Design of a Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger

water inlet temperature (°C)

25

water outlet temperature (°C)

40

methanol inlet temperature (°C)

90

methanol outlet temperature (°C)

40

tube inner diameter (mm)

16

tube thickness (mm)

4

tube length (m)

4.83

A methanol stream with a flow rate equal to

100000kg/hr

is cooled using a shell and tube heat exchanger and brackish water as the coolant. The coolant is confined to the tube side since it is corrosive. Use the sliders to vary the hot and cold stream sources and target temperatures.

To successfully design a heat exchanger, use the sliders to set the inner diameter, thickness and length of the tubes. Then the Demonstration computes several important design variables:

• exchanger heat duty (in kW)

• log mean temperature difference (LMTD) (in

°C

)

• correction factor

F

• shell diameter

D

shell

(in meters)

• bundle diameter

D

bundle

(in meters)

• outer diameter of the tubes

d

o

(in millimeters)

• required exchange surface area (in

2

m

)

• number of tubes per pass

• tube-side and shell-side pressure drops

Δ

P

i

and

Δ

P

o

(in kPa)

• overall heat transfer coefficient

U

• baffle spacing (in meters)

• tube-side and shell-side heat transfer coefficients

h

i

and

h

o

Here, we assume a heat exchanger with one shell pass and two tube passes. Additionally, a split-ring floating head type is adopted in order to find the bundle diametrical clearance. The tube is made of copper. Details of the calculation procedure are available in [1]. Note that the values found for

L/D

as well as

Δ

P

i

and

Δ

P

o

should be among the necessary criteria for a good design.