Heat exchangers

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Heat exchangers

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· General information

Equations
Thermodynamic models
List of heating methods, temperatures, costs
Design of plate and frame heat exchangers
Predicting and accounting for heat exchanger fouling
Water-steam All properties, in tables, graphs, interactive tables, and calculator.

· Heuristics

For pressure drops, approach temperatures, utilities, refrigerants, etc.

Heuristics
HVAC See section 21.01 for standard steam pressures.
Table 9.11 in Turton et al.
Rules of Thumb for Chemical Engineers, 2^nd edition, Carl Branan (1998) Gulf Publishing Company: 660 R935 Clarkson Library.
ChEResources Updated online.
Appendix E in “Plant Design and Economics for Chemical Engineers,” 5^th edition, by M.S. Peters, K.D. Timmerhaus and R.E. West (McGraw-Hill, NY, 2003).
Appendix C in “Chemical Engineering Process Design and Economics: A Practical Guide,” 2^nd edition, by G.D. Ulrich and P.T. Vasudevan (Process Pubishing, Durham, N.H., 2004)

· Typical heat transfer coefficients

WARNING: The values of U originating from Walas are extremely misleading and confusing. They should not be used. (That is, the heuristics posted here, those in Turton et al., and those from AIChE.) Use instead one of the following sources:

Table 11-3 on p 11-25 of Perry's
Typical U values
Excellent nomograph: Figure 12.1 on p 799 of Chemical Engineering Design: Principles, Practice and Economics of Plant and Process Design by Gavin Towler and Ray Sinnott
Comprehensive tables: Table 4-15, pp 206-209 in “Chemical Engineering Process Design and Economics: A Practical Guide,” 2^nd edition, by G.D. Ulrich and P.T. Vasudevan (Process Publishing, Durham, N.H., 2004).
Table 13.5 on p 431 of “Product and Process Design Principles: Synthesis, Analysis, and Evaluation,” 2^nd edition, by W.D. Seider, J.D. Seader and D.R. Lewin (Wiley, NY, 2004).

· Heat transfer fluids

Knovel Steam Tables
Heat transfer liquids from Perry’s 5^th edition (right click and Save Target As to download to your computer)
HITEC heat transfer salt
Dow: High temperature liquids; Low temperature liquids
Paratherm heat transfer fluids (Operating ranges for heating and cooling.)
Sasol heat transfer fluids (Operating ranges for heating and cooling.)
Therminol heat transfer fluids (Operating ranges for heating and cooling.)
MultiTherm heat transfer fluids (Operating ranges for heating and cooling.)

· Simulation using HYSYS or UniSim
It is a very serious error to show a pressure increase for a stream going through a heat exchanger

Refrigeration and heating fluids built into HYSYS and UniSim
For the initial Level-1 simulation, use heaters and coolers. To find the heat exchanger areas and utility requirements needed for economic analysis, use the following methods:

· Heat exchanger design using UniSim
If UniSim’s Heat Exchangers is also installed along with UniSim Design, then heat exchanger details can be calculated rather than estimated. The following methods are available:

Shell and tube exchangers can be designed in UniSim Design as follows. Open a heat exchanger and click on Design/Parameters/Heat Exchanger Model and select UniSim STE Engine.
The following types of heat exchangers can be designed using the Heat Exchanger engine:

CFE: CrossFlow Exchanger
FPH: Fired Process Heater
FWH: FeedWater Heat exchanger
PFE: Plate-Fin Exchanger
PHE: Plate Heat Exchanger
STE: Shell & Tube Exchanger

Last revised November 2, 2009. Please email questions, comments and suggestions to W.R. Wilcox

Disclaimer: The material on these pages is intended for instructional purposes by Clarkson University students only. Neither Clarkson University nor Professor Wilcox are responsible for problems caused by using this information.