important consideration. Fins of the proper height, pitch and thickness are carefully chosen to provide the optimal heat-transfer efficiency. A multitude of fin selections, generally in excess of forty, are available. This type of exchanger can be designed to accommodate seven or more fluids in liquid or gaseous phases. Such ‘exchangers can be designed to operate in a range between 0 and 1,400 psig, and at temperatures from absolute zero to 45°F. Most are designed for pressures to 1,200 psig and temperatures not exceeding +150'F for hydrocarbon pro- cesses, whereas pressures to 200 psig and temperatures between -320 and +150°F are common in air separation applications. Helium refrigeration/liquefaetion service in- volves pressures to 300 psig and temperatures from ~152 to +152F. Outline dimensions in excess of 48 x 48 x 240 in. Figure 1 —Plate-and-fn heat exchanger construction types 182 ciewicaL ENGINEERING/AUGUST 17, 190 are possible for a single, unmanifolded core unit. Such an exchanger is much lighter than a shell-and-tube type and requires as little as 20% of the space, which drastically reduces exchanger and foundation costs andfacilitates modularization. More than 600 ft? of heattransfer area can be obtained from 1 ft? of plateand-fin exchanger, which is about ten times that obtainable with an equal volume of shell-and-tube, One manifolded assembly ean con- tain more than 40,000 ft? of heat‘ransfer area. Designs typically comply with Section VIII of the ASME Pressure ‘Vessel Code and the ANSI B31.3 piping specification. ‘A potential disadvantage of the brazed aluminum heat- exchanger is its susceptibility to plugging if mill scale or other sizable foreign particles are introduced. If such a possibility exists, proper filtration upstream of the exchang- er is necessary. Also, allowable forees and moments are lower than those for the shell-and-tube type, and greater care in installation is required. The shell-and-tube type ean also withstand greater temperatures and pressures, as well as more-corrosive fluids, than the aluminum exchanger. To ensure proper flow distribution and to minimize flow friction, and separation and collection losses, the manifold piping should be carefully designed. Fig. 4 contains several sehematies of manifold arrangements. In the design of low-temperature heat exchangers, disre- Stream Ain FA _< gard of second-law violations can create problems. This ean ‘oceur when the design is based solely on the quantity of heat to be transferred and the terminal temperature differences of the exchanger. When considering the convective-heat- transfer relationship in Q = UAAT, there is no difficulty in caleulating the area, A, as long as the heat capacities of both streams change linearly and in the same direction as temperature. A condition may arise, however, where the warm stream indicates a colder temperature than the cold stream, or when the heat capacity of one stream changes appreciably with temperature (as revealed by a stepwise enthalpy balance through the heat exchanger). This ean occur, for example, in the ease of helium vapor at low temperatures and moderate pressures. The second-law violation does not actually occur in the heat exchanger, however. Instead, an exchanger so designed will create a rise in either the inlet or discharge temperature difference, or both. Fig. 5 illustrates this. Application 1. Air separation —One of the major uses of plate-and-fin exchangers is to separate air into its elemental parts, mainly 1 VILA [l2gg 4AP/G*) ~ d/ty (Ke~2) dt ~ OM) = did (Ke)} = friction factor oF Fanning friction ‘actor, which defines surface friction characteristics when plotted versus the Reynolds number. It is used in determining the pressure drop through the heat exchanger. J = WAG Cp\Np2! = Colburn factor, a dimensionless ‘parameter, whichis the product of the Stanton number {and the Prandt! number to the 2/3 power. Its used to determine the convective film coefficient, ‘Nae = 41 G/v = the dimensionless Reynolds number. Its ‘magnitude determines the nature ofthe flow. Perforated fin AR Lanced fin —— Plain pertorated fin 100,000 70,000 7,000 “Reynolds number, Ne 700 Figure 3 — Typical f and j curves for various fin types. CHEMICAL ENGINEERING/AUGUSTT, 1 183oxygen and nitrogen. Major uses of oxygen include steel- making and wastewater treatment, Other uses include nonferrous smelting, refinery catalyst regeneration, chemical manufacturing, welding, metal cut- ting, medical applications, and partial oxidation reactions for coal gasification and liquefaction and for oil gasification. Nitrogen, the main constituent of air, was once a little used byproduet of oxygen generation. It s now employed in purging and blanketing in the petrochemical industries, alu- minum mills, bers plants and semiconductor facilities, as well as in metal industry-furnace atmospheres. Other applieations of nitrogen include float. processes, ammonia synthesis, quick freezing of foods, and tire pulver- ization. Two newer uses are for secondary oil recovery by means of high-pressure injection into wels, and in the semi- conductor industry where clean, inert, dry atmospheres are essential. (One rare gas, argon, can be economically distilled from air. But xenon, helium, neon and krypton are present in such ‘minute amounts that they can be separated from air only at much higher cost. Helium is more economically extracted from helium-bearing natural gas. In an airseparation plant plate-and-in heat exchangers are used as reversing main heat exchangers, subcoolers, superheaters, and reboiler condensers. 2, Hydrocarbons — Another important use of the brazed aluminum exchanger is in the processing of hydrocarbon gases and liquids. Liquefaction and vaporization of natural ‘gas are frequently accomplished with this type. Natural gas is often liquefied by using a cascade system, that uses two refrigerants in addition to the methane already in the natural as. Purification and recovery of such hydrocarbons as ethane, propane, butane, ethylene and propylene frequently employ such equipment, which is used as demethanizer precoolers and supereoolers, ethylene and propylene condensers, and column reboilers. Almost every ethylene plant in the world uses this type of exchanger. Hydrogen is used as an additive and desulfurizer in petro- chemical applications and is normally produced through the steam cracking of methane or naphtha. In large ethylene plants, itis generally recovered from the waste gas issuing from the top of a demethanizer column. This type of ex: changer successfully separates impurities from the hydrogen. Uses in petrochemical plants ‘Three basie types of brazed-aluminum exchangers are found in petrochemical plants. The first of these is the gas-to-gas kind that cools raw gas by exchanging heat with product ‘The second is the condenser, in which product gases are vaporized at the same time that the raw gas is condensed into liquid. Hydrogen recovery in ethylene plants, where simulta- Inlet manifold piping Exchanger | Exchanger Exchanger ‘Not | No.2” | No.3 Le ‘Symmetrical flow manifolding Figure 4 Heat-exchanger maniolding arrangements Cold Stream Where the curves 7 Cateutated re distribution sh “cond law vation (ermsove Cold stream G= Gy At (heat load) — ‘Temperature distribution during operation Figure 5 — Heat exchanger temperature distributions 134 CHEMICAL ENGINEERING/ALGUST 17-1980neous heat exchanges take place among as many as seven fluids, is an example of a gas-to-gas unit and a condenser ‘matrix in one exchanger. The third is the chiller in which a refrigerant, such as ethylene or propylene, is evaporated while raw gas is cooled and condensed. The refrigerant is circulated by the thermo- syphon principle in the heat exchanger, as in a vertical reboiler. &. Helium and other services —The use of brazed alumi- num plateand-in heat exchangers in helium refrigeration and liquefaction systems is highly desirable because of the extremely low operating temperature involved. Aluminum alloys can gain from 20-50% improvement in ductility and tensile strength in the cryogenic region. Very narrow temperature differences between fluids must be accommodated for helium services. A single-core configuration for this service becomes quite long, but is small in cross-section. Among other applications are tritium recovery and urani- um hexafluoride processing as well as use in ammonia, ‘gasoline, and carbonic-acid-gas plants. Specification To custom design a plateand-in heat exchanger, certain process information is necessary from the specifier. For a commonly used fluid, one should provide: 1. Fluid composition, 2. Flowrate, total. a. Flowrate of vapor. . Flowrate of liquid. 3. Inlet temperature. 4. Outlet temperature. 5. Mean temperature difference, or cooling curves. 6. Heat-transfer rate. ‘7. Inlet pressure. 8 Allowable pressure-drop. For a mixture, or for uncommon fluids, add: 9. Viscosity at mean temperature. 10. Specifc-heat or enthalpy at mean temperature. 11. Thermal conductivity at mean temperature. 12, Mean density. 18, Boiling data—heat-lux or heat-transfer-oeffcient vs. 7. 14. Cooling curves — temperature vs. heat transfer. If applicable, also indicate: 15. X-ray, ultrasonic, dye-penetrant or other nondestruc- tive testing requirements. 16. Special flow or pressure testing. 17. Helium or other leak-detection tests, 18. Outside source inspection. 19. Special code requirements, 20, Applicable specifications and standards (materials, de- sign, manufacturing, inspection and packing). 21. Delivery requirements. 2. Dimensional restrictions. 23. Information as to whether headers and nozzles are to beincluded. Also indicate whether flanges are required; if so, show the typetand size to be provided. 2, Sketch of desired exchanger configuration. %. Data to be provided, such as design sheets, U-1 forms, oc ae = mill certifications, code calculations, drawings, cold-box de- gns, test and inspection reports, performance parameters, installation and maintenance instructions, field service rates, and warranties. Summary ‘The brazed-aluminum plate-and-fin heat exchanger has pro- vided effective ambient- and eryogenictemperature heat- transfer service to the chemical process industries for many years. Being light in weight, compact, and highly efficient in transferring heat, it generally costs less to manufacture and install than the shell-and-tube type. By connecting single units in parallel, very high flowrates are attainable. Processes handling fluids of a highly corrosive nature, Jaden with relatively large particles, and eapable of apprecia ble surface fouling are detrimental to this equipment. Be- cause of the aluminum construction, excessive piping forces and moments, as well as temperatures and pressures beyond 450°F and 1,400 psi must be avoided. ‘The largest market for these exchangers has been the air- separation industry. However, this type of equipment has also been applied to a variety’ of hydrocarbon applications and is found in petroleum refineries, LNG plants, and natu- ral-gas processing facilities around the world. Helium recov- ery, and other deep eryogenie processes, also employ such exchangers. Other uses can be discovered by the employment of ere- ative engineering. RV. Hughson, Editor References 1. Kays, W. Mand London, A. 1, “Compact Heat Exchangers,” McCraw [New York 1968 = een 2 Vance, RW. and Dukey W. BL, “Applied ic Engineering” John Wily & Son Rew York ined \7PO# Cen Ein 8. Mendelssh, K, “Progress in Cryogenics,” Heywood & Company Ltd, London, 18 — 4. Stewart Warper Publication 8001-11, “Brazed Aluminum Plate Fin Heat Exchangers For Process Industries,” Indianapolis Ind. 5. IM Marston Lad, Publication, “Cryogenic Hest Exchangers,” Wolver hampton, England 6 Sumitomo Precision Products Co. Publication, “Low Temperature Heat Exchangers" Amagasah iy, Japan. 1. Kobe Step! Lid. Publication 700415007, “Brazed Aluminum Heat Ex hanger," Kobe, Japan. 8 CComeresad lr and Gas Data,” 2d ed, Ingersl-and Oa, Phi 9. Kays, WME, and Loin, AL Heat Trapafer and How Fition ASME Nor i980." aaa! 10. The Trane Co,, Process Div. Publication JOM BRAT, Installation, Operation and Maintenaper insructons for Brazed Aluminum Heat Bhchangers, Le Crsse, We. 11, LAr Lig Dion Techrigues Advan, Bulletin TL 201, Tertne Tiguefiers and Refrigerators, Sassenage, France The author Roderick B. Lowe, 528 Crest Drive, Murrysville, PA {e688 has 20 years of technical and managerial exper ce nthe proms ad aerospace ast, nahn tnd refrigeration equipments aa well as ene process Plants, He holds A-A'Scand B.S, doprees in mechanical ‘rom the State University of New York fd ss member of the American Soe. of Mechanical Enzincers 135 ‘CHEMICAL ENGINEERING/AUGUST 1,867