By: Jason Maxwell
Submitted: 2012-01-04 03:02:23 | Word Count: 480
Heat exchangers certainly are a fairly common component in various modern mechanical
systems. From refrigerators to base board heaters make use of heat exchangers to work properly.
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The main function of a heat exchanger is usually to transfer heat energy derived from one
medium to another, either for heating or cooling reasons. There are many
numerous types of heat exchangers, the designs of which vary depending on what type of liquid, solid, or
gaseous medium they utilize. Here's a quick review
of typically the most popular kinds available.
Tube and Shell Heat Exchangers
The most prevalent design would be the tube
and shell heat exchanger, which consists of several enclosed tubes encased in an exterior shell within
which two mediums exchange heat. The tube and shell design is very versatile and which enables it
to be used in situations where high pressures or temperatures are crucial. They're ordinarily larger than other exchanger designs to
some extent, taking up greater floor space because of their bulk. Their simple
layouts plus low manufacturing costs will make them very popular with tube heat exchange manufacturers.
Plate Designs
Plate heat exchangers
incorporate many closely spaced corrugated plates separated by gaskets within an outer shell or frame. This design increases the available surface area
and helps to greatly enhance heat transfer capabilities while taking up less space overall. While reasonably compact in size, they're not
appropriate for high temperature applications due to the use of fragile gaskets. A variation of the plate exchanger
design will be the plate fin heat exchanger, which combines flutes or perhaps 'fins' to increase heat
transfer.
Spiral Heat Exchangers
Spiral heat exchangers consist of two helical or coiled flat surfaces that are wound around each other to
increase surface area and maximize heat exchange between mediums. Like plate heat transfer devices, they may be lightweight and well-suited to low
pressure applications. The principal negative aspect is that they are definitely more
expensive. The thick walls regarding spiral heat exchangers provide greater strength and durability in
comparison with other designs. They're typically used in the heating of fluids comprising dissolved solids, as
they're not as likely to clog during operation.
Additional Heat Exchanger Types
Besides the aforesaid examples, phase-change
heat exchangers, fluid transfer heat exchangers, along with direct transfer heat exchangers are just a few
of the all kinds of other heat exchangers out there today. There are several novel heat exchanger designs with limited applications that are within
niche industries, but the major types as listed above are definitely the most popular.
Author Resource:-Tube heat exchangers
manufacturers have adapted tube and shell heat exchangers for
use in a wide variety of residential and industrial applications, due to their simple designs and low
costs. While new designs continue to be developed and deployed every year, the tube and shell heat
exchanger layout is sure to remain quite popular for the foreseeable future.
