Spiral Heat Exchanger

By: Anizah Ali

 A heat exchanger is a device used
to transfer heat between a solid

Heat Exchangers object and a fluid, or between two

or more fluids
Spiral Heat Exchanger

● A Spiral Heat Exchangers (SHE), which may refer to a helical

(coiled) tube configuration, more generally, the term refers to a pair
of flat surfaces that are coiled to form the two channels in a
counter-flow arrangement.
● Each of the two channels has one long curved path.
● These two channels are in a counter-flow arrangement.
Spiral Heat Exchanger Design

● The spiral plate heat exchanger is made by rolling two long metal plates
around a center core to form two concentric spiral flow passages, one for
each fluid.
● The plate edges are welded shut so that each fluid stays within its own
passage and there is no flow bypassing or intermixing.
● Channel plate width and spacing (gap between plates) are optimized for the
specified duty, maximum heat transfer, and ease of access. The plate gap is
maintained by welded spacer studs although some designs do not require
them.
Spiral Heat Exchanger
Advantages
● The main advantage of the SHE is its
highly efficient use of space.
● A compact SHE may lower all-around
capital costs.
● An oversized SHE may be used to have
less pressure drop, less pumping
energy, higher thermal efficiency, and
lower energy costs.
Disadvantages
● While spiral heat exchangers transfer
heat efficiently, they cannot endure the
high temperatures that shell and tube
and other types of heat exchangers
were made to handle.
● The amount of pressure that spiral heat
exchangers can handle is limited, as
well.
Applications

The Spiral heat exchanger is good for applications such as:

● Pasteurization
● Digester heating
● Heat recovery
● Pre-heating (see: recuperator), and
● Effluent cooling
● For sludge treatment, SHEs are generally smaller than other types of heat
exchangers