Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger

A shell and tube heat exchanger is a division of heat exchanger creations. It is widely used type of heat exchanger in oil refineries and other large chemical processes and is suited for higher pressure applications. As the name itself implies, this type of heat exchanger comprises of a shell with a bundle of tubes inside it. One fluid scampers through the tubes and another fluid flows over the tubes to transport heat between the two fluids. The group of tubes is known as a tube bundle and may be composed by many kinds of tubes like plain and longitudinally.

To conserve energy

Two fluids of various beginning temperatures flow through the heat exchanger. One flows through the tubes and another flow through outside the tubes yet within the shell. Heat is transported from one fluid to another through tube walls side by side or shell side. The fluids can be any from liquid to gases on either the shell or the tube side. In order to transport heat efficiently a large heat transfer region should be used, leading to the use of several tubes. Therefore, waste heat can be put to use. This is a competent way to conserve energy.

Two phase heat exchangers

Heat exchangers with only one phase on each side can be called one-phase or single-phase heat exchangers. Two phase heat exchangers can be used to heat a liquid to boil it into a gas, sometimes known as boilers or cool a vapor to condense it into a liquid with the phase alter generally happening on the shell side. Boilers in steam engine locomotives are naturally large and commonly cylindrically shaped shell and tube heat exchangers.

Steam generator

In major companies that have power plants with steam driven turbines shell and tube surface condensers are employed to condense the exhaust steam exiting the turbine into condensate water that is recycled back to be turned into steam in the steam generator. There can be many differences on the shell and tube design. Typically, the ends of each tube are connected to plenums through holes in tube sheets. The tube may be straight or bent in the shape of a U, called U-tubes.

The tube material should have good thermal conductivity if it wants to transport heat properly. And since heat is transferred from a hot to a cold side through the tubes, there is a temperature difference through the width of the tubes.

Questions:

• What is shell and tube heat exchanger?
• State the advantages shell and tube heat exchanger.