Parallel and Counterflow Heat Exchangers
Parallel and Counterflow Heat Exchangers
This Demonstration calculates temperatures and the rate of heat transfer in a concentric tube heat exchanger. The cold fluid is liquid water, which flows through the center of the heat exchanger. Select the hot fluid (air, liquid water, liquid sodium), which flows through the annular region, from the drop-down menu. Use buttons to select either parallel or counterflow. Set the length of the heat exchanger and the mass flow rates of the hot and cold fluids with sliders. Select "diagram" to show a schematic of the heat exchanger. Select "temperature plot" to show a plot of temperature versus distance through the heat exchanger for each stream. In both displays, colors represent the temperature (using the color scale on the right) and arrows indicate the direction of flow.