Chapter-Two: Heat Exchanger Design

• Process design establishes the sequence of chemical and physical

operations; operating conditions; the duties; major specifications; and
materials of construction of all process equipment; the general
arrangement of equipment needed to ensure proper functioning of the
plant; line sizes; and principal instrumentation.

• The process design is summarized by a process flowsheet, a material

and energy balance, and a set of individual equipment specification.

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Chemical Engineering Design
• Projects in chemical engineering, which require designing can be
divided into three types:
 Modifications and addition of the existing plant.
 Increasing the capacity of the existing plant
 Development of a new process based on laboratory research and pilot
plant study.
• Each piece of equipment is expected to serve a specific function,
although in some cases it can be suitably modified for some different
function. Conditions such as temperature, pressure, etc., under which
the equipment is expected to perform are stipulated by the process
requirement.
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Equipment to be designed

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Cont.…..

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General Classification of Heat Exchanger Equipment

• A heat exchanger is a device that is used to transfer thermal energy

(enthalpy) between two or more fluids, between a solid surface and a
fluid, or between solid particulates and a fluid, at different temperatures
and in thermal contact.

• In heat exchangers, there are usually no external heat and work

interactions. In most heat exchanges, heat transfer between fluids
takes place through a separating wall or into and out of wall in a
transient manner.
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Cont.…..
• Common examples of heat exchangers are shell-and tube exchangers,
automobile radiators, condensers, evaporators, air preheaters, and cooling
towers. If no phase change occurs in any of the fluids in the exchanger, it is
sometimes referred to as a sensible heat exchanger.

• Heat exchanger may be classified according to

 Transfer process
 Surface compactness
 Construction
 Heat transfer mechanisms 6
Double-Pipe Heat Exchanger
• It is a simplest heat-exchange
device
• It is easy to fabricate
• Double-pipe exchanger consists of
two pairs of concentric pipes. Such a
configuration is called a hairpin, for
obvious reasons.
• One fluid flows inside the inner
pipe while the second fluid flows in
the annular space between the two
pipes.
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Cont.…….
• The two fluids that are transferring heat flow in the inner and outer
pipes, respectively.

• The fluids usually flow through the exchanger in opposite directions.

Such a flow pattern is called counter flow or counter-current flow.

• In some special-purpose applications, parallel (or co-current) flow is

employed in which the two streams flow in the same direction.

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Cont.……

Series/Parallel Configurations of Hairpins

Double-pipe exchangers are extremely flexible with respect to configuration of hairpins,

since both the inner pipes and annuli can be connected either in series or in parallel.

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Shell And Tube Heat Exchanger
• The shell and tube exchanger is most
commonly used type of heat transfer
equipment used in the chemical
industries.

• It consists of a bundle of tubes enclosed

in a cylindrical shell.

• The ends of the tubes are fitted into

tube sheets, which separate the shell-
side and tube-side fluids. 10
Cont.……..
• shell and tube heat exchangers are the most widely used form of heat
transfer equipment because :
They can be constructed with a very large heat transfer surface in a
relatively small volume,
They are fabricated from alloy steels to resist corrosion and

They are used for heating, cooling and for condensing a very wide range of
fluids.

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Tubes: Arrangements

Fig: Heat exchanger tube-layouts

 Tube pitch is the shortest center to center distance between the adjacent tubes.
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Cont.…….

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Tubes: Passes
• Tube passes used to increase the length of the liquid flow as well as
residence time in the tubes. The fluid in the tube is usually directed
to flow back and forth in a number of passes.

• The number of passes is selected to give the required tube-side design

velocity.

• Except for single-pass exchangers, an even number of tube passes is

almost always used so that the tube-side fluid enters and exits at the
same header. 14
Shells: Diameter
• Shell is a container for the shell fluid. Usually, it is cylindrical in shape with a
circular cross section, although shells of different shapes are used in specific
applications and in nuclear heat exchangers to conform to the tube bundle shape.
 Shell Diameter: The shell diameter must be selected to give as close a fit to the
bundle as is practical; to reduce bypassing around the outside of the bundle

• The clearance required between the outermost tubes in bundle and shell inside
diameter will depend on the type of exchanger.
 Bundle Diameter: the bundle diameter will depend not only on the number of
tubes but also on the number of tube passes, as spaces must be left in pattern of
tubes on the tube sheet to accommodate the pass partition plates.
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Cont.……..

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Cont.…....
• Bundle diameter, can be obtained
from equation:

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Shells: Baffles
• Baffles are used in the shell to direct the fluid
flow across and to support tubes, to increase the
fluid velocity by diverting the flow across the tube
bundle to obtain higher transfer co-efficient and
to improve the rate of heat transfer.
• The most commonly used type of baffle is the
single segmental baffle.
• The distance between adjacent baffles is called
baffle-spacing. The baffle spacing of 0.2 to 1
times of the inside shell diameter is commonly
used. Closer baffle spacing gives greater transfer
co-efficient by inducing higher turbulence. The
pressure drop is more with closer baffle spacing.
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Dirt Factor (Fouling Factor)
• Most process and service fluids will foul the heat-transfer surfaces in an
exchanger to a greater or lesser extent.

• The deposited material will normally have a relatively low thermal conductivity
and will reduce the overall coefficient.

• It is therefore necessary to oversize an exchanger to allow for the reduction in

performance during operation.

• Fouling factors are usually quoted as heat-transfer resistances, rather than

coefficients.

• They are difficult to predict and are usually based on past experience. 19
Mean Temperature Difference
• The well-known ‘’logarithmic
mean’’ temperature difference is
only applicable to sensible heat
in true co-current or counter- Where

current flow, the logarithmic

mean temperature is given by:

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Cont.…….
• The equation is the same for co-current flow, but the terminal temperature
difference will be () and ().
• In most shell and tube exchangers the flow will be a mixture of co-current,
counter-current and cross flow.
• The usual practice in the design of shell and tube exchangers is to estimate
the ‘‘true temperature difference’’ from the logarithmic mean temperature
by applying a correction factor to allow for the departure from true
counter-current flow.

Where
= True temperature difference
= LMTD correction factor 21
Correction Factor
• correction factor is usually corrected in terms of dimensionless
rations, the thermal effectiveness of the exchanger (P) and the ratio
of two heat-capacity flowrate (R) as

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Cont.……

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Fluid allocation: Shell or Tubes
• When no phase change occurs, the following factors will determine the
allocation of the fluid streams to the shell or tubes.
 Corrosion: The more corrosive fluid should be allocated to the tube-
side. This will reduce the cost of expensive alloy.
 Fouling: The fluid that has the greatest tendency to foul the heat-
transfer surfaces should be placed in the tubes. This will give better
control over the design fluid velocity, and the higher allowable velocity
in the tubes will reduce fouling. Also, the tubes will be easier to clean.
 Fluid Temperatures: If the temperatures are high enough to require the
use of special alloys placing the higher temperature fluid in the tubes
will reduce the overall cost. 24
Cont.…….
 Operating Pressures: The higher pressure stream should be allocated to the tube-
side. High-pressure tubes will be cheaper than a high-pressure shell.

 Viscosity: Generally, a higher heat-transfer coefficient will be obtained by

allocating the more viscous material to the shell-side, providing the flow is
turbulent. The critical Reynolds number for turbulent flow in the shell is in the
region of 200. If turbulent flow cannot be achieved in the shell it is better to place
the fluid in the tube, as the tube-side heat-transfer coefficient can be predicted with
more certainty.

 Stream flow-rates: Allocating the fluids with the lowest flow-rate to the shell-side
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Cont.……..

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Shell and tube fluid velocities

• High velocities will give high heat-transfer coefficients but also a high-pressure
drop.
• The velocity must be high enough to prevent any suspended solids settling, but not
so high as to cause erosion.
• High velocities will reduce fouling. Plastic inserts are sometimes used to reduce
erosion at the tube inlet. Typical design velocities are given below:

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Stream temperatures

• The closer the temperature approach used (the difference between the outlet
temperature of one stream and the inlet temperature of the other stream) the
larger will be the heat-transfer area required for a given duty.
• The optimum value will depend on the application, and can only be determined by
making an economic analysis of alternative designs.
• As a general guide the greater temperature difference should be at least 20oC, and
the least temperature difference 5 to 7oC for coolers using cooling water, and 3 to
5oC using refrigerated brines.
• The maximum temperature rise in recirculated cooling water is limited to around
30oC.
• Care should be taken to ensure that cooling media temperatures are kept well
above the freezing point of the process materials.
• When the heat exchange is between process fluids for heat recovery the optimum
approach temperatures will normally not be lower than 20oC.
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 Pressure Drop
• In many applications the pressure drop
available to drive the fluids through the
exchanger will be set by the process
conditions, and the available pressure
drop will vary from a few millibars in
vacuum service to several bars in
pressure system.
• When the designer is free to select the
pressure drop an economic analysis can
be made to determine the exchanger
design which gives the lowest operating
costs, taking into consideration both
capital and pumping costs.
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Tube-Side pressure drop
• There are two major sources of pressure loss on the tube-side of a
shell and tube exchanger: the friction loss in the tube and the losses
due to the sudden contraction and expansion and flow reversal
that the fluid experiences in flow through the tube arrangement.
• The pressure losses due to contraction at the tube inlets, expansion at
the exits and flow reversal in the header, can be a significant part of
the total tube-side pressure drop. There is no entirely satisfactory
method for estimating these losses.
• The loss in terms of velocity heads can be estimated by counting the
number of flow contractions, expansions and reversals, and using the
factors for pipe fitting to estimate the number of velocity heads lost.
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Over-Surface and Over-Design

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Design of Double Pipe Heat Exchanger
Step 1: Collect the thermophysical properties of hot and cold fluids at the caloric
temperature or arithmetic mean temperature and check the heat balance, Q, using C at and .

Radiation losses from the exchanger are usually insignificant compared with the heat load
transferred in the exchanger.

Step 2: Compute LMTD, assuming counter flow

Step 3: if the liquid is neither petroleum fraction nor a hydrocarbon, the caloric
temperatures cannot be determined through the use of figure 17. . Instead, the
calculation of Uc must be performed for the hot(2) and cold (1)terminals giving Uh and Uc
from which one may obtain Kc. Fc is then gotten from fig.17
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Cont.……..
• The ratio of cold to hot stream differences(r):
• The arithmetic means of and and and may
r==
• The caloric fraction(Fc) is given by: be used in place of and for evaluating the
Fc= physical properties for the following cases.
If neither of the liquids is very viscous at the
cold terminal , say not more than 1 cp,
if the temperature ranges do not exceed 50 to
• The Controlling film(Kc) is computed from Uh
100 ℉, and
and Uc as:
if the temperature difference is less than 50 ℉,
K c=
• The caloric temperatures of the hot and cold fluids • For non-viscous fluids may be taken as 1 as
………(*) assumed.
t………..(**) 33
 Cont.……..
Inner Pipe: Annulus:
4) Flow area, 4’) Flow area,
5) Mass Velocity, Equivalent diameter , ft
6) Obtain depending upon which 5’) Mass velocity,
flows through the inner pipe. From 6’) Obtain . From , , obtain the Reynolds
D, , obtain the Reynolds number, number,
7) From fig. 24 in which
7’) From fig. 24 in which
Obtain . Obtain .

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Cont.……
8) From C, , k all obtained at or 8’) From C, , k all obtained at or
compute . compute .
9) To obtain multiply by 9’) To obtain multiply by
10) Convert
.
Proceed to Annulus

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Overall Coefficients:
11’) Compute the clean

12’) Compute design

13’) Compute required surface A: A )

14’) Compute required Length L:
A’’=external surface in ft2/foot length
15’) Calculate the number of hairpins(n): nh
16’) Actual surface : =nh*a’*2*
17’) ActualUDa /(A
The modified dirt fa
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Calculation of P:
Inner Pipe: Annulus:
1) For obtain the Darcy friction 1’) Obtain
factor f:
0.42 Compute the frictional Reynolds
number , obtain f.
2), ft.
2’)The pressure drop expressed in feet
Psi. of liquid:
3’) Entrance and exit losses, one
velocity head per hairpin:
a /ƍ

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Thermal design procedures of Shell and tube
heat exchanger
• Thermal design of a shell and tube heat exchanger typically includes
the determination of:
heat transfer area
number of tubes
tube length and diameter
 tube layout
number of shell and tube passes
 type of heat exchanger (fixed tube sheet, removable tube bundle etc)
tube pitch
number of baffles
 its type and size
shell and tube side pressure drop etc.

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Thermal design procedures of Shell and tube
heat exchanger
• The main steps of design following the Kern method are:

1) Obtain the required thermophysical properties of hot and cold fluids

at the caloric temperature or arithmetic mean temperature and Perform
energy balance:

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Cont.……
2) True temperature difference ∆t:

3)Check for

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Cont.…….
Hot fluid: shell side Cold fluid: Tube side
4) Flow area, 4) Flow area,
where =clearance between fluids, in Flow area per tube from table 10
B=Baffle spacing, in
5) Mass vel.
6) Obtain from fig.28 or from
5) Mass Vel,
De=
6) Obtain D from Table 10,
, obtain µ at , finally
Obtain µ at ,
7) Obtain from fig.28 7) Obtain from fig.24.
8) At obtain C and k, compute (.
9)
10) Tube-wall temp, 41
Cont.…….
11) At tw ,Obtain and calculate
fig.24.
12) Corrected coefficient
13) Clean overall coefficient Uc:
8) At obtain C and k: compute
9) calculate
10)
11) Obtain at and fig.24.
12) Corrected coefficient,
Proceed to shell side

14) Design overall coefficient obtain

external surface/lin ft a’’ from table
10. 42
Cont.……..
Heat-transfer surface,

15) Dirt factor:

if Rd equals or exceeds the required dirt factor, proceed under pressure drop
16) Calculate % overdesign. Overdesign represents extra surface area provided
beyond that required to compensate for fouling. Typical value of 10% or less is
acceptable.

A = design area of heat transfer in the exchanger; required heat transfer area.

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 Calculation of ∆P
Cold fluid: tube side
Hot fluid: shell side

1) For obtain f, fig. 26.

1) For obtain f, fig.29.
2) No. of crosses,

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Example

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Cont.……

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