Experiment No.

HEAT EXCHANGER
 I. OBJECTIVE:

To determine the overall heat transfer coefficient of brass tubing operating at

parallel and counter flow using steam as the medium.

II. INTRODUCTION
.

A heat exchanger is a device used to transfer heat between one or more fluids.
The fluids may be separated by a solid wall to prevent mixing or they may be in
direct contact. They are widely used in space heating, refrigeration, air
conditioning, power stations, chemical plants, petrochemical plants, petroleum
refineries, natural-gas processing, and sewage treatment. The classic example of a
heat exchanger is found in an internal combustion engine in which a circulating fluid
known as engine coolant flows through radiator coils and air flows past the coils,
which cools the coolant and heats the incoming air.
 III. THEORY/HYPOTHESIS

A heat exchanger is a piece of equipment built for efficient heat transfer from
one medium to another. The media may be separated by a solid wall to prevent
mixing or they may be in direct contact. They are widely used in space heating,
refrigeration, air conditioning, power plants, chemical plants, petrochemical plants,
petroleum refineries, natural gas processing, and sewage treatment. The classic
example of a heat exchanger is found in an internal combustion engine in which a
circulating fluid known as engine coolant flows through radiator coils and air flows
past the coils, which cools the coolant and heats the incoming air.
MEAN TEMPERATURE DIFFERENCE

At every point in the heat exchanger there exists a certain temperature

difference, fluid to tube or fluid to fluid. But frequently the only places where these
temperature differences may be conveniently measured are at the inlet and the outlet,
i.e., the two ends of the unit. Hence it is desirable to have an expression for the
average or mean temperature(mtd) in terms of the inlet and outlet temperatures.
If the specific heats and the film coefficient of the two substance are
substantially constant, it can be shown by integration that for parallel flow, counter
flow, or cross flow, the true average temperature difference is the so called
logarithmic mean between the two temperature differences, ∆𝑇1 and ∆𝑇2, measured
at the extreme end of the unit. Calling the larger temperature difference (at one end)
∆𝑇1 and the lesser temperature difference (at the other end) ∆𝑇2 the two mtd’s are
expressed as follows:
1. Arithmetical mean temperature difference:
∆𝑇𝑚𝑎𝑥 + ∆𝑇𝑚𝑖𝑛
𝐴𝑀𝑇𝐷 =
2
2. Log arithmetic mean temperature difference
∆𝑇𝑚𝑎𝑥 − ∆𝑇𝑚𝑖𝑛
𝐿𝑀𝑇𝐷 =
∆𝑇𝑚𝑎𝑥
𝐿𝑜𝑔𝑐 ( )
∆𝑇𝑚𝑖𝑛

When ∆𝑇1 𝑎𝑛𝑑 ∆𝑇2 are not greatly different, the arithmetical MTD may be
substituted with small error. When the ratio ∆𝑇𝑚𝑎𝑥/∆𝑇𝑚𝑖𝑛 =2, the error becomes
about 4 percent.
Temp – Flow Diagram:

Counter Flow Parallel Flow

Set – up:
VI. SETUP OF APPARATUS
Data Sheet
Table 1

Thin Thout Twin Twout Vflow mw Qw LMTD U

Trial FLOW
(°C) (°C) (°C) (°C) (gpm) (kg/s) (W) (°C) (W/m2-°C)

Parallel 5
1

Counter 5

Parallel 10
2
Counter 10