TWISTED TUBE HEAT EXCHANGER TECHNOLOGY R.

Donald Morgan Brown Fintube Company 12602 FM 529 Road Houston, Texas 77240-0082 USA Phone: 1 (713) 849-8197 Fax: 1 (713) 466-3701 e-mail: morganOd@kochind.com ABSTRACT Over 85% of all new heat exchanger applications in oil refining, chemical, petro-chemical, and power generation are accommodated through the use of conventional shell and tube type heat exchangers. The fundamental basis for this statistic is shell and tube technology is a cost effective, proven solution for a wide variety of heat transfer requirements. However, there are limitations associated with the technology which include inefficient usage of shell side pressure drop, dead or low flow zones around the baffles where fouling and corrosion can occur, and flow induced tube vibration, which can ultimately result in equipment failure. This paper presents a recent innovation and development of a new technology, known as Twisted Tube technology, which has been able to overcome the limitations of the conventional technology, and in addition, provide superior overall heat transfer coefficients through tube side enhancement. This paper compares the construction, performance, and economics of Twisted Tube exchangers against conventional designs for various materials of construction including reactive metals. KEYWORDS heat exchanger, twisted tube technology, heat transfer, corrosion resistance CONVENTIONAL SHELL AND TUBE DESIGN Conventional TEMA (Tubular Exchanger Manufacturers Association) type shell and tube type heat exchangers consist of a number of round tubes attached to a tubesheet inside a cylindrical vessel, with tube sizes, tube lengths, and shell diameters varying depending on the requirements of the application. Heat transfer surface areas can vary from a few square feet to over 25,000 square feet. The tube bundle normally contains a number of baffles to accomplish the dual objectives of providing a support structure for the tubes, and to direct the shell-side flow across the tubes rather than along the tubes (Fig 1). The resulting back and forth shell-side flow will yield a higher than expected pressure drop per unit of heat transfer because energy is used to reverse the flow rather than to enhance heat transfer. Also, the energy consumed in reversing the flow will tend to force the shell-side fluid through baffleto-tube and baffle-to-shell clearances yielding lower cross flow and lower heat transfer coefficients. Finally, fluid flow around the baffles is non-uniform resulting in areas of low flow and dead spots, which are prone to fouling accumulation, corrosion, and poor heat transfer. The thermal effectiveness (x), of a shell and tube exchanger is normally calculated assuming perfect radial and no axial mixing of the shell side stream. In practice however, there is considerable axial mixing within a baffle compartment, and further, the stream is in cross-flow for part of the time rather than axial flow. These effects are further complicated by leakage of flow that occurs at the baffle-totube
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and baffle-to-shell joints that does not take full part in the heat transfer in the bundle. The overall effect of these limitations is the actual thermal effectiveness (x) will be lower than the theoretical value, and it will be lower than the values obtained for other types of heat exchangers that do not suffer from these limitations. Typically, thermal effectiveness of a conventional shell and tube type exchanger will be in the range of 60% to 80% The Twisted Tube Heat Exchanger The Twisted Tube heat exchanger originated in Eastern Europe and became commercially available in Scandinavia in the mid 1980s. It was developed primarily to

Figure 1. Conventional Heat Exchanger

overcome the limitations inherent with conventional shell and tube technology. Applications of Twisted Tube technology were primarily in single phase and condensing duties in pulp and paper and district heating with limited exposure in the process industries. In 1991, Koch licensed the technology and in 1995 subsequently acquired the technology outright. Construction The Twisted Tube exchanger consists of a bundle of uniquely formed tubes assembled in a bundle without the use of baffles (Fig 2). The tubes have been subjected to a unique forming process which results in an oval cross section with a superimposed helix

Figure 2. Twisted Tube Heat Exchanger Bundle

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providing a helical tube-side flow path (Fig 3). The forming process ensures that tube wall thickness remains constant and the material yield point is not exceeded thereby retaining mechanical integrity. The tube ends are round to allow conventional tube to tubesheet joints.

Figure 3. Tube-side Flow Path

A wide range of tube materials can be used including carbon and stainless steels, Cr-Mo alloys, duplex and super duplex alloys as well as titanium, zirconium and tantalum. Tube sizes may vary from inch to 1 inch. Tubes are assembled into a bundle on a triangular pitch one row at a time with each tube being turned to align the twists at every plane along the bundle length. This alignment results in tubes contacting adjacent tubes at many points along the length of the tube in the bundle (Fig 4). The completed bundle is then tightly strapped circumferentially to ensure no tube movement and a robust bundle is the end result. Bundles can be constructed with more than 5000 tubes and up to 6 feet in diameter with tube lengths up to 80 feet (Fig 5).

Figure 4. Tube Alignment and Support

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Figure 5. Completed Twisted Tube Bundle

The shell-side flow path is complex and predominantly axial in nature (Fig 6). Typically, the shell side flow area is approximately equal to the tube side flow area. The bundle is often shrouded to ensure shell side flow remains in the bundle and minimizes bypassing. Paths are available to allow the fluid to flow into and out of the bundle at each end. When high inlet and outlet velocities must be avoided, vapor belts may be used as with conventional designs. The Twisted Tube design imparts a swirl flow to the tube-side fluid enhancing the tube-side heat transfer coefficient.

Figure 6. Shell-side Interrupted Swirl Flow

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Advantages Thermal and Hydraulic Performance Elimination of the shell-side back and forth flow path with a more unidirectional flow yields a much higher heat transfer coefficient per unit of pressure drop. Typically, heat transfer coefficients are 40% higher for the same pressure drop or, conversely, pressure drops are halved for the same heat transfer coefficient. Moreover, the tube-side swirl induced flow enhances the coefficients by an amount similar to that of twisted tape or turbulator inserts in a plain round tube. The overall effect of this is a substantial reduction of heat transfer area for a twisted tube exchanger compared with a conventional exchanger for the same duty. Alternatively, significant improvements in the performance of an existing exchanger can be achieved by replacing a conventional bundle with a Twisted Tube bundle. Higher Thermal Effectiveness The closer approach to pure plug flow on the shell-side means that designs achieving higher thermal effectiveness, more typical of plate type exchangers, are possible with Twisted Tube exchangers Lower Fouling and Cleanability The elimination of dead spots on the shell-side and the increased turbulence, both on the shell-side and the tube-side results in reduced fouling. Particulate fouling is reduced by the scouring action. Other types of fouling such as scaling and chemical reaction products are prevented by the removal of hot spots. Fouling characteristics are therefore, more typical of those found in plate exchangers rather than shell and tube type exchangers. The lower shell side pressure drop for a given flow means that higher velocities are possible, thereby reducing clogging and plugging with fibrous materials. Should fouling occur, the twist alignment in the twisted tube exchanger provides cleaning lanes even though the bundle is constructed using triangular pitch tube layout. Hence, the cleanability of a conventional square pitch layout is combined with heat transfer area density of a triangular layout. Vibration Elimination Flow induced vibration can occur in conventional exchangers although special precautions such as no tubes in window are available to overcome the problem by providing more tube support. The most damaging vibration arises from fluid-elastic instability that can lead to damage within a few hours of operation. The possibility of such vibration in twisted tube exchangers is completely eliminated by axial flow and because the tubes are supported approximately every two inches along the tube length. Clearly, there is some cross-flow at the inlet and outlet regions but good tube support effectively mitigates this potential for failure. Further, the cleaning lanes provide additional smooth paths with a flow entering and exiting the bundle. Codes and Memberships Twisted tube heat exchangers are manufactured to most codes including A D Merkblatter, ASME, B, BS, CODAP, HPGCL, ISPSEL, STOOMWEZEN, and TEMA. Brown Fintube is a member of ASM, ASME, AWS, AQS, HTFS, HTRI, ILTA, NACE, and SME, and manufactures Twisted Tube exchangers in Houston TX, Luxembourg and in Asia through strategic alliance. Applications Over 400 Twisted Tube heat exchangers have been designed, built and delivered. A partial list of applications can be found in Table 1. Figure 7 shows a Twisted Tube exchanger bundle being installed in an existing shell in a North American facility. Table 2 contains a comparison of Twisted Tube exchangers and conventional shell and tube exchangers for actual applications including heat transfer surface area and cost savings. Data presented in table 2 are for units constructed with carbon steel, however, in general, in the correct application, cost savings through the use of twisted tube will vary
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directly with the material cost and the surface area of the heat exchanger. Stated differently, greater savings can be realized as the cost of the material increases.

Figure 7. Installation of Twisted Tube Bundle

Table I. Applications of Twisted Tube Heat Exchangers Industry Chemical Petroleum Application Sulfuric acid cooling Ammonia preheating Hydrogen peroxide heating / cooling High pressure gas heating / cooling Crude oil heating Bitumen heating LNG heating Black liquor heating / cooling White water cooling Oil heating / cooling Effluent cooling Turbine steam condensing Boiler feed water heating Lube oil cooling Quench oil cooling Compressed gas cooling Lube oil cooling Liquor cooling Effluent cooling Closed loop water heating
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Pulp & Paper

Power Steel Mining / Mineral Processing District Heating

Steam heating

Table II. Comparison of Twisted Tube and Conventional Heat Exchangers

Service Feed / Bottoms Exchanger Lean / Rich DEA Crude Oil Cooler MVGO Product Cooler

Shell-side Fluid Temp In/Out deg F Tube-side Fluid Temp In/Out deg F Surface Area Square feet Cost $, 000

Stripped Water 250 / 138

Lean DEA 244 / 134

Crude Oil 122 / 97

MVGO Product 260 / 180

Sour Water 100/201 Conv / Twisted 9612 / 4746 Conv / Twisted $130 / $90

Rich DEA 97 / 200 Conv / Twisted 1151 / 764 Conv / Twisted $35 / $25

Sour Water 64 / 73 Conv / Twisted 8966 / 5511 Conv / Twisted $215 / $170

Water 125 / 174 Conv / Twisted 2163 / 1097 Conv / Twisted $40 / $30

CONCLUSIONS The construction, thermal characteristics, performance, and use of Twisted Tube type heat exchangers have been reviewed. It has been shown that this type of exchanger offers a number of advantages over the conventional shell and tube exchanger with segmental baffles. In suitable applications, Twisted Tube heat exchangers offers superior economic performance as defined by cost per unit heat load when compared to the alternative of conventional shell and tube type equipment. REFERENCES 1. 2. 3. 4. TEMA, 1988 Standards of the Tubular Exchanger Manufacturers Association, New York 7th ed. Butterworth, D., Guy, A. R., and Welkey, J. J., Design and Application of Twisted Tube Heat Exchangers. Small, W. M., and Young, R. K. 1979 Heat Transfer Engineering, Vol. 1 Gentry, C. C., Chem. Engng. Progress, Vol. 86, No. 7 pp 48-57

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