HEAT TRANSFER IN PLANT SUBSYSTEMS

MOST UNDERLYING PROCESSES DEPEND ON THE TRANSFER OR NOT OF HEAT FROM ONE
FLUID FLOW TO ANOTHER: -
• IN THE BOILER, HOT GASES PRODUCED BY COMBUSTION WILL HEAT WATER/STEAM
VAPOUR FLOWING IN COILS AND PIPES;
• IN FEED WATER HEATERS BLEED STEAM IS USED TO RAISE CONDENSATE TEMPERATURE
• IN THE ECONOMISER, BOILER FLUE GASES TRANSFER SOME OF THEIR WASTE HEAT TO THE
CONDENSATE

DEVICES
INVOLVING HEAT
TRANSFER

• IN THE CONDENSER, CONDENSATE IS OBTAINED FROM VAPOUR AS A RESULT OF COOLING

USING WATER WHICH IS ITSELF COOLED IN THE COOLING TOWER
• IN ADDITION TO THE NEED TO REDUCE LEAKAGE OF HEAT UNTO THE PLANT WORKING
ENVIRONMENT, SOME PROCESSES HAVE TO BE AS CLOSE TO ADIABATIC AS POSSIBLE, IF
ONLY TO REDUCE LOSSES; THUS THE USE OF INSULATION AND CLADDING
THESE PROCESSES THUS MOSTLY RELY ON CONDUCTION AND CONVECTION TO HAPPEN FROM
ONE FLOW TO ANOTHER ACROSS A SEPARATING SOLID WALL OR COMPOUND SYSTEM
 BACKGROUND: HEAT TRANSFER PROCESSES
CONDUCTION AND CONVECTION CAN BE DEFINED IN ONE TAKE USING THE CONCEPT OF
OVERALL HEAT TRANSFER COEFFICIENT, U: -
• , WHERE IS THE RATE OF HEAT TRANSFER, A IS AREA AND IS THE TEMPERATURE DIFFERENCE
• FOR THE CLASSIC CASE OF HEAT TRANSFER FROM ONE FLUID TO ANOTHER ACROSS A SOLID WALL OF
THICKNESS, x AND CONDUCTIVITY, λ WHEN TRANSFER COEFFICIENTS ARE αin and αout ON
THE INSIDE AND OUTSIDE SURFACES RESPECTIVELY
• THE ELECTRICAL ANALOGY () PROVIDES EASE OF ASSEMBLY IN THE CASE OF THE COMPOUND SYSTEM AND IS THEN
THE THERMAL RESISTANCE PER UNIT SURFACE AREA

NOTEWORTHY RESULTS: -
• FOR THE PLANE WALL OF AREA, A
• FOR THE CONCENTRIC CYLINDRICAL WALL OF UNIT LENGTH
• FOR THE SPHERICAL WALL
IT THEN SUFFICES TO COMPUTE AND SUM THE SERIES RESISTANCES IN ORDER TO OBTAIN THE
COMPOSITE RESISTANCE, . WE CAN THEN FIND THE RATE OF HEAT TRANSFER WITH THE
EQUATION:
 FROM HEAT TRANSFER TO HEAT EXCHANGER`
IMPORTANCE OF CONVECTION REYNOLDS ANALOGY
• THE OVERALL HEAT TRANSFER COEFFICIENT IS POSTULATES THAT THE THERMAL AND VELOCITY FLOW BOUNDARY
• THE SOLVED EXAMPLES VERIFY THE FACT THAT THE LAYERS ARE SET UP BY EXACTLY THE SAME TRANSPORT PROCESSES
CONTRIBUTION OF METAL CONDUCTING WALLS IS MOSTLY VERY • VIZ, THE SAME CONVECTION FLOW CONVECTS BOTH
NEGLIGIBLE MOMENTUM AND HEAT; THUS:
• THE DOMINANT CONTRIBUTIONS ARE THUS THOSE AND
OF ANY LAYERS OF INSULATION (E.G. SCALES), WHEN ----i
THESE ARE PRESENT, AND THE TRANSFER • ALSO, ASSUMING LINEAR PROFILES AS IN THE LAMINAR
COEFFICIENTS BETWEEN THE WALL AND THE FLUIDS SUBLAYER:
ON EITHER SIDE OF IT
AND
• THE LATTER TRANSFER COEFFICIENTS DEPEND ON THE
EFFECTIVENESS OF THE CONVECTION OF HEAT ENERGY TO OR ------------------ii
FROM THE WALL BY THE FLUID SINCE CONDUCTION IN FLUIDS IS
POOR.
• THIS EFFECTIVENESS DEPENDS ON THE BOUNDARY
LAYER, δ THAT WILL BE ESTABLISHED
• THE BOUNDARY LAYER DEPENDS ON A WIDE NUMBER OF
FACTORS SOME OF WHICH WILL BE DIFFERENT FOR FORCED OR
NATURAL CONVECTION
• BECAUSE OF THE WIDE RANGE OF FACTORS,
DIMENSIONAL ANALYSIS GIVES THE BEST CHANCES AT
ARRIVING AT THE PARAMETERS THAT DETERMINE THE • THE TWO EXPRESSIONS i AND ii ARE SAME IFF I.E. IF. IN
COEFFICIENTS
THIS CASE, THE STANTON NUMBER,
DIMENSIONAL ANALYSIS YIELDS • MOST GASES, DRY AND SUPERHEATED VAPOURS HAVE 0.65<Pr<
• i. e. Nu=K*F(Pr, Re) IN THE CASE OF FORCED 1.2; THUS THE ANALOGY WILL BE GOOD FOR THEM.
CONVECTION • THE RATIOs BETWEEN AND CAN BE USED TO GET A USEFUL
• i. e. Nu=K*F(Pr, Gr) IN THE CASE OF NATURAL DESIGN RELATION BETWEEN THE REQUIRED PUMPING POWER PER
CONVECTION UNIT LENGTH, AND THE HEAT FLOW PER UNIT LENGTH, THUS:
 HEAT EXCHANGERS: TYPES AND PROFILES
THREE TYPES OF HEAT EXCHANGERS EXIST:
RECUPERATORS; REGENERATORS AND PARALLEL FLOW TEMPERATURE PROFILES
EVAPORATORS.
THREE ELEMENTARY RECUPERATOR DESIGNS BASED A1
ON THE SHELL AND TUBE CONFIGURATION: -
tA
PARALLEL FLOW: - A2
THE STREAMS ∆t
ENTER AT AND B2
LEAVE FROM SAME tB
ENDS RESPECTIVELY
B1
COUNTER FLOW: -
THE STREAMS
ENTER AT AND COUNTER FLOW TEMPERATURE PROFILES
LEAVE FROM A1
OPPOSITE ENDS tA
B1
RESPECTIVELY ∆t

tB
CROSSFLOW: - THE A2
STREAMS ENTER
AND LEAVE FROM
DIFFERENT ENDS B2
 GOVERNING EQUATIONS & CHARACTERISTICS
EQUATIONS AND STEPS TO FIND
THE HEAT TRANSFER RATE, : -
• GIVEN THE OVERALL HEAT TRANSFER
FUNCTION, AS DEFINED BY THE BL
CONVECTION PROCESSES, ONE CAN WRITE
FOR THE ELEMENT RATE OF HEAT
TRANSFER AT A GIVEN POSITION,
…..…i WHERE ……...ii
THUS ………………………….…..iii
• IN THE COUNTER FLOW EXAMPLE, BOTH
dtA AND dtB DECREASE ALONG THE
PROFILES: -
……..……….…iv
……………………v
• v CAN BE DIRECTLY INTEGRATED TO GIVE ..
…………vi
ALSO, COMBINING v AND i GIVES
………………….vii
& INTEGRATING vii GIVES
• …….…….viii
• FINALLY, ELIMINATING BETWEEN vi AND
viii GIVES
WHERE IS THE LOGARITHMIC MEAN
TEMPERATURE DIFFERENCE
MAJOR REMARKS
i. IN THE CASE OF A BEING A SATURATED
VAPOR, dtA=0 AND ∆t IS SAME FOR
PARALLEL AND COUNTER FLOW
ii. THE POSSIBLE TEMPERATURE RANGE
IS GREATER WITH COUNTER FLOW
iii. IF , THEN =0 IN THE CASE OF COUNTER
FLOW ONLY
iv. FOR GIVEN MASS FLOW RATES AND
TEMPERATURE CHANGES, THE REQUIRED
HEAT EXCHANGER AREA REQUIRED IS
LOWER IN THE CASE OF COUNTER FLOW
THE PRACTICAL HEAT EXCHANGER
PERFORMANCE
COMPACT SOLUTION: -
FOR EFFICIENT USE OF
SPACE, IT IS NECESSARY
TO ADOPT MULTIPASS
AND MIXED FLOW
DESIGNS THIS WILL BE DEFINED BY THE RATIO OF WHAT
OBTAINS TO THE MAXIMUM POSSIBLE. TWO
MAIN PARAMETERS: -
• EFFECTIVENESS, ε
FOULING RESISTANCE: -
OVER TIME, DIRT AND
CONTAMINANTS IN THE FLUID
MAY DEPOSIT ON WALLS THUS
INCREASING THE RESISTANCE WHERE AND
TO HEAT TRANSFER ALSO, THE MAX TEMP CHANGE POSSIBLE =
• NUMBER OF TRANSFER UNITS, Ntu
THE ‘THERMOMOTIVE’ DRIVING FORCE IS
HOWEVER WHAT IS ACHIEVED IS EITHER OR . THUS
EXTENDED SURFACE: -
THE SURFACE AVAILABLE
FOR HEAT TRANSFER WHEN , THEN
MAY BE INCREASED BY
THE USE OF FINS,
CORRUGATIONS OR
PLATE ADDITIONS