Tanta University

College of Engineering
Mechanical power Engineering Department

Heat Transfer 2 (MEP 3108)

06 - Heat Exchangers: Applications

Presented by:

Dr. Khaled Khodary Esmaeil

Faculty of Engineering, Tanta University, Egypt.
 Application 01
A counter flow, concentric tube heat exchanger is used to cool the lubricating oil
for a large industrial gas turbine engine. The flow rate of cooling water through
the inner tube (Di = 25 mm) is 0.2 kg/s, while the flow rate of oil through the
outer annulus (Do = 45 mm) is 0.1 kg/s. The oil and water enter at temperatures
of 100 and 30 C, respectively. How long must the tube be made if the outlet
temperature of the oil is to be 60°C?. Determine the pressure drop in both sides.

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 Application 01
Assumptions:
1. Negligible heat loss to the surroundings.
2. Negligible kinetic and potential energy changes.
3. Constant properties.
4. Negligible tube wall thermal resistance and fouling factors.
5. Fully developed conditions for the water and oil (U independent of x).
Properties:

Analysis:
Q

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 Application 01
Q

For the flow of oil in the annulus, Dh = Do – Di = 0.02

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 Application 01

Pressure drop associated with the water flow: The mean velocity is um = 0.410 m/s and for a
smooth surface condition is f = 0.0287;

Pressure drop associated with the oil flowing in the annular region : The mean velocity is um
= 0.107 m/s and for a smooth surface condition is f = 64/Re (laminar flow);

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 Application 02
A compact, plate-type heat exchanger that consists of a stack of thin metal
sheets, separated by N gaps of width a. The oil and water flows are subdivided
into N/2 individual flow streams, with the oil and water moving in opposite
directions within alternating gaps. It is desirable for the stack to be of a cubical
geometry, with a characteristic exterior dimension L.

1. Determine the exterior dimensions of the heat exchanger as a function of

the number of gaps if the flow rates, inlet temperatures, and desired oil
outlet temperature are the same as in Application 1.

2. Compare the pressure drops of the water and oil streams within the plate-
type heat exchanger to the pressure drops of the flow streams in
Application 1, if 60 gaps are specified.

From Application 1: The flow rate of cooling water through the inner tube is 0.2 kg/s, while the flow
rate of oil is 0.1 kg/s. The oil and water enter at temperatures of 100 and 30 C, respectively.

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 Application 02

Assumptions:
1. Negligible heat loss to the surroundings
2. Constant properties.
3. Negligible plate thermal resistance and fouling factors.
4. Fully developed conditions for the water and oil.
5. Identical gap-to-gap heat transfer coefficients.
6. Heat exchanger exterior dimension is large compared to the gap width.

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 Application 02
The gap width of the heat exchanger is expressed by a = L/N,
The total heat transfer area is A = L2 (N - 1).
Assuming a << L and the existence of laminar flow, Dh = 2 a

Combining the preceding expressions yields for the water:

For the oil:

Q

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 Application 02

For N 60 gaps, the stack dimension is L = 0.131 m, and the gap width
is a = L/N = 0.00218 m.

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 Application 02
The hydraulic diameter is Dh = 0.00436 m, and the mean velocity in each water-
filled gap is:

For the oil:

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 Application 02
Comments
1. Increasing N simultaneously increases the surface area As and the heat
transfer coefficients U (in this case U=195 W/m2C).
2. The area to volume ratio of the N = 60, is L2(N - 1)/L3 = (N - 1)/ L = 451 m2/m3.
3. The volume of concentric tube heat exchanger is VC =  Do2 L/4 = 0.1 m3, while
the volume of the compact plate type exchanger is VP = L3 = 0.0022 m3. The
volume ratio VP / VC = 0.22 %.
4. The pressure drops associated with use of the compact heat exchanger are
reduced by 99.9% and 99.5% for the water and oil flows, respectively.
5. Fouling of the heat transfer surfaces may result in a decrease heat transfer
rate and increase in pressure drop.
6. Because hc  4 hh, the temperatures of the thin metal sheets will follow
closely the water, thus the assumption of uniform temperature is reasonable.

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 Application 03
A finned-tube cross-flow heat exchanger is used to heat pressurized water at a
flow rate of 1 kg/s from 35 to 125°C. Hot exhaust gases, which enter the finned
side of the heat exchanger at 300°C and leave at 100°C, are used to heat the
water. The exhaust gas specific heat is approximately 1000 J/kg K, and the overall
heat transfer coefficient based on the gas side surface area is Uh = 100 W/m2K.
Determine the required gas side surface area Ah using the NTU method.

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 Application 03
Assumptions:
1. Negligible heat loss to the surroundings
2. Constant properties.

Heat capacity rate,

𝑸𝒎𝒂𝒙

𝑸
𝜺=
𝑸𝒎𝒂𝒙

From figures
or correlation

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 Application 04
A finned-tube cross-flow heat exchanger is used to heat pressurized water at a
flow rate of 1 kg/s and 35 °C. Hot exhaust gases with specific heat approximately
1000 J/kg K, enters the finned side of the heat exchanger at 2500°C, and is used to
heat the water. The overall heat transfer coefficient and heat exchanging surface
area based on the gas side are Uh = 100 W/m2K and Ah = 40 m2. Determine the
rate of heat transfer by the exchanger, and gas and water outlet temperatures.

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 Application 04
Assumptions:
1. Negligible heat loss to the surroundings
2. Constant properties.

𝑸𝒎𝒂𝒙

From figures or correlation

𝑸
𝜺 = 𝟎. 𝟖𝟒𝟓 = 𝑸
𝑸𝒎𝒂𝒙
𝑸 𝑸

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 Application 05
A condenser of a large steam power plant which is a shell and tube heat
exchanger consisting of a single shell and 30,000 tubes, each executing two
passes. The tubes are of thin wall construction with D = 25 mm, and steam
condenses on their outer surface with an associated convection coefficient of ho =
11,000 W/m2 K. The heat transfer rate that must be exchanged is Q = 2109 W,
and this is obtained by passing cooling water through the tubes at a rate of 3104
kg/s (the flow rate per tube is therefore 1 kg/s). The water enters at 20 °C, while
the steam condenses at 50°C.

What is the temperature of

the cooling water emerging
from the condenser? What is
the required tube length L
per pass?

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 Application 05
Assumptions:
1. Negligible heat loss to the surroundings
2. Constant properties.
3. Fully developed tube internal flow.
4. Negligible thermal resistance of tube material and
fouling effects.
Properties: water at 300 K: cp = 4179 J/kg K,  = 855  10-6 N.s/m2, k = 0.613
W/mK, Pr = 5.83
𝑸
Analysis:

𝑸𝒎𝒂𝒙
𝑸 𝑼As
𝜺= = 𝟎. 𝟓𝟑𝟐 =
𝑸𝒎𝒂𝒙 𝑪𝒎𝒊𝒏

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 Application 05
Overall heat transfer coefficient
ho is known
hi is unknown
To get hi :

Turbulent

The entire length of tubing in the condenser is N  L  2 = 271,000 m or 271 km.

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 Application 06
A concentric tube heat exchanger of length L = 2 m is used to thermally process a
pharmaceutical product flowing at a mean velocity of um,c = 0.1 m/s with an inlet
temperature of Tc,i = 20 C. The inner tube of diameter Di = 10 mm is thin walled,
and the exterior of the outer tube Do = 20 mm which is well insulated. Water
flows in the annular region between the tubes at a mean velocity of um,h = 0.2 m/s
with an inlet temperature of Th,i = 60 C. Properties of the pharmaceutical product
are  = 10  10-6 m2/s, k = 0.25 W/m K,  = 1100 kg/m3, and cp = 2460 J/kg K.
Evaluate water properties at Th = 50 C.
a) Determine the value of the overall heat transfer coefficient U.
b) Determine the mean outlet temperature of the pharmaceutical product when
the exchanger operates in the counter flow mode.
c) Determine the mean outlet temperature of the pharmaceutical product when
the exchanger operates in the parallel-flow mode.

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End of Presentation

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