Industrial Heat Exchanger Design

Heat transfer basics.

Heat is energy and its nature is to flow from a state of high excitement to one of low excitement. Heat is transferred from a hot place to a cold place by convection, conduction, or radiation. This section explains the three modes of heat transfer and provides simple examples of each. Methods to reduce and increase heat transfer are also presented.

Heat exchanger design & use.

The section introduces readers to heat transfer in heat exchangers. It explains the concepts of temperature gradients across walls and parallel-current and counter-current flows. Both shell-and-tube and plate heat exchanges are discussed along with their common operational problems and remedies.

Temperature sensing elements.

The temperature of a process is an important measure to know as it indicates whether or not the process is in control. When high temperatures exist and accurate measurements are needed thermocouples and Resistance Thermal Devices (RTD) are two commonly used industrial temperature sensing methods.

Fired packaged boiler basics.

Steam boilers not used for power generation and of smaller size and energy output are termed packaged boilers. The heat source is usually either electric coils or burning fuel. When a flame is used to heat the water it is known as a fired packaged boiler. Fired boilers are considered efficient steam generators with about 85% of the available energy converted to steam. They can be of water-tube or fire-tube design. Boilers incorporate many key aspects of heat transfer to create steam from water. This section describes how fired boilers work and their key components.

Steam trap operation and selection.

The section covers the operation of steam traps and how they work. Their duty is to remove condensate from steam piping to ensure only vapor is sent through the pipeline. Steam is a greatly used medium in the industry. Its use ranges from heating processes and domestic fluids to driving turbines by the expansion of the vapor. Yet the steam trap at the bottom of a drop leg is easily forgotten.

Heating liquids by steam sparging.

Steam is often used for heating liquids. The direct steam injection into the process is known as steam sparging. The sparge design and location affect the efficiency of the process.

Water cooling tower design, operation and use.

There are two types of cooling water towers: natural draft and mechanical draft. A cooling water tower is used to remove heat from incoming hot water and reduce it to a lower temperature. It does that by evaporating off some of the hot water. The evaporated water takes away the heat. Exactly the same process occurs when your body sweets to keep you cool. You cool off even faster if there is a breeze blowing.

Water hammer and its control.

When a control valve or manual valve is shut fast in a full pipeline of moving liquid, the liquid comes to a sudden stop. If the pipe suddenly starts banging and thrashing about you can be sure a water hammer was created. A water hammer can cause great noise and damage. The pressure surge can deform pipes and valves and start leaks.