NUMBER OF TRANSFER UNITS (NTU) METHOD

The Number of transfer units (NTU) method  Cmin 

is used to calculate the rate of heat transfer   f  NTU , 
 CMax 
in heat exchangers when there is insufficient
information to calculate the Log-mean For a given geometry,  can be calculated
temperature difference (LMTD). using correlations in terms of heat capacity
To define the effectiveness of a heat ratio.
exchanger, we need to find the maximum Cmin
possible heat transfer that can be Cr 
Cmax
hypothetically achieved in a counter-flow
heat exchanger. Therefore one fluid will and the number of transfer units, NTU
experience the maximum possible
UA
temperature difference. The method NTU  where U is the overall heat
proceeds by calculating the heat capacity Cmin
rates Ch and Cc for the hot and cold fluid transfer coefficient and A is the heat transfer
respectively and denoting the smaller one as area.
Cmin.
 The effectiveness of parallel flow
qmax  Cmin Th ,i  Tc ,i  heat exchanger is calculated with:
1  exp   NTU 1  Cr  
Where qmax is the maximum heat that could 
1  Cr
be transferred between fluids per unit time.  The effectiveness of counter-current
Cmin must be used as it is the fluid with the flow heat exchanger is calculated
lowest heat capacity rate that would, in this with:
hypothetical length exchanger, actually 1  exp   NTU 1  Cr  
undergo the maximum temperature change. 
1  Cr exp   NTU 1  Cr  
The effectiveness  is the ratio between the  For Cr =1
actual heat transfer rate and the maximum
NTU
possible heat transfer rate: 
1  NTU

q  For Cr =0 (Special case in which
qmax phase change is occurring in the heat
exchanger)
Effectiveness is dimensionless quantity
between 0 and 1. If we know  for a   1  exp   NTU 
particular heat exchanger, and we know the
inlet conditions of the two streams, we can
calculate the amount of heat being
transferred between the fluids by:
q   Cmin (Th ,i  TC ,i )

For any heat exchanger it can be shown that: