‘Types, performance and applications Engineers today must evaluate a large variety of heat exchangers in order to select the most suitable and economical one for a service. Many configurations are discussed and their salient features analyzed. C Performance objectives influence the selection of the type of heat exchanger, the flow arrangement and the materials of construction. If, for example, maximum. heat recovery is paramount, the flows should be coun- tercurrent, If, on the other hand, heat transfer between two streams is to be limited, other flow arrangements may be used. If sulfur oxide vapors are present, the problem of acid dewpoint must be considered. Information on flow quantities, temperatures, pres- sures and compositions is fundamental to a rational design. Accurate process flows are indispensable for siz- ing exchangers to meet the required thermal duties at the smallest pressure drops and to minimize capital cost Changing process conditions or reduced ambient temperatures may result in material temperatures higher or lower than desired. Corrective measures are available, including hot-gas bypassing or gas cooling, cold-air bypassing, air preheating, or hot-air recircula tion. When'fower efficiency can be tolerated, the cold- end metal temperature may be controlled via a paral- Jel-flow arrangement. Both gas-phase and liquid-phase corrosion (whether by oxidation or acidity) must be carefully considered Seaccia and G. Theoclitus, C-E Air Preheater although the latter usually presents the more severe problem, at the specification and design stages. Fouling of surfaces can lower performance and raise pressure drop, which can lead to operating problems. If fouling is anticipated, the means must be provided for cleaning. the heat-transfer surfac water washing. Some heat exchangers ate les example, in the rotary reget anger, the counterflow provides cleaning action, and surface ex- pansion and contraction loosen soot, which the high- velocity air stream then removes, Heat exchangers are generally named according to the way that the hot and cold fluids enter and leave. Usually, this also describes the relationship of the flows to cach other. fouling, For Counterflow recovers maximum heat In the counterflow exchanger, fluids flow in opposite directions, usually after entering at opposite ends. This arrangement takes maximum. advantage of the heat- transfer surfaces, requiring the least surface for a given, duty and achieving maximum heat recovery and tem- perature effectiveness, FRGNEERNG OCTOR ET 121‘Temperature (or recuperative) efectivenes,¢, is the ratio of the difference between the inlet and outlet tem- peratures of one of the two fluids (the one whose temper- ature difference is greater) to the inlet temperature dif- ferences of the two fuids: in — Satna! Erin — Fon) Here, ty represents the fluid inlet temperatures, and fe the outlet temperatures. Cyin/Gnag i the ratio ofthe heat capabilities (i) of the fluids’"‘The numerator and denominator refer, re- spectively, 10 the fluid having the least and the greatest hheat capacity. A Gyin/Gyes approaching 1 describes a g2s/gas oF liquid liquid heat exchanger, when the spe- cific heats of the two streams are approximately the same, whereas a value approaching 0 describes a gas/ liquid one. Gas/gas exchangers handling high-speciic- In Fig. 1, it can be seen that in the counterflow ex- changer the limiting temperature for the cold fluid is the hot-fluid inlet temperature; and for the hot fluid, it is the cold-fiuid inlet temperature. These temperature levels represent the ultimate transfer of heat ina coun- terflow exchanger, which would require an infinite hheat-transfer surface. ‘The high heat-recovery and temperature effectiveness of this exchanger makes it attractive when the first con- sideration is process economy. In some cases, however, high heat recovery must be avoided, as when, for example, low temperatures at the ‘cold end could lead to acid dewpoint corrosion, or high temperatures at the hot end could expose the heat- transfer surfaces to too-high temperatures and cause structural failure. Metal temperatures in the counterflow exchanger are shown in Fig. 1. The exchanger’s theoretical perform- ance is depicted in Fig, 2. (See the box above for defini- tions of elfectiveness, Cyiq/Cyge 284 NTU yay) Crossflow exchanger saves space In the crossflow exchanger, the two fluids usually center at right angles to each other, and pass over each other as they flow through the exchanger (Fig. 3). De- sign of the inlet and outlet headers economizes space, which can be important when an exchanger must be fitted into a process system. Grossfiow-exchanger tubes sometimes have perpen- dicular radial fins. Round tubes and finned tubes, as well as various types of flat-plate envelopes, are also used in this exchanger. These plates may be embossed to enhance heat-transfer coefficients. Indicated in Fig. 3a are the fluid-temperature profiles of a crossflow exchanger in which the fluids pass through without mixing, The manner in which the fluids pass by each other fixes the temperature con- straints that prevent ‘the exchanger from reaching high-temperature effectiveness, and introduces a cold ‘comer, where vapor condensation and corrosion can take place. Fig. 3b represents the case in which the fuid flowing 122 Some critical terms defined Cain/Gnaz approaching 0. "Temperature effectiveness is always taken as positive, and the fluid having the greatest difference between inlet and outlet temperatures has the minimum heat capacity, NTUpaq it a dimensionless quantity that expresses the hheat exchanger’s size. It is the product of an overall hheat-transfer coefficient (U) and heat-transfer surface (A) divided by the value of Cig. The overall coefficient defines the thermal conductance of the exchanger and is obtained from the heat-transfer coefficients of the (wo fluids and the thermal conductivity of the boundary wall. Exchanger effectiveness rises with increasing NTU values. However, a higher NTU, and consequently ‘greater effectiveness, implics a larger exchanger surface ‘or pressure drop or both, oe ges cae eile | over the tubes can be considered completely mixed, the flow inside the tubes unmixed. The mixing of cone of the fluids increases the metal temperature in the cold corner, because the mixed fluid will be at a higher temperature. However, the mixing lowers the maxi- mum value of the temperature effectiveness. ‘Theoretical curves describing the performance of the crossfiow exchanger are shown in Fig. 4. Performances that can be achieved when both fluids are unmixed and when only one is mixed are compared for the case in which Cyin/Cnoe = 1.0 (the behavior depicted is simi lar for other ratios). The Fig. 4 curves show that the erosflow exchanger does not perform as well as the counterflow exchanger. When higher temperature effectiveness is desired from the erossflow exchanger, a multipass crossflow sys- tem may be considered. Fig. 3 depicts a two-pass cross- flow arrangement. It shows how the Fig. 3b single-pass cerossflow exchanger can be upgraded to achieve a higher heat recovery. Multipass crossflows can be ar- ranged in many different ways [/,2,3]- Parallel flow limits effectiveness In the parallel-flow exchanger, the hot and cold fluids flow in the same direction, parallel to each other. Both fluids enter at the same end and exit at the opposite end. Fig. 6 shows the fluid temperatures. as vectors whose lengths indicate their relative magnitude. ‘Temperature effectiveness is limited by the fluids flowing in the same direction. The outlet temperature of the cold fluid cannot exceed that of the hot fluid. ‘This temperature constraint holds for all parallel-flow exchangers, and little can be gained by making them larger. When the two outlet temperatures are nearly equal, the parallel-flow exchanger is performing at its Mainly because of its limited temperature effective- ness, the parallel-flow exchanger is frequently not seri- ously considered for heat recovery. However, its useful when system flows are oriented in parallel, which en- able it to be installed with minimum work or cost. ‘An additional advantage of this exchanger is that itNomenclature A Area Subscripts C,— Correction factors © Carbon dioxide G, Specific heat 4 Gas L’ Mean beam length S Surface ft Mass flowrate W Water NTU Number of transfer units Qq Radiative interchange rate T’ Temperature @ _Absorptivity, the ratio of radiation absorbed by a surface (or gas volume) to the incident radiation © Emissivity, the ratio of radiation emitted by a surface to the radiation emitted by a black body at the same temperature p Reflectivity, the ratio of reflected to incident ra- diation (p = 1- a ~ 7) 7 Transmissivity, the ratio of radiation that passes through a surface (or gas volume) to the incident | radiation * I Ji es No. of transfer units, NTUpay = AU, Coane cera conditions, which can be particularly lessens the hazards of corrosive destructive to the heat-transfer surface, when the metal temperatures reach the dewpoint of the gases, If acid vapors are present in the gases, operating at the dewpoint can lead to acid attack and eventual destruction of the metal heat-transfer surface. Opera- tion at the dewpoint can also lead to fouling and plug- a i == exceed tne tempertare hiker han Ries lornot fie emperstur of hot id s ow —= | — Hot flu in ee Hot fluid out ie comer oe hot id cut earmot be tempers of ca ha ee ‘2 Both fluids unmixed Cold fluid out [Cowan tempera col fd ost cnnot { ttt Bere coer temoeratute of hat —- — Hot Rid in ee Her tid out ‘comer y |— at 'b, One fluid mixed, other unmixed Croton, one id mined, rosow, ids unmixed, Counertion, s No. of transfer units, WTUpa eer nn for crossflow than for counterflowPetre recovery in crossflow exchanger ging of the heat-transfer surface, and to lower heat transfer performance and higher pumping power- requirements. Ultimately, a shutdown may be required to clean the exchanger: Typical temperatures of the fluids through the length of the exchanger are shown in Fig. 6, which also repre- sents the temperature of the metal wall that separates The mean metal temperature lies ap- proximately midway between the curves that define the temperature drop through the fluid boundary layers and the metal wall. The theoretical performance of a parallel-flow ex: changer is depicted in Fig. 7. When the heat capaciti of the two fluids are equal (Cyiy 1), the curves show that the maximum temperature effectiv be 50%, When the heat capacity of one fluid is much greater than the other (which occurs particularly in a condenser), Cyin/Cyzz approaches zero, and the curve for * o"Shows an achievable temperature the two fluids. ss will Exchanger length —= SCoercecaeaal eects € reeaaees No, of transfer units, NTU, Petrie cee enka effectiveness of 100% for the fluid having the minimum, heat capacity. In the limiting case, the maximum tem- perature effectiveness in both instances is the value that would be reached if NTU were to become infinite. The high value of NU corresponds to an infinite amount of heattransfer surface or an infinite exchanger length This is, of course, impractical. Such limits are used mostly as guidelines by heat-exchanger designers. Recuperator gives high efficiency In the recuperative exchanger, heat is continuously transferred from a fluid at a higher temperature to an- other at a lower temperature through a heat-transfer medium (usually a metal), which permits operation at high temperatures and pressures with minimal leakage between the unmixed fluids. ‘The geometry of the heat-transfer medium is a major factor in promoting the exchange of heat between the two unmixed fluids. The most clementary geometry is the smooth-wall circular tube, Heat transfer can be improved by modifying the geometry to include © tended surfaces (fins) or undulations in the tube wall Such modifications increase the heat-transfer cocffi- cients on both sides of the tube, boosting overall ex changer efficiency An example of the fuel saving in million Btu/h that can be achieved in the operation of a direct-flame ther mal oxidizer by the incorporation of a recuperative heat exchanger having undulated flat tubes is presented in, the table on p. 126. Fig. 8 illustrates the effect of heat-exchanger effi- ciency on annual fuel costs and savings. In this exam. ple, the process-gas flowrate is 20,000 std f/m, and AT is the difference between the incineration tempera- ture (1,900°F) and the process-gas temperature (400°F), or 1,100°F. The fuel rate without the ex: changer is 27.0 million Btu/b, $5.00/million Btu, At an annual operation of 8,000 h the fuel cost is $1.080 million per year. At heat © changer efficiencies of 40%, 48%, 57%, 65%, 80% and 90%, the annual fuel savings are shown to be $340,000, and the fuel cost is 124 AERIAL ENGR DSTORE, FTf,000 De en ae ae eaOe ce eee Airside flowrate fh Airside inlet temperature, Gasside flowrate, tb/h Gas-side inlet temperature, °F Exchangor process conditions: Airside tom, toy Onicize.o Hoe, yh 20303 Airinit temperature, 20 {ir orone temperate, °F s Onin niet temperature, °F 1400 Exchanger sir side presure sr, in 30. 2 Exchanger sorsigepresire ‘ro, in Hg0° Fuel required from) Bult 108 Fol saving (res) ‘urn 108 “Airside ettectiveness equats 69%. significant fraction of the total heat transfer—as much as 90% in some instances. Some of the fundamental aspects of radiation heat transfer calculations and their application to heat- exchanger performance analyses are now presented. ‘Most triatomic gaseous molecules (CO», H,O, CO, SO», NO, NOz, etc.) possess spectral absorption bands in the thermal radiation spectrum. These are known as absorbing gases because they absorb and emit certain wavelengths in the thermal radiation band. Gases such a5 O, and No, however, are not absorbing gases because of their molecular symmetry. A typical problem involving gaseous-radiation heat transfer would be one in which an absorbing gas was enclosed by a number of surfaces, 5, having tempera- tures 7, When solving such a problem, the engincer usually ‘makes a number of reasonable assumptions about the surfaces and gas. ‘These assumptions include: 1. The radiant flux leaving a surface is independent of direction, i.e, the surfaces are diffuse, not specular (that is, mirrorlike. 2. The surfaces are gray and opaque, so that + = 0, © =0,p = 1 ~¢,andeand a areindependent of wave- length. 3. The geometry of the enclosure need not be consid- cred in detail when calculating gas-to-surface radiation, Instead, the average photon-path length from the gas volume to the enclosure (called the mean beam length, L) is used to determine the amount of radiation from the gas to its enclosure. ‘The first two assumptions simplify the problem by removing afl dependence on wavelength and orienta tion of the surfaces with respect to either the incident or emitted flux. The last assumption is probably the most restrictive of the three because it implies that the gas 126 temperature is uniform. Although this introduces some is preferable to performing a tedious volume integration and is an acceptable approximation when temperature gradients in the gas are small. It should be noted that none of these assumptions removes from the problem the orientation of each sur- face with respect to all other surfaces. Configuration factors, also called view factors or shape factors (see Chap. 2 of Hotel and Sarafin, “Radiative Transfer” [4] for a discussion of these factors), will still be used to calculate the amount of surface-to-surface radiation. Given a gas with known properties and temperature, enclosed by a surface with known properties, tempera- ture and shape, it would be possible, although very dlif- ficult, to calculate by integration the average radiant flux onto that surface By defining the mean beam length, L, as the radius of a hemispherical gas volume that produces a radiant flux at the center of its base equal to the average flux on the original surface, the problem is greatly simplified— if.a simple expression can be found for Las a function of geometry. Fortunately, Z. is easily determined from tabulated values for a number of common geometries; or, if the geometry is an uncommon one, L can be ap- proximated by multiplying the volume-to-surface ratio of the gas by 3.5 [4] ‘The surface emisivities of many different materials have been measured and tabulated as functions of tem- perature [4,5]; consequently, if a surface is eonsidered to bbe gray and opaque, its absorptivity, a =, and reflec- tivity, p = I — e, can be calculated from its emissivity ‘The radiative properties of an absorbing gas are not so casily determined, however, because they depend on more variables than just temperature. The emissivity of a. gas—defined as the ratio of the radiation emitted by that volume of gas to the radiation emitted by a black body at the gas temperature—is a function of gas tem- perature, Tj, mean beam length, L, the partial pres- sures ofall absorbing gas species, and the total gas pres- sure [#]. Also, when two absorbing gases are mixed, and the spectral absorption bands of one of them overlap those of the other, a correction term, Ae, is used in com- puting the emissivity of the mixture. ‘As an example of a gas emissivity computation, we will calculate the emissivity of the flue gas produced by a burner firing natural gas with 10% excess air. Such a gas would have a total pressure of 1 atm, contain 8.8% by volume CO, (p, = 0.088 atm), 17.1% by volume H,O (Py, = 0.171 atm), with the remainder N, and O,. IFitis assumed that the gas is enclosed in a cylindrieal 1-fi-dia. stack, and that the gas temperature is 2,200°R (1,740°F), ¢, can be computed as follows: From Table 7.3 of “Radiative Transfer” [4], L = 0.94 fi. Therefore, pL = 0.161 (ft) (atm), and p.L = 0.083 (fy) (atm). ‘The emissivity due to CO, alone, e!, is read from Fig. 6-9, and e!,, the emissivity due to water alone, from Fig. 611 of the same book; thus: ‘| = 0.066 and e!, = 0.067 To find the emissivity of the gas, ¢, use the equation: Cur + Cplg— Be ayHere, C,, Cy, and Ae are correction terms that can be read from "Fig. 7.7, 7.8, and 7.9, respectively, of McAdams’ “Heat Transmission” [3] as C, = 1.0, = 111, and Ae = 0.003 "Thus, e, iru erein ees oss apres ied computing ¢, and Fig, 6.25 of Hottel and Sarafin [4] that ¢, for a real gas will always rise as pL increases and approach an asymptotic value of less than 1.0 at large values of pL. ‘As the gas temperature gains, ¢, may rise or fall, but the total radiation emitted by a gas volume of fixed dimen- sions will always go up with temperature because any decline in e, with the temperature is overwhelmed by the hike in ‘7 If a simplistic model of gas-to-surface radiation is adequate, the assumption could be made that the gas is gray, so that ¢, = a,. Then, if the gas were surrounded by a single surface af temperature T, and had an emis- sivity of e,, the net radiative-interchange rate between gas and surface would be: @ Here, o = Stefan-Boltzmann constant, 0.1713 x 10-* Biu/(h) (f®) (°R*), and A, = surface area of the gas’s enclosure. Applying this formula to the previous example, with an assumed wall temperature of 1,600°R (1,140°F) and an assumed wall emissivity of 08, we obtain a radiative flux, Qyp/4,, of 3,823 Bru/(h) (2), and a linearized radiation coefficient, (Q,,/,) (T,—T,), of 638 Beu/(h) (ft®) (R). Because Eq. (2) is identical to the equation for radiant interchange between two infinite parallel gray plates, it implies that the gas has been treated as if it were a surface with temperature T,, emis- sivity e,, and area A, Since real gases are not actually gray, the gas radia- tion model can be made more realistic by assuming the gas is not gray, ie.,a, # ¢,, This means the gas absorp- ivity, a, (defined to be the fraction of blackbody radia- tion emitted by a surface at temperature T, that is ab- sorbed by the gas), must be calculated. Gas absorptivity is a function of T,, T,, the partial pressures of all ab- sorbing gas molecules, total gas pressure, and mean beam length, ‘The following empirical procedure describes the cal- culation of a: = 1, Evaluate a! and ai, from Hotel and Sarafin’s Fig. 6-9 and 6-11 [4] as funetions of pLT,/T, and T, in the same manner that ¢! and e! were evaluated as functions of pL and T,, 2a, = CaT,/T,)% and ay = CaL(T,/T,)4* 3. de 4. ay = 0, + a — Aa , evaluated at T, Using this procedure to calculate a, for the same gas, for which e, qvas calculated previously, it is found that 4, is 0.178 for an assumed wall temperature of 1,600°R (140°?) Now that ¢, and a, have been calculated, a formula similar to Eq. (2) is required to predict the heat radiated CHEMICAL ENGINEERING Continuous operation may depend on servicing arrangements JH. Ferguson, CE Lams Exchangers should be engineered to facilitate repair or routine maintenance by providing for removal of chan- nel covers, channels, shell covers, tube bundles and even the complete exchanger. Such an arrangement might also include a monorail and its supporting structure, and space for mobile equipment. Exchangers must be designed to operate continuously fora specified period. Ifan exchanger may require clean- ings sooner than during scheduled shutdowns, it should be designed for ease of service, and perhaps paralleled ‘with another exchanger, with both valved so that one can be cleaned while the other is operating. Oceasion- ally, an exchanger may be temporarily bypassed during null, ii Important 1 avid abutting down. plant because of exchanger problems. Downtime will almost always be much more costly than any exchanger, ‘and special provisions necessary to keep it on line can be justified. Exchangers located at grade level are easier to service. When shells are stacked, their height should be limited to what can be reached by the available service equip- ‘A high-pressure-drop allowance for an exchanger can be beneficial: better heat transfer, which lowers initial cost; and faster fluid velocity, which can reduce fouling, thereby cutting maintenance cost and lengthening on- stream time. Viscous-fluid and dry-gas streams are espe- ally affected by the pressure drop allowance. | ing of both the shellside and tubeside, and facilitates | and ary to sevice: should be selected i the belie Gan be cleaned chemically and there are no slide 10 setle out, Differential expansion between the shell and fei penke cso ier Be eel cee say. STW Ui sitelee erste boot Beane ot removable bundle, + more economical than the oat ingrhead type. Having fewer flanges ad gatkey it ces to service ahd mainain ‘The double-pipe exchanger is often more economical and fleble, and the easiest to service and maintain Because of ts standardized design, it afords maximum imerchangeabilty, requiring. schge\ of &_ntaiats quantity of spare parte: To sit changes in process condi- | eee eet slareegetior ald Ny cape cating its emer Ree SAT a Sal 127Stack-type recuperator operates above 1,800 °F Fig. 9 by an other than gray gas to its enclosure. The follow- ing formula will suffice [/]: Qn = Te (ey = Tt ey + Way) 1 i) oa Way Eq, (3) predicts a radiative heat flux of 3,400 Btu/(h) (ft2) for the same situation (¢, = 0.8, T, = 1,600°R) in which Eq. (2) predicts 9,830 Btu/(h) (f2). ‘The linear- ized radiation coefficient predicted by Eq. (3) is 5.67 Bru/(h) (f2) (R). The gray gas model apparently caused the 13% overestimation because a was assumed equal to ¢,. Since real gases are not gray, fq. (3) is pret erable, when it can be used, to Eq. (2). Many flow arrangements are possible ket 128 TENICAL ENGINEERING OCTORER 1a A close examination of Eq, (3) shows that when T, and T, are equal, a, and ¢, (ie., the absorptivity and emissivity of the gas, respectively) must also be equal, in order that Q,, be zero. (Q,, # 0 when 7, = T, would be a clear violation of the second law of thermodynam- ics.) Fortunately, the procedure used to determine a, does indeed predict that a, =, when T, = T,. There: fore, it may be concluded ‘that the gray gas model will not cause large errors when T, is close 10 T, In the example just examined, an isothermal gas vol- ume is surrounded by a single isothermal surface. Al- though no heat exchanger in reality could ever be this simple, a radiative stack recuperator could be divided Lup into several slices in the axial direction, so that each slice could be approximated by an isothermal gas sur- rounded by a single isothermal surface. Although the gas and wall temperatures would vary from slice to slice (Le, in the axial direction), a separate calculation could be performed for each slice to determine the heat radia-_ ted from the gas to the wall at the slice. Ina radiative stack recuperator, part of the heat is transferred from the gas by convection, but the convee- tion coefficient is usually about 2 Btu/(h) (ft) (°F), which is roughly a third as large as the linearized radia- tion coefficient. Therefore, on the gas side of the ex- changer, about three-fourths of the heat transfer is at tributable to gas radiation. On the air side, however, there are no absorbing gases (trace amounts of CO, and H,O in the air can be neglected), s0 that no radiation ‘occurs, and the standard convective correlations may be used 10 determine the rate of heat transfer. Not discussed are many other aspects to gas radia- tion, such as transmittance from one surface to another through an absorbing gas, and many other types of gas-to-gas exchangers in which gas radiation plays a significant role, In virtually all of these exchangers, however, a calculation of the amount of heat trans- ferred by gas radiation is made extremely complex by the geometry (e.g., gas flow over a bank of tubes) and by the presence of refractory walls. Temperature calcu-— lations are also complicated by the fact that radiation, introduces nonlinear terms (7) into the heat-balance equations, whereas convect car in temperature. Fortunately, it is not always necessary to perform a detailed calculation of the radiant flux at every surface in a heat exchanger. Sometimes, of sole interest is the effect of radiation on the temperatures of those surfaces expected to be close to their temperature limit when only convection and conduction are considered. In that event, the radiant flux at the surface of interest could be calculated as in the previous example. ‘When the radiant fiux is added to the convective flux, a new surface temperature can be obtained from a heat balance. Those surfaces that would rise the most in tem- perature because of radiation would, in general, be the ones exposed to a large volume of high-temperature gas containing large quantities of CO,, H,O or other ab- sorbing gases. For example, consider a tubular crosslow exchanger with gas flowing on the outside of the tubes and air on the inside. An exchanger of this type will usually have a large gas inlet-plenum directly upstream from the and eonduetion are Hine 1 !tubes, so that the first (and maybe the second) row of tubes is exposed to a large volume of high-temperature as. Furthermore, if it is assumed that the exchanger is operating under “turndown” conditions (ie, gas and air flowrates are both reduced to some fraction of nom nal values, but the gas temperature remains high), the temperatures of the first and second tube-rows could ‘exceed their permissible limits, because the radiant flux would still be high but the reduced air flow inside the tubes would not provide the normal amount of eooling ‘Thus, a simple calculation of the radiant flux onto the first tube-row from the gas and the walls of the inlet plenum would help to predict whether or not these tubes would fail due to excessively high temperatures. High-temperature applications When high gas temperatures (above 1,500°F) exist in combination with a significant amount of wiatomic gases, radiation transfer becomes an important factor. In the furnace industries, for example, iron, steel and aluminum melting and forming result in products of combustion from natural gas, oil, coke-oven gas, blast- furnace gas, or mixed gas (all of which are radiating), and in waste.gas temperatures of 1,500-2,600°F. Adi tionally, these applications are typically natural-draft processes. The cost of adding an induced-draft fan and controls usually is not justified purely on the basis of achieving a higher allowable pressure-loss through the exchanger. The exchangers are, therefore, designed wid low gasside pressure drops (typically, 0.5 in, H,O, or less), and hence low gas-side velocities and convective heat-transfer coefficients. With the exception of ceramic checkerwork-type re- generators (used primarily with blast furnaces) the two types of recuperators for high temperatures are the radi- jon-, or stack-type, and the tubular. The tubular is ided into the single tube, fixed tubesheet and the bayonet tube. ‘The stack-type recuperator consists of an inner ovlinder, usually of a high-grade alloy, through which the hot combustion gases fiow at low velocity (Fig. 9). Flows can be parallel or countercurrent, or a mixture of both. Radiation heat transfer isthe primary mechanism ‘on the gas side, with the ratio of radiation to convection usually on the order of 3 to 1, or higher, For this reason, the stack type is found in services above 1,800°F, and with continuously high temperatures. Typical appliea- tions involve preheating incoming air. Because the stack-type recuperator depends mainly on radiation transfer, it produces litte preheat in cyclic applications at lower gas temperatures, and hence does not give as good fuel savings over the total cycle as does a tubular exchanger. ‘The important differences between high-temperature and low-temperature tubular exchangers are that the tube diameters and spacings are larger for the first, so as to (1) take,advantage of the radiation transfer that can be achieved with larger beam lengths and (2) keep the pressure loss very low. The tubes are typically austenitic or high-alloy ferric steels, with substantial wall thi ness (12 gage to ¥, in.), and without extended surfaces on the gas side, The combination of low gas velocities, substantially dirty flue gases, and negligible gain from radiant heat transfer, make the use of fins on the gas side undesirable, ‘The bayonet recuperator is an example of a high- ‘temperature bayonet tubular exchanger used primarily in the steel and aluminum industries (Fig. 10). It serves as a crossflow exchanger with the air- or tube-side fluid unmixed, as a multipass erossflow and counterflow ex- changer (again, air unmixed within a pass), as a multi- ‘pass crossflow and parallel flow (air unmixed), or as a simple counter- oF parallel-low exchanger. All of these flow arrangements are possible in the bayonet tube ex- changer, ‘As shown in Fig. 10, the bayonet tube is a tube- within-a-tube. The cold air enters a plenum, then turns and flows down the annular space formed by the outer and inner tubes, After turning 180 deg. at the bottom of the sealed outer tube, the air flows up the inner tube into a hot-air collector plenum. The advantages of this design over a single tube having tubesheets at each end of the tube are: (1) freedom of expansion, (2) high air- side convection coefficient, and (3) an air fow that can be selectively varied within any tube in the bank of tubes Being fixed only at their flanged end, both the inner and outer tubes are free to expand. At tube metal tem- peratures averaging 1400°F, 300-series stainless tubes in lengths of 10 ft. will extend 2 in. A tube-to-tube vari- ation of as little as 50°F in average temperature will result in a differential growth of Ye in, Tubesheets must be designed to aceommodate the 2-in. growth and the individual tube-to-tube variations caused by uneven heat fluxes or maldistributed flow, otherwise severe stressing will eventually cause failure. At very high tem- peratures, the tubesheet has proved to be a weak link, ‘Thermal distortion followed by weld failure when tubes are attached at two tubesheets is a common occurrence. ‘The bayonet design solves this problem. Selective sizing of the diameter of the inner tube per- mits very high velocities, hence high convective coeffi- cients, in the annular space. Convective coefficients there are typically on the order of 12 to 18 Btu/(h) (f) CE). ‘To achieve a high effectiveness, the tube area must be enlarged. When design limitations on tube length, as well space restrictions, limit expanding tube area by going to longer tubes, the only recourse is to increase the umber of tubes. Ina two-tubesheet, single-pass tubu: lar exchanger, a point is reached, as tubes are added, at which the air velocity inside the tubes is decreased (low- ering the air-side convective coefficient) at a rate that results in a negligible increase in heat recovered. This can be avoided by the multipass configuration. Al- though this arrangement boosts heat recovery by rais- ing the air-side convective coefficient, it increases duct- ing problems, and the additional exchanger-housing cost may not be warranted. However, as the tube surface area of the bayonet tube exchanger is increased by adding tubes, the air-side convective coefficient can be kept at high levels by enlarging the diameter of the inner tube (hence, de- creasing the annular gap). Additionally, in a tubular single-pass unit, the air flow through all the tube rows is 129Siglepas bul ‘aed tabeseets Bayonet tube, Straps ay Ore Row number Peeks Be eunteceir ad essentially equal (with the same flow a deviation is caused by density changes due to tube pres- sure loss), hence the row of tubes at the hot end of the exchanger will run much hotter than the row at the cold end. Fig. 11 shows air flow per tube-row and Fig. 12 tube metal temperatures at tube-rows for both the tubular single-pass and bayonet single-pass exchangers. Gain Air out peek Gas out Airin a. Rotary Liguia tow} 4 Airout——| Liquid couple eek oka eure es 130 Bayonet ube snl ay Soleus tbul 2 fhe ruber eu 34 5 6 Row number eed in tubular and bayonet exchangers In the fixed-tubesheet design, the percentage of flow per tube-row is nearly constant, with slightly lower flows in the front tubes. The higher gas temperatures at the inlet, plus the high heat flux to rows 1 and 2, result in hotter air preheating, hence lower average density in these rows. Because tube-rows form a series connection between the cold and hot tubesheets, the lower density (higher velocity at a given mass flow) lessens the flow through the hotter tubes. The net result of (1) the den- sity change on the flow per tube-row, (2) the tempera- ture distribution through the exchanger and (3) the higher radiant heat fluxes to the first rows is that the much hotter in the tube metal temperatures are very first rows than elsewhere in the exchanger (Fig. 12) ive sizing of annulus widths in the bayonet nger, the air flow in each row ean be manip- The annulus width in the ront rows is made ulated, Coutertion Cx/Cnig*O~ Effectiveness, e, a aERa OTERO 7910. Modified No. of transfer units, WTU Seon ceed Cee)‘much larger than that of the back rows, resulting in an air flow distribution of high flow at the hot end (Fig. 11). This produces controlled metal temper a better uniformity than the two-tubesheet tubular ex- changer. Additionally, placing the high air flow in the high-heat-flux, high-gas-tempecature front rows results in a slightly greater heat-transfer effectiveness than do uniform flows. It has been mentioned that heat fluxes are higher at the first row and, to a lesser extent, third rows than at rows further back. This is because the leading rows are exposed to the large volume of radi ing gas, and to refractory walls that are sources of sec- ondary radiation (gas radiates to a wall, which then radiates energy to the tube surfaces) Fig. 12 shows the much higher ube-metal tempera res with, in the second or ‘Gas temperature ('F) from furnace or process, ‘11000 900800700" 600 tures that result from this radiation pattern. The lead- ing tube-rows must be designed for the higher fluxes, either via higher alloys or, in the case of the bayonet tube, higher air flows. Advantages of the regenerative exchanger In the regenerative exchanger, an intermediate mate- rial transfers energy between two fluids of different tem perature levels. The material is usually a solid (metal or ceramic), although it can be a liquid, as in the liquid couple. Unlike the recuperative exchange pass through tube or plate walls. Its simply absorbed and released from the same surfaces. This direct heat transfer results in uniformly higher metal temperatures than with recuperative preheaters. Thus, lower exit-gas heat need not Furnace absorption, million Btu Kel Desired gas temperature Average gross fuel saving boted on 8,000 hours operation per yea, & 300-720 6.40 ‘Average fuel eost per milion Btu, $ Fuel savings realized through use of an air preheater with a process furnace = 131temperatures and a measure of high heat recovery are possible with minimized danger of dewpoint corrosion, In addition, because of the compact heating surface ar- rangement, the regenerative preheater is less than half the size and weight of a conventional tubular recupera- tive air preheater performing at the same conditions Magnitude of fuel savings possible Fig. 13 shows general configurations of the regenera- tive exchanger. The rotary type has been widely used as an air preheater with boilers, as well as with a variety of process furnaces and ovens. As the rotor revolves, the heating surface alternately passes through the gas and air stream, Heat absorbed from the hot gas stream is released to the air stream as the heating surface tra- verses the respective streams. The temperature of the incoming combustion, or process, air is increased and the exiting gas temperature is lowered, improving com- bustion and hiking operating efficiencies. The foregoing advantages obtained via the regenera- tive exchanger applied to a process furnace can result in ificant savings from higher throughput and reduced fuel consumption. ‘As indicated in Fig. 14, a fuel saving of $1,270,000 (based on 8,000 h/yr of operation, at a fuel cost of $4.00/million Btu) can be realized for a furnace absorp- tion of 200 million Btu/h. This assumes that the outlet gas temperature of 850°F is reduced to 40°F. In practice, gas temperatures as high as 1,200°F can be handled by metal exchangers. The stationary regen- erator (which has valves for switching the gas stream alternatively between two, or more, beds) has coped with gas temperatures even higher than 2,000°F with glass tanks and stoves of blast furnaces. The liquid- couple system (generally an organie fluid) is suitable for remote location but is constrained to temperatures per- mitted by the heat-transfer liquids. The moving-bed regenerator finds limited application, although its use is common with fluid catalytic erackers, the heating effect being coupled with catalyst aetivity. An application example is shale heating in the Tosco process ‘All of these types of regenerative exchangers can be arranged for countercurrent flow of the gases, thus af- fording the advantage of efficient surface heat-transfer and the potential for high thermal performance. Regenerative exchanger design Because the hot and cold streams flow alternately past the same exchanger surfaces, the temperatures of the surfaces and the gases vary with time and their loca- tion in the regenerator. After steady operation has been ‘established, the temperature at any one location in the regenerator will be the same as that a full cycle earlier. ‘The end-of-eyele conditions, together with the assump- tion that the flows are well distributed through the heat exchanger, serve as the basis for the performance pre- dictions ‘A regenerative exchanger theoretically can achieve an effectiveness of up to 0.99 on the lower capacity side. However, because of manufacturing limitations, this maximum value cannot normally be realized, The rotary regenerator's effectiveness varies with the rotational speed of the solid mass. Fig. 15 shows how effectiveness declines with lower C,/Cuix ratios, with G, = (revolutions/unit time) (solid mass) (Cyjg)s and Chun = th (ait) C, (air). ‘in the design or sizing of a regenerator, values of C,/Cpiq, greater than or equal to 5 are used because these’ yield an effectiveness very near the theoretical limit. Lower values of C,/Cyq lead to an effectiveness significantly lower than the maximum obtainable. For predicting metal temperatures, it is accepted practice to approximate the temperature of the cold- ‘end metal (where corrosion problems are possible) by the arithmetic average of the airinlet and gas-outlet temperatures, except when cold-end bypass or hot-air recirculation are used. The flow redistribution inherent in these schemes requires additional consideration. ‘The rotary regenerative exchanger has two addi- tional characteristics that have to be evaluated: leakage and nonuniform temperature distribution. Leakage from one gas stream to the other, which can be expected in any regenerative exchanger, can be minimized by careful control but not eliminated. The leakage is of ~~ ‘two types: direct—from the high-pressure to the low- pressure stream via any opening between the two; and entrained—resulting from the mixing of the two streams as they alternately flow through the same ex- changer space. Je Jey Mates, Bion References 1, Joby M, “Heat Trans” John Wily & Son, In, New Yor, 1957. 2. Kays WM and Londo, AL, "Compact Heat Exchange.” 2nd Mraw:i, New York, 1964 3. MeAdans, W.H, “Hest Trnsmision,” McGraw-Hill, New Yok 1854, 4. Hove H.C, and Serafin, AF, "Radiative Trane,” MeGraw Hil, New y 9, Hartt H.C, Chap 4 of W. H, MeAdams, “Hest Transniion,” McGraw iNew Yorks 154, Whanont ty York, Tea ‘The authors Gar Seacia ig manager of he Siainecing tcchnlorts prop at CE SN Preheater, Wale, WY" 14895 le Bem fer the develogenen of new {lr ped anc ‘chanical engineering tom the Ariverity of Rochoter, ad ¢ PRD. in ‘snginete scence froth SUAY at Bulla He i's member of ASME. nl ie Broeional Engines <1 Sida end ser pone ae cer cera GS ei ak He hava B.ChE: fom Rew Ines i ASME. and Peal has seven patents om heat seat ecaea 132 GHESTCRT ENGINEERING OCTOBER & TaD —