Chemical Engineering Science 59 (2004) 4591 – 4600

www.elsevier.com/locate/ces

Thermal model validation of plate heat exchangers with generalized

configurations
Jorge A.W. Guta , Renato Fernandesa , José M. Pintoa, b , Carmen C. Tadinia,∗
a Department of Chemical Engineering, University of São Paulo, P.O.Box 61548, São Paulo, SP, 05424-970, Brazil
b Othmer Department of Chemical and Biological Sciences and Engineering, Polytechnic University, Six Metrotech Center, Brooklyn, NY 11201, USA

Received 26 September 2003; received in revised form 25 June 2004; accepted 14 July 2004

Abstract
Thermal models of plate heat exchangers rely on correlations for the evaluation of the convective heat transfer coefficients inside the
channels. It is usual to configure the exchanger with one countercurrent single-pass arrangement for acquiring heat transfer experimental
data. This type of configuration approaches the ideal case of pure countercurrent flow conditions, and therefore a simplified mathematical
model can be used for parameter estimation. However, it is known that the results of parameter estimation depend on the selected exchanger
configuration because the effects of flow maldistribution inside its channels are incorporated into the heat transfer coefficients. This work
presents a parameter estimation procedure for plate heat exchangers that handles experimental data from multiple configurations. The
procedure is tested with an Armfield FT-43 heat exchanger with flat plates and the parameter estimation results are compared to those
obtained from the usual method of single-pass arrangements. It can be observed that the heat transfer correlations obtained for plate heat
exchangers are intimately associated with the configuration(s) experimentally tested and the corresponding flow distribution pattern(s).
䉷 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Plate heat exchanger; Parameter identification; Mathematical modeling; Heat transfer; Food processing; Pasteurization

1. Introduction
Nowadays, plate heat exchangers (PHEs) are extensively
used for heating, cooling and heat-regeneration applications
in the chemical, food and pharmaceutical industries. This
type of exchanger was originally developed for use in hy-
gienic applications such as the pasteurization of liquid food
products. However, the range of applications of this type of
exchanger largely expanded in the last decades due to the
continual design and construction improvements. As shown
in Fig. 1, the PHE consists of a pack of corrugated metal
plates pressed together into a frame. The gaskets between
the plates form a series of thin channels where the hot and
cold fluids flow and exchange heat through the metal plates.
The flow distribution inside the plate pack is defined by
∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +55-11-30912258; fax: +55-11-
30912255.
E-mail addresses: jpinto@poly.edu (J.M. Pinto), catadini@usp.br
(C.C. Tadini).
0009-2509/$ - see front matter 䉷 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.ces.2004.07.025
the design of the gaskets, the opened and closed ports of the
plates and the location of the feed connections at the covers.
Despite the large number of applications, rigorous de-
sign methods for the PHEs are still restricted to the equip-
ment manufacturers. Simplified methods for the calculation
of the required number of plates were presented by Lawry
(1959), Buonopane et al. (1963), Jackson and Troupe (1966)
and Raju and Bansal (1983). Jarzebski and Wardas-Koziel
(1985) developed a graphical procedure for determining the
number of passes and the number of channels per pass that
minimize the annual operational costs. However, a simpli-
fied evaluation model of the PHE was used due to the com-
plexity of the optimization of the PHE configuration, which
defines its flow distribution.
A comprehensive step-by-step design method was pre-
sented by Shah and Focke (1988) for determining the plate
size, corrugation type and number of plates. The method
is however restricted to single-pass countercurrent flow
configurations. Thonon and Mercier (1996) present an it-
erative method for determining the number of plates of a
4592 Jorge A.W. Gut et al. / Chemical Engineering Science 59 (2004) 4591 – 4600
Fig. 1. Structure of a typical gasketed plate heat exchanger with chevron plates.
single-pass PHE that relies on enthalpy-diagrams for the
thermal performance verification.
In all of the aforementioned works on PHE-design, the
configuration is assumed to be symmetrical, i.e. the hot and
cold fluids have the same number of passes and channels
per pass and the feed connections are located at opposite
sides of the PHE, thus favoring countercurrent flow between
adjacent channels. Kandlikar and Shah (1989) and Zaleski
and Klepacka (1992a) showed that this type of configuration
yields the highest thermal effectiveness. Nevertheless, some
industrial applications require asymmetrical configurations
due mainly to differences in the fluid heat capacities. Based
on this argument, Gut and Pinto (2003a, 2004) developed
optimization methods for selecting a detailed configuration,
for single section and multi-section PHEs, at given process
conditions. The methods are based on efficient search pro-
cedures where the thermal–hydraulic model of the PHE for
generalized configurations (Gut and Pinto, 2003b) is used
for obtaining the configuration with the minimum capital
and/or operational costs that satisfies the pressure drop and
thermal performance constraints.
The thermal–hydraulic model of the PHE relies on cor-
relations for the evaluation of the convective heat transfer
coefficient and of the friction factor for the flow inside the
channels for any given plate surface type and geometry;
hence, experimental studies are required for the estimation
of the correlation parameters. PHEs that operate for heat re-
covery with fixed symmetric configurations are commonly
used for this task because the evaluation of the convective
coefficient is simplified under these conditions. For exam-
ple, Jackson and Troupe (1964), Buonopane and Troupe
(1969) and Bansal et al. (2001) studied a configuration of
three channels and countercurrent single-pass arrangement
because it is possible to assume pure countercurrent flow
conditions. Muley et al. (1999) and Wright and Heggs (2002)
rely on the same assumption for the case of PHEs with a
large number of channels per pass, since the effects of the
parallel flow channels and of the channels at the PHE ex-
tremities (also known as “end effects”) can be neglected.
In the present paper, the influence of the configuration
on the parameter estimation for the PHE thermal model is
studied. The objective is to investigate how the experimen-
tal procedure for parameter estimation can further affect the
results of the problem of sizing a PHE. Firstly, the thermal
model of the PHE is presented leading to two approaches re-
garding the pure countercurrent flow assumption. Further, a
parameter estimation procedure that does not have configu-
ration restrictions is described. The procedure is experimen-
tally tested and the results obtained for both approaches are
analyzed and compared. Finally, a sizing problem is solved
using the obtained correlations.
2. Thermal models for data reduction
The heat load, Q, of a PHE in steady-state operation,
with no heat losses or phase changes, can be represented by
Eqs. (1a)–(1c), where NC is the number of channels, AP is
the effective plate heat exchange area, U is the overall heat
transfer coefficient,
Tlm is the logarithmic mean tempera-
ture difference (defined in Eq. (2)) and FT is its correction
factor (Rohsenow et al., 1998).
Q = (NC − 1)AP U F T
Tlm , (1a)
Q = Whot Cphot (Thot,in − Thot,out ), (1b)
Q = Wcold Cpcold (Tcold,out − Tcold,in ), (1c)
(Thot,in − Tcold,out ) − (Thot,out − Tcold,in )

Tlm = . (2)
ln(Thot,in − Tcold,out )/(Thot,out − Tcold,in )
If the physical properties of the fluids are assumed con-
stant and the flow distribution through the PHE is consid-
ered uniform, the overall heat transfer coefficient is constant
 Jorge A.W. Gut et al. / Chemical Engineering Science 59 (2004) 4591 – 4600
along the PHE and is obtained from Eq. (3), which repre-
sents a series association of thermal resistances.
1 1 1 eP
= + + + Rf,hot + Rf,cold .
U hhot hcold kP
In order to determine U, correlations for the evaluation of
the convective coefficients, hhot and hcold , are required for
the selected plate surface type and geometry. For Newtonian
fluids under turbulent flow, the correlation whose general
form is presented in Eq. (4) is commonly used, where the
dimensionless numbers Nusselt, Reynolds and Prandtl (re-
spectively Nu, Re and Pr) are defined in the Nomenclature
for the PHE geometry and a, b, and c are empirical param-
eters (Shah and Focke, 1988).
Nu = aReb P r c .
The system of equations defined by Eqs. (1a)–(1c) and (2)
can be solved to obtain the heat load, Q, and the fluid outlet
temperatures, Thot,out and Tcold,out , only if the correction
factor FT is known. This factor is a function of the exchanger
configuration, of the number of transfer units (NTU defined
in Eq. (5)) and of the heat capacity ratio (C ∗ defined in Eq.
(6)). For the ideal case of pure countercurrent flow, FT = 1.
For all other types of flow distribution, 0 < FT < 1.
(NC − 1)AP U
NTU = , (5)
min(Whot Cp hot , Wcold Cp cold )
min(Whot Cp hot , Wcold Cpcold )
C∗ = . (6)
max(Whot Cp hot , Wcold Cp cold )
There are no generalized equations in the form FT =
FT (configuration, NTU, C ∗ ) for PHEs. The calculation of
FT requires the solution of the differential mathematical
modeling of the heat exchange between channels, which is
not a trivial task since each configuration corresponds to
a unique system (Kandlikar and Shah, 1989; Zaleski and
Klepacka, 1992a; Gut and Pinto, 2003b). Various researchers
have used PHE simulation models to generate charts and
tables in the form FT = FT (NTU, C ∗ ) or ε = ε(NTU, C ∗ )
for the most usual configurations, where ε is the thermal
effectiveness of the exchanger (see definition in Eq. (7)).
The relationship between FT and ε is presented in Eq. (8)
(Rohsenow et al., 1998).
Q let and outlet temperatures and flow rates are measured, the
ε=
Qmax
Q whereas the experimental overall heat transfer coefficient,
= ,
min(Whot Cp hot , Wcold Cpcold )(Thot,in − Tcold,in )
   rection factor FT is known. Two approaches are used in this
 1 − C∗

1
NTU(1−C ∗ ) ln if C ∗ < 1,
FT = 1−



NTU(1−
) if C ∗ = 1.
Kandlikar and Shah (1989), for example, published tables
for obtaining FT and ε for PHEs with 1/1, 1/2, 1/3, 1/4,
2/2, 2/4, 3/3, and 4/4 pass-arrangements for various
4593
numbers of channels. Zaleski and Klepacka (1992a) pre-
sented similar results in the form of charts ε = ε(NTU, C ∗ ).
The main difficulty in obtaining the generalized form
(3) FT = FT (configuration, NTU, C ∗ ) resides in the PHE dif-
ferential model, which strongly depends on its configuration
(note that Eq. (1a) represents the integrated form of the PHE
thermal model). Ribeiro and Andrade (2002) used the ex-
ponential approximation of the differential model presented
by Zaleski and Klepacka (1992b) to develop an algorithm
for the steady-state simulation of PHEs. However, no details
were given concerning the construction of the system of dif-
ferential equations and of the set of boundary conditions for
general configurations.
Gut and Pinto (2003b) presented an “assembling
algorithm” for the simulation of PHEs with generalized
(4) configurations, which are represented by a set of six param-
eters: NC , P I , P II , , Yh and Yf (please refer to Appendix
Appendix A for definitions). This algorithm guides the con-
struction of the mathematical model, its solution through
analytical or numerical methods and the resulting channel
temperature profiles and exchanger effectiveness. Once ε
is obtained, FT is easily available through Eq. (8). In ad-
dition to the six configuration parameters, the assembling
algorithm also requires two thermal parameters, hot and
cold , as shown in Eqs. (9), (10a) and (10b). The mathemat-
ical model comprises a linear system of first-order ordinary
differential equations of the boundary value type and a
non-linear system of algebraic equations.
ε = ε(NC , P I , P II , , Yh , Yf , hot , cold ), (9)
AP U N hot
hot = , (10a)
Whot Cphot
AP U N cold
cold = . (10b)
Wcold Cp cold
3. Parameter estimation procedure for generalized
configurations
In order to estimate the model parameters a, b and c of
Eq. (4), several heat transfer experimental runs are required,
comprising the desired range of Re and Pr for a given plate
type. For any experimental run of the PHE, where the in-
average heat load can be obtained from Eqs. (1b) and (1c),
(7)
Uexp , is available through Eq. (1a) if the corresponding cor-
work for determining FT :
(8)
• Approach 1: pure countercurrent flow is assumed and
therefore FT = 1. This assumption has shown to hold
when the PHE is configured with a countercurrent
single-pass arrangement with only two or three chan-
nels or with a sufficiently large number of channels
4594 Jorge A.W. Gut et al. / Chemical Engineering Science 59 (2004) 4591 – 4600

(according to Kandlikar and Shah (1989) the end effects Table 1

can be neglected for NC > 40). Main dimensions of the Armfield FT-43 plate
• Approach 2: FT is obtained by solving the PHE differen- Dimension Value
tial model for generalized configurations in Eq. (9). This
Plate length, between port centers (mm) 90
approach does not have configuration restrictions. Plate width, between gaskets (mm) 60
Plate thickness (mm) 1.0
The correlation model is presented in Eq. (11), which Mean channel gap (mm) 1.5
can be fitted to the experimental data by minimizing the Mean hydraulic diameter (mm) 3.0
quadratic error function,  in Eq. (12), where n is the num- Port diameter (mm) 6.5
ber of experimental runs. Heat transfer area (m2 /plate) 0.0050

1
Ucalc (a, b, c) = De De
+ +
aRebhot P r chot khot aRebcold P r ccold kcold
n
 In each run, the system reaches the steady state from which
(a, b, c) = (Uexp,i − Ucalc,i )2 .
i=1
4. Experimental procedure
The proposed parameter estimation procedure for gener-
alized configurations is tested using an Armfield FT-43 labo-
ratory plate heat exchanger (Armfield, Hampshire, UK) with
stainless-steel flat plates, as shown in Fig. 2, using distilled
water as product and hot service fluids. The main character-
istic dimensions of the plate are presented in Table 1.
The PHE was assembled with two sections: heating and
regeneration, as shown in the example in Fig. 3. A data log-
ger attached to a personal computer using thermocouples
continuously recorded inlet and outlet temperatures of each
section (the monitoring points are represented in Fig. 3).
The product flow rate was obtained by direct measurement
and the hot water flow rate was calculated through the en-
ergy balances (Eqs. (1b) and (1c)). To avoid the presence of
eP
, fouling, the plates were cleaned by a cleaning out of place
kP
(COP) method using intensive brushing after each run. The
(11) hot water flow rates were held constant. The temperatures
of each inlet and outlet streams were recorded at every 10 s.
(12)
data were recorded for at least 2 min. From the recorded data,
whenever any temperature standard deviation was larger than
0.5 ◦ C, the corresponding run was discarded.
Various configurations were used for the experiments, in-
cluding symmetric and asymmetric pass-arrangements with
countercurrent or parallel flows. A total of 121 runs was se-
lected, as presented in Table 2.
The physical properties of distillated water (density, vis-
cosity, thermal conductivity and specific heat) were obtained
from the literature (Bennett and Myers, 1982; Schwier, 1992;
Perry et al., 1997). The values of physical properties were
evaluated at the average temperature of the fluid stream.
5. Results and discussion
5.1. Parameter estimation
Table 3 presents the experimental results obtained for the
24 runs conducted with the regeneration section configured

Fig. 2. Laboratory plate heat exchanger Armfield FT-43: (a) feed tank, (b) peristaltic pump, (c) PHE with three sections and connected thermocouples,
(d) moveable end cover, (e) fixed end cover, (f) a pair of flat plates and (g) a pair of gaskets.
 Jorge A.W. Gut et al. / Chemical Engineering Science 59 (2004) 4591 – 4600 4595

Fig. 3. An example of PHE flow arrangement used for experiments.

Table 2
PHE configurations used for the experimental runs

Configuration parameters Number of

NC P I × NI P II × N II  Yh Yf runs

4* 1×2 1×2 4 0 1 13
4 2×1 2×1 3 0 1 3
6 3×1 3×1 4 0 1 3
8 4×1 4×1 3 0 1 1
8 1×4 4×1 4 1 1 2
8 1×4 1×4 4 0 1 2
8* 1×4 1×4 4 0 1 11
10 5×1 5×1 4 0 1 2
18 9×1 9×1 4 1 1 27
18 9×1 9×1 3 0 1 27
20 10 × 1 5×2 4 0 1 1
20 10 × 1 10 × 1 1 0 1 28
36 18 × 1 18 × 1 3 0 1 1
∗ Regeneration section with single-pass countercurrent configuration.

for single-pass countercurrent flow, which are indicated with
asterisks in Table 2. This set of runs was used for fitting the
PHE thermal model through Approach 1.
For fitting the thermal model through Approach 2, all
the 121 runs shown in Table 2 were considered. The corre-
sponding overall heat transfer coefficients, Uexp , were ob-
tained as follows: the PHE differential model in Eq. (9) is
generated using the model assembling algorithm (Gut and
Pinto, 2003b) and its numerical solution is obtained through
the centered finite difference method using the simulation
package gPROMS 2.1 (Process Systems Enterprise, Lon-
don, UK). When solving the mathematical model, the spec-
ification of the overall heat transfer coefficient is replaced
with the specification of the average thermal effectiveness,
ε = εexp , which is obtained from Eq. (7) using the average
heat load obtained experimentally. The solution of the math-
ematical model thus provides Uexp , whereas FT is available
from Eqs. (5), (6) and (8).
Parameters a, b and c in Eqs. (4) and (11) were esti-
mated for both approaches by non-linear regression using
the Marquardt method for minimizing  (see Eq. (12)) with
the aid of the software Statgraphics Plus 4.0 (Manugistics,
Rockville, USA). The results are presented in Table 4, as
well as the ranges for which the correlations are valid. The
parameters obtained through both approaches are rather dis-
tinct. This divergence can be attributed to the variation in the
flow distribution patterns of the considered configurations
rather than to the assumption of pure countercurrent flow
used in Approach 1. When calculating the log-mean temper-
ature difference correction factor for the 24 runs used for
4596 Jorge A.W. Gut et al. / Chemical Engineering Science 59 (2004) 4591 – 4600

Table 3
Process conditions on the regeneration section for the selected runs of Approach 1

Run NC W Thot,in Thot,out Tcold,in Tcold,out Q

(kg/h) (◦ C) (◦ C) (◦ C) (◦ C) (W)
1 4 26.1 74.5 67.4 25.2 32.0 210
2 4 32.8 66.0 60.7 25.1 30.2 198
3 4 36.3 61.4 56.8 25.1 29.5 189
4 4 42.8 56.7 52.8 25.1 28.8 188
5 4 49.0 53.3 50.1 25.1 28.2 180
6 4 52.6 50.9 48.0 25.1 27.9 174
7 4 58.5 48.0 45.3 25.0 27.5 177
8 4 63.6 45.8 43.3 25.0 27.3 176
9 4 81.2 58.0 56.2 45.6 46.7 133
10 4 94.1 57.3 55.7 45.4 46.5 149
11 4 110.1 55.0 53.5 44.5 45.8 179
12 4 14.5 84.5 70.1 25.2 37.6 226
13 4 19.4 82.8 72.2 25.2 35.0 231
14 8 15.51 86.4 72.8 19.8 31.4 227
15 8 24.05 81.2 70.6 19.7 29.0 278
16 8 4.72 74.6 65.0 19.7 27.9 49
17 8 4.72 68.5 60.4 19.7 26.8 42
18 8 4.72 62.6 55.7 19.6 25.8 36
19 8 4.72 57.9 51.9 19.6 24.9 31
20 8 4.72 54.0 48.5 19.6 24.3 28
21 8 4.72 50.6 45.7 19.6 23.8 25
22 8 4.72 46.9 42.7 19.6 23.3 22
23 8 4.72 43.8 40.2 19.5 22.7 19
24 8 4.72 67.1 59.5 22.4 29.4 40

Table 4
1400 Approach1
Results of parameter estimation for Approaches 1 and 2
24 runs +10 %
Approach Correlation R2 Range 1200

1 N u = 0.0188Re0.889 P r 0.292 0.98 10
Re
1000 -10 %

1000
2.2 <
_ Pr <
_ 6.8
Uexp (W/m² ºC)

Nu = 0.0169Re0.897 0.98
P r 1/3 800

2 N u = 0.00220Re1.02 P r 1.49 0.93 10
Re
2400 600

1.8 <
_ Pr <
_ 6.8
Nu = 0.0457Re0.771 0.82 400
P r 1/3

200
0.90 1/3
Nu = 0.017 Re Pr
Approach 1, it is observed that 0.968
FT
0.990; thus it is 0
acceptable to assume that FT = 1 for these selected runs. 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400
Since the typical Prandtl number exponent for heat ex- Ucalc (W/m² ºC)
change correlations is c= 13 , this value was also tested. It was
verified that estimating only parameters a and b did not de- Fig. 4. Experimental vs. predicted overall heat transfer coefficients (Ap-
teriorate the quality of the model fitting for Approach 1 (R 2 proach 1).
did not change, as can be seen in Table 4). However, a worst
fit was obtained for Approach 2 with c = 13 . The obtained points are rather scattered and distant from the 45 ◦ line. This
parameter c = 1.49 suggests an unusual strong dependence lack of fit can be attributed to the variations on the flow dis-
on the Prandtl number. To better detect such dependence, an tribution pattern of the various tested configurations, among
experimental study with different fluids would be necessary other factors. It is known that flow maldistribution through
to extend the range of Pr. Consequently, both correlations the channels of a pass and also inside the channel volume
fitted with constant and fixed parameter c = 13 in Table 4 are plays an important role on the PHE thermal and hydraulic
more consistent and will be considered henceforth. performance (Rao et al., 2002). However, the modeling of
The plots of predicted vs. experimental overall heat trans- the flow distribution inside a PHE is not trivial and it often
fer coefficients are presented in Figs. 4 and 5 for Approaches relies on a uniform distribution of flow through the channels
1 and 2, respectively. It can be observed in Fig. 5 that the of a pass and one-dimensional plug-flow inside the channel
 Jorge A.W. Gut et al. / Chemical Engineering Science 59 (2004) 4591 – 4600 4597

2500 2.0
+10 %
Approach 2 Pr = 4.0
121 runs Approach 2
2000 -10 %
1.5 Nu = 0.046 Re0.77 Pr1/3

1500 1.0
Uexp (W/m² ºC)

Clark (1974)

log (Nu)
Flat-plate, turbulent flow
0.5 Nu = 0.036 (De/L)0.054 Re0.8 Pr1/3
1000 Kakaç et al. (1987)
Flat-plate, turbulent flow
Nu = 0.023 Re0.8 Pr1/3
0.0
500

Nu = 0.046 Re 0.77 Pr 1/3 Approach 1

-0.5
0 Nu = 0.017 Re0.90 Pr1/3
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500
² -1.0
Ucalc (W/m ºC)
0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5
log (Re)
Fig. 5. Experimental vs. predicted overall heat transfer coefficients
(Approach 2). Fig. 6. Comparison among obtained and published correlations for
P r = 4.0.

volume. Due to the fact that the tested range of Pr is rel-

atively narrow (1.8
P r
6.8) and the considered thermal Table 5
model does not account for flow maldistribution, the effect Results for the sizing problem example
of the modeling error ended to be included on the Pr expo-
Variable Approach 1 Approach 2
nent in Eq. (4). That would explain the unusual parameter
obtained, c = 1.49. hhot (W/m2 ◦ C) 2007 2304
When employing a single configuration to collect data for hcold (W/m2 ◦ C) 1987 2321
U (W/m2 ◦ C) 929 1064
fitting the thermal model, the influence of the variation on
FT 1.0 0.98
the flow distribution is minimized and a more accurate fit A (m2 ) 0.0729 0.0650
can be obtained, as observed in Fig. 4. Nevertheless, when NC 16 14
the model is fitted using data collected from multiple con- Thermal plates, NC − 1 15 13
figurations of the same PHE, distinct (but coherent) results
are obtained, and a certain lack of fit is observed, as in
Fig. 5 (c = 13 ). sages. Nevertheless, the difference between the correlations
Fitting the thermal model of the PHE through Approach obtained from Approaches 1 and 2 is evident.
1 is mathematically simpler since the calculation of Uexp
is easier than that of Approach 2. However, the usage of 5.2. PHE sizing example
Approach 1 restricts the types of configurations that can
be tested to those with single-pass countercurrent flow. For A sizing problem example is presented to show the varia-
these configurations, the main flow is split among the various tion on the results obtained when using these correlations. It
channels of the pass and high channel flow velocities may is desired to determine the number of plates (dimensions in
be difficult to obtain. Consequently, it is not possible to Table 1) for cooling a 0.6 kg/min process water stream from
experimentally achieve large Reynolds numbers, as can be 82 to 42 ◦ C using a 0.8 kg/min utility water stream at 22 ◦ C.
seen in Table 4 when comparing the Reynolds range of the In this case, the expected heat load is Q=1.672 kW,
Tlm =
obtained correlations. The main advantage of Approach 2 is 24.7 ◦ C and Eq. (1a) is used for determining the required
that data from several different configurations can be used number of channels for a PHE with series pass arrangement
to fit the thermal model. Its drawback is that a more detailed (N I = 1 and N II = 1), Yh = 0 and  = 3. Eqs. (3) and (4) are
mathematical model and a numerical solver are required to applied for calculating U, Eqs. (8) and (9) are used for deter-
obtain Uexp . Moreover, for the design problem of a PHE, it mining the log-mean temperature difference correction fac-
is necessary that the adjusted thermal model represents the tor for Approach 2 and the results are presented in Table 5,
various configurations of the equipment, instead of only a where A=Q/(U F T
Tlm ) is the required heat transfer area.
single type. A significant variation on the value of U is observed, which
The plot in Fig. 6 compares the two obtained heat trans- yields a difference of two plates for this example (approxi-
fer correlations. It can be seen that both curves are in fair mately 14% in heat transfer area), evidencing the difference
agreement with the correlations presented by Clark (1974) between the correlations obtained through Approaches 1 and
and Kakaç et al. (1987) for turbulent flow in flat plate pas- 2 (see Table 4).
4598 Jorge A.W. Gut et al. / Chemical Engineering Science 59 (2004) 4591 – 4600

6. Conclusions kP plate thermal conductivity, W/m ◦ C

L plate length, m
The thermal modeling of a PHE on steady-state assum- n number of experimental runs
ing constant fluid physical properties and uniform flow dis- N number of channels per pass
tribution inside the PHE was presented, leading to two ap- NC number of channels
proaches for obtaining the log-mean temperature difference NTU number of heat transfer units
correction factor: Approach 1, that assumes pure counter- Nu Nusselt number, N u = h De /k, dimensionless
current flow conditions and Approach 2, that accounts for P number of passes
different configurations and requires the solution of the dif- Pr Prandtl number, P r = Cp /k, dimensionless
ferential thermal model of the PHE. A parameter estimation Q heat load, W
procedure for generalized configurations was presented. The R2 correlation coefficient
methodology was tested in an Armfield FT-43 PHE with Rf fluid fouling factor, m2 ◦ C/W
flat plates. Both approaches were used for fitting the ther- Re Reynolds number, Re = W De /(N AC ), dimen-
mal model. For Approach 1, only single-pass countercurrent sionless
arrangements were considered, whereas 12 different config- T temperature, ◦ C
urations were considered for Approach 2. Since the model U overall heat transfer coefficient, W/m2 ◦ C
does not account for flow maldistribution, a certain lack of W fluid mass flow rate, kg/s
fit was obtained when using Approach 2. This problem does Yf binary parameter for type of channel-flow, dimen-
not occur when fitting data collected from a single config- sionless
uration type because the variation of the flow distribution Yh binary parameter for hot fluid location, dimension-
pattern among experimental runs is minimal. less
The heat transfer correlations obtained for PHEs are inti-
mately associated with the configuration(s) experimentally Greek letters
tested and the corresponding flow distribution pattern(s).
When sizing a PHE for a given type of configuration, a con-  thermal coefficient defined in Eqs. (10a) and (10b),
sistent heat transfer correlation must be used for the thermal dimensionless
model, otherwise unrealistic results can be obtained. For the
Tlm log-mean temperature difference, ◦ C
problem of optimizing the configuration of a PHE (Gut and ε exchanger thermal effectiveness, %
Pinto, 2003a, 2004), it is important that the thermal model  quadratic error function (W/m2 ◦ C)2
can represent all possible configurations. In this case, a gen-  fluid viscosity, Pa s
eralized heat transfer correlation should be used, such as one  parameter for feed connection relative location,
obtained through Approach 2 using various distinct config- dimensionless
urations. Moreover, efforts have been directed towards im-
proving the thermal modeling of the PHEs by taking into Subscripts
account the flow distribution inside the PHE (Bassiouny and
Martin, 1984a, b; Thonon and Mercier, 1996; Rao et al., calc calculated
2002). cold cold fluid
exp experimental
hot hot fluid
in fluid inlet
Notations max maximum
out fluid outlet
a model parameter, dimensionless
A heat transfer area, m2 Acknowledgements
AC cross-section area for channel flow, m2
AP effective plate heat transfer area, m2 The authors would like to acknowledge financial support
b model parameter, dimensionless from FAPESP (The State of São Paulo Research Founda-
c model parameter, dimensionless tion) and from CNPq (National Council for Scientific and
C∗ heat capacity ratio, C ∗
1, dimensionless Technological Development).
Cp fluid specific heat at constant pressure, J/kg ◦ C
De equivalent diameter of the channel, m Appendix A. Plate heat exchanger configuration param-
eP thickness of metal plate, m eters (Gut and Pinto, 2003b)
FT log-mean temperature difference correction factor,
0 < FT
1, dimensionless The configuration of a PHE (plate heat exchanger) can
h convective heat transfer coefficient, W/m2 ◦ C be characterized by a set of six parameters. These are NC ,
k fluid thermal conductivity, W/m ◦ C P I , P II , , Yh and Yf that are defines as follows:
 Jorge A.W. Gut et al. / Chemical Engineering Science 59 (2004) 4591 – 4600
(a)
(d)
Fig. 7. Definition of configuration parameters and an example of configuration.
NC : Number of channels. A channel is the space com-
prised between two plates. The PHE can be represented by a
row of channels numbered from 1 to NC . The odd-numbered
channels belong to side I, and the even-numbered ones be-
long to side II. NCI and NCII denote the numbers of channels
in each side. If NC is even, both sides have the same number
of channels, otherwise side I has one more channel. Allow-
able values: NC 2.
P I and P II : Number of passes at sides I and II. A pass is
a set of channels where the stream is split and distributed.
Each side of the PHE is divided into passes with the same
number of channels per pass (N I and N II ). Allowable values
for P I and P II : respectively the integer factors of NCI and
NCII .
: Feed connection relative location. The feed connection
of side I is arbitrarily set to channel 1. The relative position
of the feed of side II is given by the parameter  (Pignotti
and Tamborenea, 1988), as shown in Fig. 7a. The plate length
in Fig. 7a is not associated with the top and bottom of the
PHE, neither channel 1 is associated with the fixed cover.
The configuration can be freely rotated or mirrored to fit the
PHE frame. Allowable values for : 1, 2, 3 and 4.
Yh : Hot fluid location. This binary parameter assigns the
fluids to the exchanger sides (see Fig. 7b). If Yh = 1, the hot
fluid is at side I, and cold fluid is at side II. If Yh = 0, the
cold fluid is at side I, and the hot fluid is at side II.
Yf : Type of flow in channels. Yf is a binary parameter that
defines the type of flow inside the channels, which depends
on the gasket type (see Fig. 7c). If Yf =1, the flow is diagonal
in all channels. If Yf = 0, the flow is vertical in all channels.
A configuration example is illustrated in Fig. 7d. It repre-
sents a PHE with nine plates (NC = 8), where the hot fluid
4599
(b) (c)
in side I (Yh = 1) makes two passes (P I = 2) and the cold
fluid in side II makes four passes (P II = 4). In this example,
the inlet of side II is located next to the inlet of side I ( =1)
and the type of flow in the channels is diagonal (Yf = 1).
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