FINNED TUBES PINNED TUNES 231 8-2_ AIR COOLERS Air coolers are heat exchangers in which heat is removed from a process stream in a cooling ot condensing ‘operation using air as a refrigerant medium. The obvious advantage over a water-cooled exchanger is that a cooling water circuit is not necessary, thus avoiding the cooling tower, circulation pumps, water-treating systems, and piping As a counterpart, air coolers are bigger units and more difficult to allocate in a plant. Air coolers usually are installed on piperacks or at the highest level of process structures to reduce the required ground area. ‘The cost of these units is usually higher than that of water-cooled shell-and-tube heat exchangers. They are the only option in locations where cooling water is not available, as is usually the situation in oil and ‘gas fields, or in process plants where the cooling-water systems are operating at their maximum capacity and itis necessary (o install additional process coolers. A typical application is as distillation column overhead condensers as an alternative to shell-and-tubes ‘condenser, which will be studied in Chap. 10. They are also used to cool down final products before sending them to storage tanks, as refrigeration-cycle condensers, as interstage coolers in compressor circuits, etc. Even though they can be constructed with plain tubes, it is usual to employ finned tubes with transverse fins, and this is the reason why they are included in this chapter. The minimum temperature at which the process stream can be cooled down is about $°C above the ambient air temperature, The air temperature varies during the day and during different seasons of the year, so it is necessary to have meteorologic information to decide which air temperature will be used for design. The usual practice is to choose an air temperature that is not exceeded during a certain percentage of time over the year (e.g., 95 percent of the time). This value is obtained from statistics covering a certain number of years. In very critical applica- tions, itis possible to choose the absolute historical maximum of the site, but itis important to evaluate this subject to avoid unnecessary oversizing. 8-2-1 Components of an Air Cooler An air cooler is composed of 7 1, One or more tubes bundles 2, Fans to circulate air through the external side of the bundle (air circulation is usually in cross-flow.) 3. A plenum between the fans and the bundle 4, A supporting structure that must be high enough to allow the entrance of air below the bundle with a reasonably low velocity 5, Platforms and ladders for maintenance 6. Optionally, louvers to regulate the airflow or systems to modify the angle of the fan blades to control the process temperature, thus saving electric power (see Fig. 8-4) Tube Bundle, The tube bundle includes a set of tubes, headers, lateral frame, and tube supports. The tube length is usually defined by layout considerations. As a general rule, the longer the tubes, the lower will be the exchanger cost per unit area, but in very long exchangers with few tubes, it may be difficult to locate the fans to cover the entire surface of the bundle. Since the film heat transfer coefficients on the air side are usually low, finned tubes are used to increase the heat transfer area on the external side, There are several types of fins. The most common are 1, Tension-wrapped. This is the most common type because of economics. It is a rectangular-section alu- ‘minum ribbon tension-wrapped around the tube. The contact between the fin and the tube is through the ribbon edge. Since this contact is not perfect, fin efficiency is affected 2, Embedded, These fins are built by helically wrapping a strip of aluminum to embed it in a precut helical ‘groove and then peening back the edges of the groove against the base of the fin to tightly secure it 3, Extruded, These fins ate extruded from the wall of an aluminum tube that is integrally bonded to the base tube for the full lengthFINNED TUBES 232° CHAPTER EIGHT Induced draft Forced draft 1.Fan 4. Nozzle 7. Drive assembly 2. Fan ring 5. Header 8. Column support 3. Plenum 6 Tube bundle 9. Inlet bell 10. Outlet bell FIGURE $-4 Air cooler configurations Courtesy of Hudson Products Corporation, 4. Footed. These fins are built by wrapping an aluminum strip that is footed at the base as itis wrapped on the tube. The tube is completely covered by the fin feet. 8. Others. These are tubes at whose exterior surface fins are fixed by other means, such as brazing, weld- ing, or hot immersion (see Fig. 8-5) Finned tubes can be built in diameters ranging from‘ to 6 in. For air coolers, the most popular diameter is 1 in, Fin heights ranges from "to 1 in, (The most popular sizes are Ye and % in.) Finned tubes are manu- factured with 275433 fins per meter (7-11 fins per inch). The ratio between the fin area and the plain-tube external area (without fins) varies from 7 to 25. The larger the tubes, the lower is the unit cost for the same heat transfer arca. ‘The tube bundle section is rectangular and typically consists of 2 to 10 tube rows in a triangular pattern, ‘The separation between tubes axes is typically 2% tube diameters. The free area for airflow allowed by the tubes is roughly 50 percent of the projected area,FINNED TUBES FINED TUBES 233 Temperature Embedded Footed FIGURE $5. Ditferent fn ypes. ‘The tubes are roller-expanded or welded to tubesheets that are part of the headers. The headers are rectangular boxes. One of their faces is the tubesheet, and the opposite face is the cover. The cover can be bolted to allow removal or welded to the header. When the cover is welded, threaded holes are drilled just opposite each tube, The holes are provided with screwed plugs that can be removed for internal tube cleaning (Fig. 8-6). The headers can have pass-parttion plates, asin the case of shell-and-tube heat exchangers. This allows ‘one to increase the process fluid velocity and/or obtain a more countercurrent circulation configuration. The tube bundles are usually installed in a horizontal position, with the air always entering at the lower side and discharging vertically upward, The pass partition can be done horizontally or vertically. Horizontal parti- tions allow approximating the configuration of a countercurrent pattern, with the process stream entering at the upper pass. Fans, Fans are of the axial-flow type. The ait cooler is a forced-draft cooler when the fan pushes air through the bundle. If the bundle is located at the suction side of the fans, itis called an induced-draft cooler Fans normally have 2-20 paddles. The fan diameter is related to the bundle width. Usually, the fan diameter is limited to 4 or Sm, but fans with up to 20-m diameters have been manufactured. Fan paddles can be manufactured in aluminum, fiberglass, plastic, or steel and can be straight or contoured. ‘The paddles pitch can be adjusted either manually or automatically to regulate the airflow. The auto- ‘matic control is done with pneumatic devices installed in the fan central hub (that rotate with the fan) and whose air supply is through a rotating coupling. Each bundle is usually air fed by at least two fans, This is a safety measure to avoid complete air loss in case of a fan failure, as well as a means to achieve certain control of the airflow (¢.g., switching off one fan in winter, Fan coverage is defined as the ratio between the projected area of the fans and the projected area of the ‘bundles they serve. This ratio must be 0.4 at a minimum to achieve good air distribution. Fans are driven by electric motors, and velocity reduction is achieved with reducing gears or V belts. The tangential ip speed always must be lower than 60 m/s for mechanical reasons.FINNED TUBES 234 CHAPTER EIGHT Cover plate header 1. Tube sheot 7. Stiffener 13. Tube keeper 2. Plug sheet 8. Plug 14,Vent 3. Top and bottom plates 9. Nozzle 15. Drain 4, End plate 10. Side frame 16, Instrument connection 5. Tube 11.Tube spacer 17. Cover plate 6 Pass partition 12.Tube support 18. Gasket cross-member ‘Typical construction of tube bundles with plug and cover plate headers FIGURE 8-6 Header types (Courtesy of Hudson Products Corporation ) ‘The fan power requirements depend on the airflow rate and air pressure drop, which is related to the number of tubes in the flow direction. Sometimes it is preferred to split the service into a higher number of fans to avoid high-power motors. Most air cooler fan power is lower than 35 KW. Plenums. The air plenum is a totally enclosed space that allows accommodation of the airflow between the fan and the tube bundles to produce a uniform air distribution. Plenums can be designed as pyramidal or straight-section. Structure, The structure is formed by columns and beams to support the unit at enough height over ground level to allow the air to enter below the bundle without excessive velocity. In process plants, it isFINNED TUBES FINED TUBES 235 k- Bay width Unit wiath Tubes length | { z One bay with 8 2 single fan bays tubes bundles with 4 tubes bundles Bay wit Unit with i \ \ \ \ - ojos o jot ots (Ono bay with 2 fans 2 bays with 2 fans each and 2 tubes bundles and 6 tubes bundles FIGURE 8-7 Air cooler configurations ‘common for air coolers to be installed on the piperacks to avoid occupying ground area. In these cases, the piperack structure supports the air cooler. Configuration. The assembly of one or more tube bundles, served by one ore mote fans, complete with a plenum, structure, and auxiliary devices, is called a bay, When large flow rates are handled, itis common for the unit to be divided in several bays to facilitate transport and construction. Figure 8-7 shows some air cooler configurations. Forced Draft versus Induced Draft. Advantages of induced-draft coolers are 1. A better distribution of air on the entire section of the bundle 2. Less possibility of hot-air recirculation to the intake section, (This is so because in these units the hot air is discharged upward at a velocity that is about two or three times the intake velocity, owing to the ratio between the fan area and the cross section of the bundle.) 3, Higher capacity in case of fan failure owing to a natural draft effect. (This effect is much greater in induced-draft units than in forced-draft units.) 4. Less affected by rain, snow, or climatic effects because most of the top face of the bundle is coveredFINNED TUBES 236 CHAPTER EIGHT Nm = number offfins per meter of tube tubes per row FIGURE $-8 Air cooler nomenclature. Disadvantages are 1, Higher power consumption, especially ifthe air temperature increase is important 2. Air outlet temperature limited to about 90°C to avoid potential damage to the fan components owing to high temperature 3. Fan maintenance more difficult and must be done in the hot air generated by the natural convection effect 8-2-2 Heat Transfer in Air Coolers Heat transfer in air coolers can be described by the general equation Q=UAAT B21) But it is necessary to clarify the meaning of the different terms of the equation owing to the particular issues resulting from the presence of fins and a cross-flow configuration. The nomenclature we shall use is explained in Fig. 8-8. Heat Transfer Area. We shall call A, = plain tube external area per unit length of tube = nD,. A, = exposed area of tube (not covered by fins) per unit tube length = A,(1 — bN,) A;= fin area per unit tube length = n2N,(D,?— D,2)/4 ‘Usually the heat transfer area in Eq, (8-2-1) is taken as the plain-tube area. This is A=A,Lasng 8-22) Overall Heat Transfer Coefficient U. 1 was already explained in Sec. 8-1 that the fin surface behaves differently from the exposed tube surface, and in order to define a film heat transfer coefficient for the extemal side, a fin efficiency © must be considered, so hip =hj (Ap + QALIA, 623)FINNED TUBES FINED TUBES 237 ‘The meaning of the fin efficiency was explained in Sec. 8-1. It depends on the geometry and on the param- eter (bhi /k)!®, where hii the film coefficient for the external surface of the fins, and k is the thermal con- ductivity of the fin, The higher the thermal conductivity of the material, the higher is the fin efficiency. Additionally, the lower the external film coefficient hi, the higher is the fin efficiency. This is so because if his intrinsically high; a significant increase in the heat transfer rate is not achieved with the use of fins ‘On the other hand, for low heat transfer coefficients, as is the case with air coolers, the improvement is considerable. The value of fi, includes the effect of fouling resistance on the external side, Usually this resistance is neglected because it may be considered that air is a clean fluid, but if itis desired to include this effect, it must be calculated as + Re (8-2-4) where his the clean coefficient. To calculate the overall heat transfer resistance, the internal film coefficient and internal fouling resis- tance are included, and we get Th, 625) where h,, is the internal coefficient referred to the external tube area, h,, = h, x D,/D,, and R,, is the inter- nal fouling resistance, also referred to the external diameter (Ry, = Ry x D,/D,). This correction is usually neglected. Fin Efficiency. In Sec. 8-1 we performed the analytical derivation to calculate the efficiency of a lon- ‘gitudinal fin. Air coolers have transverse fins, and the mathematical deduction of fin efficiency is more complex. The analytical expressions for different fin geometries can be found in ref. 4. ‘The graph in Fig. 8-9 allows one to obtain the efficiency of constant-thickness circular fins, which are the most common type. The nomenclature for the geometric parameters can be found in Fig. 8-8 Figure 8-10 includes the mathematical expressions of these curves* ‘To obtain the fin efficiency, itis necessary first to calculate the film coefficient h, This calculation will be explained later. Temperatures Difference. In an air cooler, air circulates in a perpendicular direction to the tube-side fluid. The tube-side fluid, in turn, flows trough several tube rows (usually between two and eight) and can have several tube passes. Let’s consider an air cooler such as that shown in Fig. 8-11, where the tube-side fluid performs only one pass, so all the tubes are in parallel. ‘We also can assume that the air velocity only has a component in the direction perpendicular to the tubes, so there is no effect of longitudinal mixing. This can be interpreted as if fictitious baffles (as indicated by the vertical lines in the figure) are present, The inlet temperatures of the hot fluid and air are 7, and 1,, respectively. ‘At point A, at the first horizontal tube row, and in correspondence with plane 1-1’, the temperature difference between the two streams is T, — f,. If we move to plane 2-2' , in position A’, there will be a smaller temperature difference between the hot fluid and the inlet air because the process fluid temperature decreases. Similarly, at plane 3-3', in position A”, the temperature difference will be even smaller, and it continues to decrease as we move along the tubes in the first row. Let's now analyze the second tube row. The air temperature leaving the first row varies along the tube because the heat transferred from the first row varies from point to point as the AT for heat transfer decreases. At the second row, the temperature differences also vary, and the temperature changes expe- rienced by the air are different from those in the preceding row. This means that in every tube segment, defined by its longitudinal position and by the tube row to which it belongs, the rate of heat transfer is different, and the temperature change of each fluid is also different. The mean outlet temperature of the process stream will be the mixing temperature of the streams coming from all tube rows.FINNED TUBES CHAPTER EIGHT a 10 20 3.0 40 50 1 0fg FIGURE 8.9 Efficiency of annular fins of constant section Bay m= jt Vee v-(aret](reossm : tan b(nY) mY 2 FIGURE 8-10 Mathematical expres- sone forthe curves in Fig. 8-9 To calculate the total heat transferred in the unit, i is possible to develop mathematical models that pre- dict the temperatures evolution with finite-incroments techniques, analytical solutions, or iterative methods. ‘The most common approach is to adopt the same methodology used in shell-and-tube heat exchangers and calculate the heat transfer rate by defining a factor F, as, Q=UA(LMTD)F, 82-6) where LMTD is the logarithmic mean temperature difference assuming a countercurrent configuration, The correction factor F, can be calculated with the methods mentioned earlier. Another possible model we may have used is to consider that the air suffers axial mixing after cach tube row and adopts a uniform temperature before passing to the next row. In this case, the air temperature is a function of the position of the row under consideration but not of the longitudinal coordinate. With this assumption, the mathematical derivations of the F, relations are simpler and can be obtained analy cally. However, in long-tube air coolers, this hypothesis is far from reality, and the nonmiixed model must be used.