Thermal Analysis of the Effects of Multifaceted Conditions on Performance of Shell-and-Tube Heat Exchanger

Abstract

A shell-and-tube heat exchanger which was subjected to different flow configurations, viz. counter flow, and parallel flow, was investigated. Each of the flow configurations was operated under two different conditions of the shell, that is, an uninsulated shell and a shell insulated with fiber glass. The hot water inlet temperature of the tube was reduced gradually from 60 oC to 40 oC, and performance evaluation of the heat exchanger was carried out. It was found that for the uninsulated shell, the heat transfer effectiveness for hot water inlet temperature of 60, 55, 50, 45, and 40 oC are 0.243, 0.244, 0.240, 0.240, and 0.247, respectively, for the parallel flow arrangement. For the counter flow arrangement, the heat transfer effectiveness for the uninsulated shell are 2.40, 2.74, 5.00, 4.17, and 2.70%, respectively, higher than those for the parallel flow. The heat exchanger’s heat transfer effectiveness with fiber-glass-insulated shell for the parallel flow condition with tube hot water inlet temperatures of 60, 55, 50, 45, and 40 oC are 0.223, 0.226, 0.220, 0.225, and 0.227, respectively, whereas the counter flow condition has its heat transfer effectiveness increased by 1.28, 1.47, 1.82, 1.11, and 1.18%, respectively, over those of the parallel flow.