Double Pipe Heat Exchanger

ABSTRACT
The objective of this experiment was to find the length
of the heat exchanger pipe. The apparatus we used is double
pipe heat exchanger and from the basic knowledge of fluid
dynamics and heat transfer we find length. Actually there is
a lot of use of heat exchanger in industry (In nuclear
industry

as

well)

so

we

are

interested

in

that

how

exchange of heat from hot water to cold water take place and
what should be the size of equipment. This experiment is
arranged to understand this concept.

INTRODUCTION
We know that heat is the energy that flow from hot body
to cold body due to their temperature difference. So we have
heat exchanger which exchange heat from hot fluid to cold
fluid while keeping both fluids separate. We also know that
energy can be transferred from hot to cold body by mean of
conduction,

convection

or

radiation.

In

case

of

heat

exchanger we have encounter two mechanism, convection and

conduction.
In case of double pipe heat exchanger we know that it
consist of two concentric pipe of different diameter. The
hot fluid is allowed to flow from inner pipe and cold fluid
is allowed to flow from outer pipe. So heat from center of
inner

pipe

to

wall

of

inner

pipe

is

transfer

due

to

convection and then by mean of conduction it flow from wall

of inner pipe and then again by convection it reach the

boundary of outer pipe. In this apparatus we have option to
have both the flows (hot fluid flow and cold fluid flow)
clockwise or counter clockwise. The conditions such as inlet
temperatures

and

outlet

temperatures

and

flow

rates

determine that how much heat will flow across the fluids. In
this experiment we fix the flow rate of cold fluid (water)
and then by changing the flow rate of hot water, we measure
the

inlet

and

outlet

temperatures

and

using

different

formulas regarding Reynold number, friction factor, hs,

prandlt number , after very cumbersome calculation we find
length. Parallel and antiparallel flow heat exchanger may be
viewed as

Parallel Flow Heat Exchanger

Counter Flow Heat Exchange

In this exchanger hot water flow from inner pipe and cold
fluid flow from annular region between concentric pipes. We
know something about apparatus as
i)
ii)
iii)
iv)
v)

Inner pipe ID = 13 mm
Inner pipe OD = 16 mm
Outer pipe ID = 26 mm
Outer pipe OD=29 mm
Full heat exchanger length = 2 meters

The experiment is shown in Figure 1. The controls for

the experiment are described below.

Fig. 1 The experiment setup

We have valves, Rota meters, temperature gauges in this

apparatus.

CALCULATIONS

Heat flow from hot body to cold body by conduction obeying

Fouriers law

Qh=hCph Th
Qc=cCpc Tc
While average heat can be calculated as

Qavg

Qh Qc
2

By writing the conservation of energy equations between the

inlet and outlet of the two fluids, and the differential
energy transfer (dq) between the two fluids on a
differential distance dx , the overall heat transfer between
the two fluids is

Q UA( LMTD )
LMTD stands
the overall
the contact
the cold or

for Log Mean Temperature Difference. Where U is

effective heat transfer coefficient, and A is
surface area between the two fluids on either
the hot side.

Log mean temperature difference:

The log mean temperature difference (LMTD) is used to
determine the temperature driving force for heat transfer in
flow systems. The LMTD is a logarithmic average of the
temperature difference between the hot and cold streams at
each

end

of

the

exchanger.

The

use

of

the

LMTD

arises

straightforwardly from the analysis of a heat exchanger with

constant flow rate and fluid thermal properties.

LMTD

T2 T1
T
ln( 2 )
T1

For the parallel flow heat exchanger,

T1=Thi-Tci
T2=Tho-Tco

For counter flow heat exchanger,

T1=Thi-Tco
T2=Tho-Tci

Surface area can be calculated as

A=

DhiL

From this formula we can calculate length.

To determine the area of the heat exchangers we need to
calculate overall heat transfer coefficient U. whereas

U (

1 1 1
)
hh hc

Where h is

Nu k
HD

Nu is Nusselt number, k is thermal conductivity and HD is

hydraulic diameter.
Nusselt number is
Nu

( f / 8)(Re h 1000) Pr
1 12.7 ( f / 8)1/ 2 (Pr 2/3 1)

Prantdl number is
Pr

Cp
k

We took values of and Cp from table. f can be calculated

as
f (0.76 ln(Re w ) 1.64) 2

Here Re represents Reynolds number. There are two types of

Reynolds number one is wetted Reynolds number and other is

heated Reynolds number. The formula of the Reynolds number

is given as
Re

m& HD
(
)
A

HD is hydraulic diameter. For wetted Reynolds number

HDw,c

Dc ,i 2 Dh ,o 2
Dc ,i Dh ,o

HDw,h HDh ,h Dh ,i
For heated Reynolds number

HDh ,c

Dc ,i 2 Dh ,o 2
Dh ,o

HDw,h HDh ,h Dh ,i

While cross sectional area of cold and hot water pipes are
given as

Ac

( Dc ,i 2 Dh ,o 2 )
4

Ah

( Dh ,i 2 )
4

Length can be calculated as

Qavg

Di ,hU ( LMTD )

Procedure
1) Valves were set for parallel flow.

2) Hot water circulation was started.

3) After a few moments when steady state was achieved,
cold water circulation was started.
4) After the steady state was achieved for the second time
readings were noted for the inlet and outlet
temperatures and flow rates of cold and hot waters.
5) For a fixed flow rate for cold water three different
flow rates for hot water were used to get observations.
6) Then this whole procedure was repeated for the counter
flow arrangement.
7) During this arrangement flow rate for hot water is kept
constant and three different flow rates for cold water
were used to get observations.

Graphs
For Parallel Flow

Re vs LMTD
28.5
28
27.5
LMTD

parallel

27
26.5
26
2.00E+04

4.00E+04
Re

6.00E+04

8.00E+04

Re vs Q
6800
6600
6400
6200
6000
Q
5800
5600
5400
5200
2.00E+04

parallel

4.00E+04

6.00E+04

8.00E+04

Re

Re vs U
4800
4600
4400
4200

parallel

U 4000
3800
3600
3400
2.00E+04

4.00E+04
Re

For Counter Flow

6.00E+04

8.00E+04

Re vs LMTD
33
32
31
30
LMTD

counter

29
28
27
26
3.00E+03

5.00E+03

7.00E+03

9.00E+03

Re

Re vs Q
11000
10000
9000
Q

Counter

8000
7000
6000
3.00E+03

5.00E+03
Re

7.00E+03

9.00E+03

Re vs U
7000
6500
6000
counter

U 5500
5000
4500
4000
3.00E+03

5.00E+03

7.00E+03

9.00E+03

Re

Discussion:
Differences in the experimental values from each other
and from the true value could be due to the fact that it is
assumed a perfectly insulated system with no heat loss to
surroundings,

an

inability

for

the

system

to

properly

recover a new steady state starting temperature from the

previous experiment trial (improper heating/cooling time),
and also there could have been heat exchange taking place
before

and

possibility

after
of

the
fouling

thermocouples
factor

caused

along
by

with

deposits

the
and

corrosion.
With the decrease in temperature the length required
for heat exchanger decreases. The theoretical length of heat
exchanger is always less than actual length of heat
exchanger. Probably the net heat transfer between the two
fluids is not the same as actual because of our assumption
that there is no conduction and radiation. Therefore some
heat will be lost to the atmosphere. Hence practically we

need a heat exchanger of greater length to compensate these

losses.

Conclusion:
In the parallel flow configuration, the exit
temperature of the hot fluid must be higher than the exit
temperature of the cold fluid. This is supported by the data
taken. In the counter flow configuration, the exit
temperature of the hot fluid must be higher than the
entrance temperature of the cold fluid, but it does not
necessarily need to be higher than the exit temperature of
the cold fluid.
From the calculations resulting in heat transfer, it is
shown that the counter flow heat exchanger is more effective
than the parallel flow heat exchanger. This supports
generally held knowledge and experimental data concerning
the two types of heat exchanger.
In this case, the energy is transferred from hot to
cold fluids with constant mass flow rates. Therefore the
ratio between temperature differences does not change even
though the numerical values of the temperature differences
may change.
The ratio between temperature difference in the hot
fluid and temperature difference in the cold fluid changes
with respect to the flow rates. It means the energy removed
from the hot fluid is the energy added to the cold fluid.
The higher the flow rate of a fluid, the lower the
temperature change in that fluid will be. The opposite is
also true, the lower the flow rate of the fluid, the higher
the temperature change in the fluid will be.
With the decrease in temperature the length required
for heat exchanger decreases. The theoretical length of heat
exchanger is always less than actual length of heat

exchanger. Probably the net heat transfer between the two

fluids is not the same as actual because of our assumption
that there is no conduction and radiation. Therefore some
heat will be lost to the atmosphere. Hence practically we
need a heat exchanger of greater length to compensate these
losses.