Maintanance

In plate heat exchangers the plates must be dissembled cleaned at a certain time
period to keep the high efficiency. Tubular heat exchangers can be cleaned by
methods such as acid cleaning, sand blasting, high pressure jet water, bullet
cleaning or drill rods method. In case the cooling system is large in heat
exchangers ,water treatments such as purifications ,additions of chemicals and
testing is uded to minimize the fouling of heat exchanger equipment

Picture : cleaning with water jet

Picture:Shell and tube heat exchanger cleaned by rodding and hydro blasting
 Heat Exchanger Design
Different heat exchangers are designed for different purposes by engineers .fluids materials
temperature pressure humidity plays vital role in choosing a heat exchanger for the set up.

Parameters of choosing a heat exchanger

While choosing a perfect heat exchanger for the system we need to consider certain criteria

 Primary circuit fluid type, temperature and flow rate (usually the hot fluid)
 What you want to take out of the primary circuit (Heat dissipation or a target outlet
temperature)
 Secondary circuit fluid type, temperature and flow rate (usually the coolant)

Fluids and Materials

Heat Exchangers are suitable for most fluids including Oil, Water, Water Glycol and Sea Water.
For more corrosive fluids such as chlorinated salt water, refrigerants and acids other materials
such as Stainless Steel and Titanium will need to be used instead.
Efficiency Parameters
Coolant temperature must be lower than the hot fluid to get maximum efficiency as cooler the
coolant the more heat can be absorbed from the hot fluid. Higher flow rate means higher rate of
heat exchanges. Additionally, greater heat means greater mass flow and higher pressure loss with
increasing velocity.
Picture: Tubular heat exchanger design

Picture: Design of heat exchangers

Commissioning - The heat exchanger should always be installed based on a manufacturers'

guidelines. Generally speaking the most efficient way to install a heat exchanger is with the
fluids flowing in a counter-current arrangement (so if the coolant is travelling left to right, the
hot fluid travels right to left) and for shell and tube heat exchangers the coolant should enter at
the lowest inlet position (as shown in the diagrams above) to ensure that the heat exchanger is
always full of water. For air cooled heat exchangers it is important to consider the air flow when
installing a cooler, any part of the core which is blocked will compromise cooling capacity.