| Abstract: | Heat exchangers can be made more compact by either enhancing the heat transfer coefficient or by increasing the amount of area per unit volume. The use of low‐finned tubes is an effective means of achieving the latter. The extent to which the equipment size can be reduced using such means is problem‐dependent. Decisions of whether or not to employ process intensification have to be made at the conceptual stage of design. There is, therefore, a need for sizing procedures that avoid the recourse to full detailed design. Such a procedure is reported here. The key to the procedure is a relationship between the shell‐side pressure drop, shell‐side heat transfer coefficient and overall exchanger surface area. The procedure has been applied to a number of ‘typical’ fluids. The results are presented in a series of charts relating exchanger size and duty. It is shown how individual duties can be ‘normalized’ in the form of a ‘duty factor’ that relates shell‐side pressure drop, mass flow rate, stream temperature change and exchanger temperature driving force. So, the charts are independent of duty. |
