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Lauterbach Verfahrenstechnik
GmbH
1 / 2011
Contents
Calculation Examples 1
2. Heat Exchanger with Floating Head, AET Type (pull through floating head) 14
Task .................................................................................................................................................................14
Input.................................................................................................................................................................14
Target ..............................................................................................................................................................14
Basics
The WTS program consists of several single modules, calculating one or more values for the design of a heat
exchanger. The Ga module for example calculates the heat transfer in pipe flow and the RDV module provides
the tube-side pressure drop in shell-and-tube heat exchangers.
All required input values for the calculation of a heat exchanger are concentrated on the WTS input mask,
which allows full control over the calculation.
Task
A heat exchanger is to be designed with the following requirements:
Boundary conditions:
Only standardized tube or shell diameters shall be used
Steel tubes shall be used
A maximum of 3 meters for the bundle length shall not be exceeded.
Velocity in tubes shall be at least 1 m/s, to avoid an excessive fouling in the tubes.
Examples -1-
2.2 Tube pitch
The usual tube pitch for the integrated tubes may be selected under ‘Tube pitch’.
In our example we will use a pitch of 26 X 60°
If the dimensions are already known (e.g. recalculation of a heat exchanger) the according shell can be
specified here. Mostly however the shell dimension is unknown when starting the calculation. Please select
‘Free Input / Design’. By choosing this option, the program selects an appropriate shell from the list of
integrated shells.
The criterion for this selection is the ‘Desired tube-side velocity’, which is pre-defined with 1.8 m/s for water
in the field ‘V tube-side’. The user can overwrite this value. The program now selects a shell in which the
velocity is not exceeded while completely tubed. The ‘desired tube-side velocity' is seen as a limitation
(avoiding of erosion and cavitation).
In our example we will choose ‘Free Input / Design’
Examples -2-
2.6 Desired Tube-side velocity
If you have chosen ‘Free input / design’ for the shell, the program automatically selects a shell from the list of
shells during calculation of the heat exchanger. The selection criterion is the desired flow velocity in the
tubes.
The program decides not to exceed the desired velocity in the tubes when the shell is completely tubed. The
desired velocity is an upper limit for the velocity in the tubes. The velocity is limited by cavitation and erosion
effects. The default desired flow velocity is 1.8 m/s for liquids and 30 m/s for gases.
Confirm your selection with ‘OK’. The form ‘Visual WTS’ is starting up.
3. Visual WTS
The bundle type is predefined with one tube-side pass and one shell-side pass.
Enter now the known values.
WTS is not limited to specific input values. In our example the shell side and tube side inlet and outlet
temperature and the tube side mass flow are given. The shell side mass flow is calculated via the heat
balance. If you entered for example the ‘Absolute thermal performance W’, the two inlet temperatures and the
mass flows, the program would calculate the two outlet temperatures.
After having entered all known values confirm with ‘OK’. The calculation is started and the program switches
to the WTS input mask.
Examples -3-
4. WTS Input mask
Shell
Dimensions
The heat exchanger has been calculated and the entered and calculated values are now displayed in the WTS
input mask. The program selected a shell with 273 x 6.3 mm and a number of tubes of 61. This results in a
tube-side velocity of 1.668 m/s.
Number
of tubes
Flow velocity
tube side
Examples -4-
5. Results and evaluation
Very important!
The program makes a difference between a required (theoretical) bundle length which is necessary to transfer
the entered heat performance and the final (actual) bundle length, which is to be manufactured.
To start the calculation you must always enter the final bundle length!
By entering the final bundle length, the exchanger is recalculated and a new required bundle length is
calculated if necessary. Adjust the final bundle length to the recalculated required bundle length.
The difference between these values is the reserve of the heat exchanger.
In our example the bundle length is limited to 3 m. That’s why we enter 3 m in the final bundle length.
A comparison between final bundle length (3 m) and required bundle length (3.968 m) shows that the
exchanger area is too small. Overdesign = - 24.4%
Overdesign= -24.4%
Examples -5-
6. Optimization
6.1 Increasing the number of tubes
You may increase the number of tubes while performing the calculation. Either you select a bigger shell in the
menu ‘Basic input’ / ‘basic data’ or you overwrite the value in the WTS mask with a bigger one.
Enter now 65 for the number of tubes and confirm with ‘ENTER’. The WTS program now tries to put
65 tubes into a shell, which is integrated in the WTS12.tab.
The program selects a shell of 323.9 x 7.1 mm. 91 tubes can be put into this shell. The required bundle length
is calculated as 3.11 m, this means the exchanger is still too small.
Therefore increase the number of tubes again and enter for example ‘95’ as number of tubes. The WTS
program selects a shell of 355.6 x 8 mm in which 121 tubes can fit. The required bundle length is now 2.45 m.
With a final (actual) bundle length of 3 m it shows an overdesign of about 22 %. Due to increasing the number
of tubes the flow velocity in the tubes is now 0.84 m/s. The exchanger does still not meet our requirements
(at least 1m/s in the tubes).
Examples -6-
6.2 Changing number of tube-side passes
The WTS program is capable to calculate heat exchangers with 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 8 tube-side passes.
In our example the tube-side flow velocity is 0.8407 m/s. To avoid an excessive fouling in the tubes a velocity
of at least 1 m/s is required. Let’s change the number of tube-side passes from 1 two 2.
Click on the field ‘number of passes (tube side), select ‘2-Passes Type 1’ and confirm with ‘ENTER’.
The exchanger is recalculated and re-dimensioned. The calculation results in a required bundle length of
2.657 m. The overdesign is 12.9 %.
2 Tube-side passes
Examples -7-
6.3 Thermal conductivity of tubes
The exchanger is recalculated again. The required bundle length increases to 3.38 m. The heat exchanger is
11.28% underdesigned!
Increase the number of tubes to 110. A new shell is selected with 406.4 x 8.8 mm. The number of tubes in this
shell is 142 and the overdesign is 5.8%.
Examples -8-
Select the input field 'Thermal conductivity of tube material' and press F3 to get thermal conductivities of
different tube materials dependent on the temperature.
The number of baffles shall now be decreased from 24 to 19. Overwrite the value for the number of baffles
with 15.
Due to the decreased number of baffles the heat transfer coefficient decreased as well and the required
bundle length increased. Please check if the final bundle length is still sufficient!
Examples -9-
7. Calculation of pressure drop
The shell-side and tube-side pressure drop is calculated after having entered the diameter of the nozzle at
inlet and outlet. If you don’t know them yet, you may also enter the nozzle velocity.
The program calculates the nozzle diameter. This calculated nozzle diameter might be used as approximate
value for a nozzle according to DIN or ANSI. If you have determined a nozzle, overwrite the calculated values
in the WTS mask. The inlet and outlet velocities are recalculated.
Select DN 125 for the tube-side inlet and outlet nozzle and DN 100 for the shell-side inlet and outlet nozzle..
The pressure drops are calculated.
Shell-side
Tube-side pressure drop
pressure drop: p = 0.21 bar
p = 0.81 bar
Examples -10-
Shell-side pressure drop
The total shell-side pressure drop is a composite of:
Pressure drop in the cross-flow zone, between the edges of the baffles
Pressure drop in both end zones below the nozzles
Pressure drop in the window zone
Pressure drop in the nozzles
The distribution of the shell-side pressure drop is shown in the LAE module!
If the exchanger is limited by the pressure drop (for example a gas-gas heat echanger) it is necessary to know
where the pressure drop can be found to be able to optimise the exchanger.
If the pressure drop arises in the cross-flow zone, the number of baffles must be reduced. If the presure drop
arises in the window zone, the height of the window must be increased.
Examples -11-
8. Tube sheet
The tube sheet maybe diplayed directly in the
WTS module but cannot be edited graphically.
Changes in the WTS input mask however
effect the graphics dynamically.
Switch to the SPIE mask by clicking on the tab ‘2 SPIE’ . Here you can find further important values for the
tube sheet. To display the tube sheet click on the menu item ‘Display tubesheet’ in the ‘Tube sheet’ menu.
Examples -12-
9. Further details of the calculation
To obtain further details of the calculation switch to the individual modules by clicking the according tab strip.
1 WTS Thermal and hydraulic design of shell and tube heat exchangers
7 ZELL or FN Determination of the correction factor (FN factor) for the logarithmic mean temperature
difference (LMTD) for different exchanger types
Examples -13-
2. Heat Exchanger with Floating Head, AET
Type (pull through floating head)
Task
For an easy cleaning of the shell side a tube pitch of 45° is selected.
Fouling must be considered
Input
Tube side Shell side
Water Thermal oil Transcal N
180 m³/h 1100 m³/h
Tin = 20 °C Tin = 185 °C
Tout = 90 °C Tout = 160,7 °C
Target
Calculation of the bundle-shell distance cause of the floating head according TEMA
Correction factors for the heat transfer and the pressure drop
Bypass flow, leakage flow, changing flow directions
Heat transfer correction for unequal baffle spacing at inlet and outlet
Sealing strips
Size of window, baffle distance
Input
Tube side Shell side
Water Water
m = 50 kg/s m = 50 kg/s
Tin = 80 °C Tin = 20 °C
Tout = 50 °C
Tubes 25 x 2 mm
Tube-side flow velocity > 1 m/s to avoid fouling
Target
Cross-Over of outlet temperatures
FN factor
Examples -14-
Check List for Shell and Tube Heat Exchangers
Criterion Influence
Performance, Temperature profile, required Type / number of exchangers / flow pattern limits outlet temperature
area
Design pressure and temperature of media, Type limited by mechanical design limits.
maximum conditions
Cause of failure on production Might result in high cancellation expenses, which justify parallel
exchangers in stand-by.
Examples -15-
2. Rating the design
Criterion Hint
Create a true-to-scale sketch with baffles Optical appearance and engineering judgement
e.g. Outlet nozzles in shell on the wrong side or extreme results.
Check for input errors
Have you used substitute values without judging?
Desired nozzle position Number of baffles determines the nozzle position
Fraction of tube-side and shell-side heat Check tube-side and shell-side flow distribution.
transfer coefficient at overall heat transfer Check fouling factors
coefficient. Check thermal conductivity of tube material
Is one value extremely high?
Usage of pressure drop Is the actual pressure drop used to optimize the heat transfer?
Distribution of pressure drop Do not decrease pressure in zones without heat transfer.
Inlet and outlet nozzles not more than 10% of total pressure
drop.
Check velocity in window zone.
Pressure drop ΔPF not greater than 2 x ΔPC
Shell-side pressure drop too high Baffle pitch too small
Tube pitch too small
Nozzles too small
Window zone too small
Not enough shell-side passes
Examples -16-