Heat Exchangers

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A heat exchanger is an equipment in which two fluids are separately
circulated in adjacent spaces so that some of the heat in the fluid
at the higher temperature is transferred into the fluid at the lower
temperature. The fluid having the higher temperature is therefore
cooled and the fluid having the lower temperature is heated.
  The heat from a fluid can therefore be transferred to another colder
fluid by means of:
a. Separately circulating them in adjacent spaces - heat flowing from
a “hot” fluid through a tube wall or other membrane to another
cooler fluid.
b. Mixing them together - heat flowing from a hot fluid to a cooler
fluid due to mixing of one with the other.
Shipboard heat exchangers are classified under the following
categories

Cooler: The temperature of a hot liquid is lowered by

transferring part of its heat to seawater.

Condenser: Heat from a hot gas or vapour is transferred to

seawater to the extent that the gas or vapour liquefies.

Heater: The temperature of a liquid or gas is raised by

transferring energy from a hot medium, usually steam.

Evaporator: Heat energy is transferred to a liquid until it

evaporates from liquid state to gaseous state.
 Types of heat exchangers

In shipboard use three types of heating/cooling surfaces are in use:

1) Shell and tube heat exchanger.

2) Shell and coil heat exchanger.

3) Flat plate membranes in series type of heat exchanger.

Examples of heat transfer systems:

1. lubricating oil cooler (seawater in tubes).

2. fuel oil heater (steam in tubes)
3. fresh water cooler (seawater in tubes)
4. compressed air cooler (air in tubes)
5. steam condenser (seawater in tubes)
6. fresh water evaporator (heating medium in coils)
 Heat exchangers
Heat exchangers may be cooler and heaters
• Most coolers used on board ship transfer heat from a hot fluid to
sea water.
• For the main propulsion engine of a motor ship, the engine jacket
water, piston cooling medium (water or oil), lubricating oil and
charge air must be cooled.
• In a steam plant, apart from the heat yielded to the main
condenser, the turbine and gearbox lubricating oils provide the
principal sources of heat rejected to the circulating cooling water.
• Auxiliary prime movers require cooling and air compressors have
intercoolers and after coolers.
• Steam heated heat exchangers include heavy fuel oil heaters, boiler
air pre-heaters, units to heat sea water for tank washing,
evaporators, feed heaters and clarifiers.
 MATERIALS – shell and tube type

Cylindrical shell - Fabricated steel, cast iron or occasionally Aluminum bronze.

Tube plates - Usually of Naval brass (copper, zinc, tin).

Tubes - Aluminum brass (copper, zinc, aluminum); occasionally 70/30 copper-

nickel tubes are used

Header (cover) - cast iron

The usual method of securing the tubes to the tube plate is to roll-expand
them.

When the headers are made of cast iron, headers act as sacrificial anodes,
wasting in preference to the aluminum-brass tubes. Unless soft iron or mild
steel sacrificial anodes or impressed current cathode protection is used to
protect the cooler from corrosion such headers should not be painted
internally.
 Flow Patterns
• Counter-flow or contra-flow, heat exchangers are those where the
two fluids flow in opposite direction.
• When the fluids flow strictly in parallel with one another, the flow
system is termed co-current or parallel flow
Different flow patterns
 Shell and tube type Heat Exchanger

Construction – shell, tube stack, end covers, seals.

Working principle – In a cooler, the hot fluid flows in the
shell and the cold fluid flows through tubes.

1 Hot fluid – the flow path is set by internal baffles in the

tube stack. The internal baffles fix the position of the inlet
and outlet branches for the fluid passing through the body
of the heat exchanger on the outside of the tubes.
2 Cold fluid - the flow path is set by division plates in
the end-cover. The division plates in the boxes fix the
position of the inlet and outlet branches for the fluid
passing through the tubes. The division plate is used
for multi-pass flow of the cold fluid.
Single pass - If the heat exchanger covers do not
contain any division plates, the fluid passing through
the tubes enters at one end of the heat exchanger and
leaves at the other. This arrangement is referred to as a
single pass.
Multi -pass - In this type division plate is provided in
the cover, so that initially the liquid is allowed to flow
through a part of the tube stack in one pass and
through the rest of the tubes in the subsequent pass.
 Factors affecting performance
1) Air locking of fluid spaces.
2) Fouling of heat transfer surfaces.
3) In two-or multi pass heat exchangers, fluid by-passing tubes
because of division plate joint failure or holed division plates.
Fouling: Fouling may be defined as any undesirable deposits on a
heat transfer surface which increases resistance to both heat
transfer and fluid flow.
4) Precipitation fouling: This relates to the precipitation of dissolved
substances on the heat transfer surface.
5) Particulate fouling: This occurs when finely divided solids (rust,
dust sand etc.) suspended in the process fluid accumulate on the
heat transfer surface.
6) Biological fouling: This relates to biological organisms which
adhere to the heat transfer surface. e.g. barnacles & other marine
organisms.
Dismantled Heat exchanger (shell & tube type -single pass)

A B C D E

End cover
Seals Tube stack Shell (Body) bolts
Baffles.- They have thermal significance because the shell-side fluid is
made to flow to and fro across the bundle from one end of the heat
exchanger to the other. Another importance of baffles is that they are
spaced to provide support to the tubes and prevent sagging of tubes
and flow-induced vibration.
Arrangements for Linear Expansion of Tube Stack

There are three arrangements:

1. Floating tube plate on one side, when other end

is fixed.

2. Shell expands, tube plate and tubes fixed.

3. One end of tube sliding through the packing in the

tube plate gland.
 1. Floating tube plate
In heat exchangers with cast bodies, one tube plate is fastened to the flange on one
end of the body. The other tube plate is made to slide within the end of the body.
Sealing is effected by fitting O-rings in circumferentially cut grooves. The O-rings
contact the circular bored end in the body and the tube plate to make a seal. When
there is a difference in expansion between the tubes and the body the differences
are accommodated by the tube plate which slides relative to the body. This
arrangement is more commonly used for engine cooling water and lubricating oil
coolers. It also has the advantage of allowing very easy removal of the tube stack
from the exchanger body for chemical cleaning or repair. This is further facilitated if
the cooler is mounted vertically and the sliding tube plate is at the lower end.
 2. Shell expands
In some types of heat exchangers the body is made of mild steel plates, and in order
to cater for the differential expansion between the body and the tubes, a bellows
ring is welded circumferentially around the body of the heat exchanger. Differences
in expansion are then catered for by the bellows ring that deforms slightly to
accommodate the changing length of the tubes. This type of expansion arrangement
can be used for any number of fluid passes through the tubes. The tube plates are
bolted directly onto the flanges of the body and the tubes may be roller-expanded at
both ends.

Bellow ring
3. One end of tube sliding through the packing in the tube
plate gland.
Tubes expand, shell and tube plates fixed. Inlet ends of the tube is roller-expand and
bell-mouthed, the outlet end of the tubes is fitted with a small stuffing box in the
tube plate and sealing is made by using cotton cord packing tightened by a threaded
gland ferrule screwed into the threaded end of the stuffing boxes. Differences in
expansion between the tubes and the exchanger body is accommodated by the tube
ends sliding through the packing in the tube plate gland. This is a common
arrangement for exhaust steam condensers.
 Arrangement for indicating the leakage at free end
• Separation of the shell and tube fluids at the floating head is obtained by means
of packing rings installed between the outside of the floating tube plate and
recesses in the rear head flanges. The shell and tube side fluids each have their
own packing rings, which are separated by a lantern ring provided with weep
holes for leak detection. Leakage at the packing will not cause mixing of the shell
and tube side fluids within the exchanger itself.
• The width of the machined bearing surface at the floating tube plate periphery
must accommodate the two packing rings, the lantern ring and thermal
movements of the bundle. In some cases the thickness of floating tube plate is
sufficient, but if not, the extra bearing width is obtained by providing a machined
skirt at the tube periphery. The skirt may be an integral part of the plate or
attached by welding.
Floating Tube Plate Expansion with Tell-Tale Arrangement
 Plate Type Heat Exchangers
The basic plate consists of a thin, rectangular, metal sheet
into which a corrugated pattern has been formed by
precision-pressing. One side of each plate has a full
peripheral gasket. The complete unit comprises a number of
such plates, mounted on a frame, and clamped together,
face to face, by a bolting system. The space between
adjacent plates forms a flow channel and the system is
arranged so that the hot and cold fluids flow through
alternate flow channels, parallel to the long side of the
plates. Openings(ports) in the four corners of each plate
direct the two fluids into their respective channels.
 
Construction. The most common metals used in plate
type heat exchangers are titanium and stainless steel Others
include titanium-palladium alloy and monel metal. Carbon
steel is rarely used. Titanium provides very high resistance
to corrosion by sea water.
Plate Type heat Exchanger
Detailed view (ALFA-LAVAL)
 Plate corrugation
The most widely used corrugated types are the inter-
mating or washboard type, and the chevron or herringbone
type.
The plates are corrugated for two basic reasons:
Corrugations increase the effective area of the plate and
promote turbulence. In the washboard type, turbulence is
promoted by a continuously changing flow direction and
velocity of the fluid. In the herringbone type adjacent plates
are assembled such that the flow channel imparts a swirling
motion to the fluid.
 
To enable such thin plates to withstand differential
pressures up to at least 10 bar, and in special cases up to 25
bar, the corrugations are essential for strengthening and
mutual support of the plates.
 Gaskets

The periphery of each plate is grooved to house a

molded gasket, which are usually cemented in; some
are ‘snap-on’ type. The gasket is designed to provide a
tight joint without local distortion of the thin plate.
The integrity of the complete unit depends greatly on
gasket performance.
Gasket materials range from nitride rubber
(maximum temperature of 135C) to Viton (175C)
and compressed asbestos fiber (260C). Compressed
asbestos fiber gaskets, however, are not widely used.
 Advantages of plate coolers over tube coolers

1. Plate coolers are smaller & lighter for the same capacity.

2. No extra space is needed for dismantling.

3. Their higher efficiency is apparent by their smaller size.

4. Plates can be added in pairs, to increase capacity & damaged

plates easily renewed.

5. Inspection & cleaning is simple.

6. Turbulent flow helps to reduce deposits.

7. With titanium plates, virtually no corrosion or erosion.

 Disadvantages of plate coolers over tube coolers

1. Leaks in plates are sometimes difficult to locate.

2. Deterioration of joints are a major problem.

3. Pressure differences occur due to obstructions.

4. Initial cost is high.

 Control of temperature in heat exchangers

There are three basic ways by which the temperature of the hot fluid
being cooled, may be controlled, when cooling medium is seawater.

1. By, by-passing a portion of the hot fluid flow, the reminder being
passed thru the heat exchanger.

2. By throttling the seawater flow or alternatively, by-passing a portion

of it.

3. By controlling the temperature of the seawater entering the heat

exchanger. this is done in the seawater system as whole, by spilling
part of the heated discharge back into the pump suction (re-
circulation system).
 Maintenance of heat exchangers

The only attention that heat exchangers should require is to ensure

that the heat transfer surfaces remain substantially clean & the
flow passages generally clear of obstructions.

Indication that fouling is occurring is given by a progressive increase

in the temperature difference between the two liquids, usually
accompanied by a noticeable rise in pressure loss at a given point

Fouling on the seawater side is the most usual cause of

deterioration in performance.

Corrosion by seawater may occasionally cause perforation of heat

transfer surfaces.
 Venting & Draining

It is important that any heat exchanger through which seawater

flows should run full. In vertical mounted coolers – it is
automatic if the seawater flows upwards. This is not always
the case with horizontal mounted coolers.

A vent cock fitted at the highest point in the heat exchanger,

should be opened when first introducing seawater into the
heat exchanger and thereafter periodically to ensure full
running.

A drain plug at the lowest point should be provided.

 Cleaning of heat exchanger
Deterioration of performance is characterised by rising
temperatures in the primary medium with or without a
corresponding increase in pressure loss. This indicates the
need for cleaning. Cleaning can be carried out by
mechanical or by chemical treatment methods but in
some circumstances both methods may have to be
employed. When chemical methods are used great care
should be taken to ensure that the chemicals do not have
any adverse effect on the materials of constructions of the
heat exchanger and associated pipe work. When
mechanical methods of cleaning are employed great care
should be taken to ensure that the tubes are not
mechanically damaged
The majority of deposits found on the seawater side
of heat exchangers are relatively soft and can be
removed the use of the special brushes

Deposits found on the fresh water side of heat

exchangers can generally be removed easily by acid
based de-scalents. Cleaning can be carried out either
in-situ or by immersion in a separate tank
 Operating the tubular heat exchanger
• Circulate only minimum cooling water to maintain correct
temperatures - excess water promotes corrosion and wastes
power.
• Control temperature by regulating C.W. outlet valve whilst
inlet valve is kept fully open.
• Keep air out of system by use of vent cocks on sea suctions
and coolers and check pump glands.
• No ‘Stagnant or Partly full condition’ should be kept in the
cooler as it promotes corrosion. When the cooler is not
working/ not in use, drain cooler.
• Avoid freezing in extremely cold weather
 Operating the tubular heat exchanger
• Oil coolers: Circulate oil over the tubes until it has
reached operating temperature before turning on
cooling water.
• Monitor condition of cooler by the terminal
temperatures and pressure loss across cooler.
• Inspect and clean at regular intervals and replace
sacrificial anodes as required.
• Chemical treatment to be given to seawater and fresh
water as necessary
• Clean filters regularly.
• Avoid vibration – Can lead to stress-corrosion cracking