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Troubleshooting Shell-And-Tube Heat Exchangers: Use These Techniques and Guidelines To Ensure More Reliable Heat Transfer
Troubleshooting Shell-And-Tube Heat Exchangers: Use These Techniques and Guidelines To Ensure More Reliable Heat Transfer
heat exchangers
Oklahoma
t is stressful when exchangers go online and don't per
form as they should. But not all scary things go "bump
in the night." Heat exchangers that go onstream and
don't perform are also scary. This is especially true if
there is a lack of thermal wells, pressure gages and
flowmeters. In addition, you are told that many hun
dreds of thousands of dollars a day are being lost due to
decreased production, so the problem has to be found
immediately. In many cases, there has to be a shutdown.
Here is helpful information on finding a cure, including:
What information to collect and what to look for
The importance of calculated pressure drops and how
they help analyze the problem
Two-phase flow emphasizing low heat transfer due
to stratified flow
Actual case histories of design and fabrication errors
to help with the diagnosis.
The concentration is on thermal problems; problems
due to vibration and exchanger leaks are not discussed.
INFORMATION COLLECTION
---
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1
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Wave flow
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Stratified flow
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Flow
A.
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"
Flow
to
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Fig. 8. A) Normal split flow pattern; 8) One end closed of long baf
fle by mistake.
Fig. 7. Improper placement of outlet vapor belt slots in a condenser.
A.
B.
2
3
4
6
7
ing in flow bypassing the tubes. The second and third passes
were starved for flow. This situation can occur when gaskets
and gasket grooves have a nonsymmetrical pattern.
Field mistakes. In one instance, a heat exchanger was
10
LITERATURE CITED
Gilmour, C. H., "Troubleshooting heat exchanger design," Chemical Engineering, June
19, 1967, pp. 221-228.
American Institute of Chemical Engineers, New York, New York.
TEMA, 7th edition, 1988.
Hewitt, G. F., "Hemisphere handbook of heat exchanger design," Hemisphere Publish
ing Corp., 1990, pp. 3.17.4-1 to 3.17.5-3.
Small, W. M., "Not enough fouling? You're fooling!" Chemical EngiTU!ering Progress, March
1968, pp. 82-84.
Fijas, P. F., "Getting top performance from heat exchangers," Chemical Engineering,
December 1989, pp. 141-145.
Yokel!, S., "A working guide to shell and tube heat exchangers," McGraw-Hill, 1990, pp.
314-315 and 543-546 .
Manohane, J. M., G. A. Gregory and K. Aziz, "A flow pattern map for gas-liquid flow in
horizontal pipes," Int. J . Multiphase Flow, Vol. 1, 1974, pp. 537-553.
Love, D. L., "No hassle reboiler selection," Hydrocarbon Processing, October 1992, pp.
41-47.
Mueller, A. C., "Effects of maldistribution on the performance of heat exchangers,"
ThermallMechanical Heat Exchanger Design-Karl Gardner Memorial Session, winter
meeting ASME, December 1986, pp. 1-11.
The author
Dale Gulley is president of Gulley Computer
Associates, a corporation he founded in 1966
that specializes in heat exchanger design and
consulting. They provide software for heat
exchanger design and process calculations. Mr.
Gulley has heat exchanger and software devel
opment experience that spans 40 years and has
previously published articles in Hydrocarbon Pro
cessing. He is a chemical engineering graduate from Oklahoma
State University. Mr. Gulley is a director of the Tulsa Science Foun
dation and a member of AIChE and ASME. He is a registered pro
fessional engineer in Oklahoma.
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