Three-Dimensional Modeling of a Helixchanger® Heat Exchanger Using CFD

Abstract

Detailed three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations have been performed to explore the performance of a helically baffled heat exchanger, commercially referred to as the Helixchanger ® heat exchanger. The CFD simulations employ the HEATX computer simulation program, which is designed for the simulation of shell-and-tube heat exchangers. The simulation accounts for the complex helical geometry of baffles, leakages, and nozzle entrance and exit. Three cases are presented that correspond to helix angles of 10°, 25°, and 40°, defined with respect to the radial axis. Inspection of the computed flows reveals distinct inner and outer regions, with the outer region showing a very desirable plug flow characteristic. The inner region, however, displays recirculation zones due to back mixing at the small helix angle, which suggests potential vibration problems but also creates a desirable temperature uniformity. A comparison with plug flow showed that the helically baffled heat exchanger had a fluid turn ratio of 0.64, 0.78, and 0.77 for the 10°, 25°, and 40° helix angles, indicating more overall plug-like flow for the higher helix angles. Computed pressure drops compare reasonably well with ABB Lummus Heat Transfer correlation results, although nozzle entrance and exit losses require further study.     

Biofouling Control with Ultrasound

The flow field in shell-and-tube heat exchangers with helical baffles was measured using laser Doppler anemometry (LDA). The influence on the velocity distribution, impulsive velocity by helix inclination angle, and flow rate was investigated. The influence on heat exchanging capability and flow resistance on velocity distribution was also investigated. The dimensions of the heat exchanger shell used in these experiments were 200 2 6 2 3,000 mm (inner diameter 2 wall thickness 2 length). The heat exchanger was made of organic glass and the tube bundle consisted of 52 tubes with external diameter of 15 mm. Six different inclination angles were designed in double-helix style: 30°, 35°, 40°, 42°, 45°, and 50°. The working flow medium under normal temperature was service water. Generally, the linear velocity and impulsive velocity will increase with decreasing helix inclination angle, which promotes the heat exchanging capability. With flow volume increasing, the velocity distribution along the diameter increases on average. The pressure drop increases with decreasing helix inclination angle. For all of the helix inclination angles tested, the minimum pressure loss took place at a certain Reynolds number; and at different helix inclination angles, the Reynolds number at which the minimum pressure loss occurs is different. In general, it was concluded that the optimum helix inclination angle depends on the Reynolds number of the working fluid on the shell side of heat exchanger.     

Most Frequently Used Heat Exchangers from Pioneering Research to Worldwide Applications

Heat exchangers contribute significantly to many energy conversion processes. Applications range from power production, petroleum refining and chemicals, paper and pharmaceutical production, to aviation and transportation industries. A large percentage of world market for heat exchangers is served by the industry workhorse, the shell-and-tube heat exchanger. Recent developments in other exchanger geometries have penetrated in various industry applications; however, the shell-and-tube exchanger by far remains the industry choice where reliability and maintainability are vital. Over the years, significant research and development efforts are devoted to better understand the shell-side geometry. New geometries are introduced for performance enhancement and to improve reliability. The pioneering work published by J. Nemcansky et al. in the Trans. Institute of Chemical Engineers in May, 1990, on helical baffles paved the way to a major shift from a conventional understanding of baffles in a shell-and-tube heat exchanger. Helical baffles serve as guide vanes for shell-side flow as compared to creating flow channels with conventional segmented baffles. In the past decade, ABB Lummus Heat Transfer has extended the understanding of the helical baffle geometry through extensive testing and development. CFD flow simulation studies have further confirmed the helical baffle advantage. Industry feedback on operating Helixchanger® heat exchangers—the shell-and-tube heat exchangers with helical baffles—has demonstrated low fouling characteristics as well as a higher conversion of shell-side pressure drop to heat transfer. In this paper, the characteristics of this novel Helixchanger heat exchanger are discussed. Examples from early installations in the power industry to the major applications in the petro-chemical and refining industries are presented, illustrating the advantages in reducing fouling and increasing reliability while achieving lower total life cycle costs.     

Effect of helical baffles and water-based Al2O3, CuO,and SiO2 nanoparticles in the enhancement of thermal performance for shell and tube heat exchanger

In this study, Shell and tube heat exchanger (STHX) with 22% cut segmental baffles and helical baffles with 20°, 30°, 40° inclination angles are considered for three-dimensional CFD analysis using the ANSYS FLUENT tool to investigate the performance of STHX. OHTC and comprehensive performance index are higher for 40° helical baffles when compared to segmental baffle and 20°, 30° helical baffle heat exchangers with water as working fluid. Hence, further investigations are carried out for 40° helical baffle heat exchangers. Numerical investigations are extended with nanofluids (Al₂O₃, CuO, and SiO₂) at 1%, 3%, and 5% volume concentrations for each nanofluid. Under the same mass flow rates, 40° helical baffles with Al₂O₃ nanofluid as working fluid provided better heat transfer rates when compared to the other two nanofluids and base fluid. Also, the authors noticed that the 5% volume (vol) concentration nanofluids provided better heat transfer enhancements when compared to 1%, 3% volume concentrations, and base fluid. Enhancements (10.33%–8.24%) from lower to the higher mass flow rate in 40° HB with Al₂O₃ nanofluid at 5% volume concentration are observed when compared to water as base fluid.     

A Comparative Assessment of RODbaffle Shell-and-Tube Heat Exchangers

The shell-and-tube heat exchanger (SBE), with its tubes held in plate baffles to produce cross flow of the shell-side fluid, has recently been modified to produce a RODbaffle heat exchanger (RBE) free from tube failure due to vibration. The results showed slightly enhanced heat transfer coefficients with significant reductions in pressure loss, leading to reduced cost of exchangers and in some instances smaller exchangers.     

Thermal-Hydraulic Characteristics of Helical Baffle Shell-and-Tube Heat Exchangers

Abstract

Shell-and-tube heat exchangers are frequently used in several industrial applications. A model was developed using engineering equations solver software to predict the performance of various baffle configurations of shell-and-tube heat exchangers. The model is based on the Bell-Delaware method for the segmental baffle, while mathematical correlations for the helical baffle are provided for design and analysis purpose. The accuracy of the present model is validated against the experimental data available in the literature. The results showed that helical baffles offer much higher performance compared to the segmental baffled heat exchanger. It was found that the performance of the helical baffle increases with increasing baffle angle until it reaches an optimum value; it then starts to decrease at an angle of 42°.     

Performance Study of a Circumferential Overlap Trisection Helical Baffle Heat Exchanger at the Shell Side

Using the three-dimensional (3D) modeling software Gambit, a mathematical model of a circumferential overlap trisection helical baffle shell-and-tube heat exchanger (cothSTHX) was developed with 34 tubes and three pulling rods with an equilateral triangle tube layout and a baffle incline angle of 20°. The numerical simulation of flow and thermal performances was performed with the analysis software Fluent. The temperature, pressure, and velocity nephograms are shown for different slices, including spiral, concentric hexagon longitudinal, meridian, eccentric longitudinal, and transverse slices. The nephograms of temperature, pressure, and velocity with superimposed velocity vectors vividly display the important parameters of the cothSTHX. The “Dean vortex secondary flow” is a key mechanism to enhance the heat transfer in heat exchangers, which is clearly depicted to show that the spiral fluid flows outward under the centrifugal force, then flows back to the axis under the radial differential pressure, forming a single vortex in each helix cycle. The structure of circumferential overlap baffles restricts the shortcut leakage flow, and the flow pattern in the cothSTHX is very close to “plug flow” on the unfolded hexagon slices.     

Configuration optimization of shell-and-tube heat exchangers with helical baffles using multi-objective genetic algorithm based on fluid-structure interaction

The configuration parameters of helical angle and overlapped degree of shell-and-tube heat exchangers with helical baffles have been discussed for the thermal-structural comprehensive performance. Based on fluid-structure interaction theory, a method on configuration optimization of shell-and-tube heat exchangers with helical baffles is introduced using second-order polynomial regression response surface combined with Multi-objective Genetic Algorithm. The results show that the heat transfer coefficient per unit pressure drop of shell-and-tube heat exchangers with helical baffles increases firstly and then decreases with the increase of helical angle, and decreases with the increase of overlapped degree under certain shell-inlet velocity. And the performance of flow and heat transfer is more sensitive to helical angle compared with overlapped degree. The maximum shear stress increases with helical angle, but it is almost unaffected by overlapped degree for mechanical properties of helical baffles. The objectives of optimization are the heat transfer coefficient per unit pressure drop maximizing and maximum shear stress minimizing with scope of allowable stress, and three optimal structures are obtained. The optimal results indicate that the heat transfer coefficient per unit pressure drop increases averagely by 14.1%, the maximum shear stress decreases averagely by 4.1%, which provides theoretical guidance for industrial design of shell-and-tube heat exchangers with helical baffles.     

Temperature Distribution and Heat Exchange in Multipass Shell-and-Tube Exchangers with Baffles

A model predicting the temperature distribution and the mean temperature difference in multipass shell-and-tube heat exchangers with baffles is presented. The exchanger is treated as a cascade of cells with mixing taking place in each fluid. From the computed results, design rules are deduced to enable the choice of the construction that leads to the highest efficiency.

The effect of leakage currents on exchanger effectiveness is ignored in this analysis and is treated separately in another paper.     

Numerical simulation on the performance of trisection helical baffle heat exchangers with small baffle incline angles

ABSTRACT

Numerical simulation was conducted on oil–water heat transfer in five circumferential overlap trisection helical baffle shell–and–tube heat exchangers (cothSTHXs) with 16 tubes and incline angles of 12°, 16°, 20°, 24°, and 28° and a segmental baffle heat exchanger of the identical tube layout for comparison under laminar flow calculation conditions. The local images represent shell-side flow patterns, and heat transfer properties are presented showing the detailed “secondary vortex flow” and “shortcut leakage flow” patterns to explain the different characteristics of the six schemes. The simulation curves of the heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop are compared with those of the experimental ones, with satisfactory agreement. The average values of the shell-side heat transfer coefficient and the comprehensive index h_o/Δp_o of the 12° helical scheme are respectively 47% and 51% higher than those of the segmental baffle scheme with about the same pressure drop.     

Experimental Studies on Thermal Performance and Flow Resistance of Heat Exchangers with Helical Baffles

In this study, the shell-side heat transfer performance and flow resistance of the shell-and-tube heat exchangers with third-symmetrical, quarter-symmetrical, quarter-unsymmetrical helical baffles and segmental baffles were experimentally obtained. Except for the baffles, these heat exchangers had the same geometrical configuration and number of tubes. Cold and hot water were used as working fluids in the shell and the tube side, respectively. The experiments were done with the cold water volumetric flow rate ranging between 3 and 7 m³/h and the hot water volumetric flow rate constant at 5.5 m³/h. The results show that the heat exchanger with segmental baffles has higher shell-side heat transfer performance and flow resistance than those with helical baffles. Among the three helical baffles used, the third-symmetrical helical baffle offers the highest shell-side heat transfer performance and flow resistance. The quarter-unsymmetrical helical baffle offers the lowest shell-side flow resistance. Its performance of shell-side heat transfer is also the lowest one but close to that of the quarter-symmetrical helical baffle, so the quarter-unsymmetrical helical baffle provides the best conversion efficiency in all heat exchangers mentioned. Compared with the segmental baffle, the shell-side Nusselt numbers that the third-symmetrical, the quarter-symmetrical, and the quarter-unsymmetrical helical baffle offer decrease on the average by about 26%, 37%, and 38%, respectively, and the corresponding shell-side Euler numbers they provide decrease on the average by about 33%, 49%, and 55%, respectively. Thus, the relative shell-side conversion efficiencies increase by about 9%, 25%, and 39% on the average, respectively.     

Numerical investigation on combined multiple shell-pass shell-and-tube heat exchanger with continuous helical baffles

A combined multiple shell-pass shell-and-tube heat exchanger (CMSP-STHX) with continuous helical baffles in outer shell pass has been invented to improve the heat transfer performance and simplify the manufacture process. The CMSP-STHX is compared with the conventional shell-and-tube heat exchanger with segmental baffles (SG-STHX) by means of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method. The numerical results show that, under the same mass flow rate M and overall heat transfer rate Q_m, the average overall pressure drop Δp_m of the CMSP-STHX is lower than that of conventional SG-STHX by 13% on average. Under the same overall pressure drop Δp_m in the shell side, the overall heat transfer rate Q_m of the CMSP-STHX is nearly 5.6% higher than that of SG-STHX and the mass flow rate in the CMSP-STHX is about 6.6% higher than that in the SG-STHX. The CMSP-STHX might be used to replace the SG-STHX in industrial applications to save energy, reduce cost and prolong the service life.     

Influence of the Apex Angle of Cone-Shaped Tubes on Particulate Fouling of Heat Exchangers

A two-dimensional (2D) cone shape has been added to the normal circular tubes of heat exchangers to minimize the area of stagnation and to streamline the air flow around the heat exchanger tubes. An experimental setup has been developed to study the influence of the apex angle of the cone-shaped tubes on particulate fouling of heat exchangers. Fouling experiments have been performed in which calcium carbonate particles are injected during the experiments and the deposition of particles on the tubes of the heat exchanger is monitored. Four sets of experiments have been performed, in which normal cylindrical tubes and coned tubes with an apex angle of 60°, 90°, and 120° are examined. It was found that particulate fouling ceased if the apex angle of the cone-shaped tubes is smaller than 90°. The attached cones enhance the flow around the tubes of the heat exchanger, by minimizing the stagnation area and keeping the flow attached to the tubes starting from the tip of the attached cone until separation, such that particles that deposit on the top of the tubes of the heat exchanger can be removed by the air flow.     

Synthesis of Cost-Optimal Shell-and-Tube Heat Exchangers

Abstract

Synthesis of cost-optimal shell-and-tube heat exchangers is a difficult task since it involves a large number of parameters. An attempt is made in this article to simplify the process of choosing the parameter values that will minimize the cost of any heat exchanger satisfying a given heat duty and a particular set of constraints. The simplification is based on decoupling of the geometric and the thermal aspects of the problem. The concept of curves for cost-optimal design is introduced and is shown to simplify the synthesis process for shell-and-tube heat exchangers.     

Experimental Performance Comparison of Shell-Side Heat Transfer for Shell-and-Tube Heat Exchangers with Different Helical Baffles

In this study, experiments were carried out to study the effects of baffle overlap proportion on the shell-side flow resistance and heat transfer performance of the shell-and-tube heat exchangers with helical baffles (STHXsHB). Three STHXsHB with an overlap proportion of 10% and helix angles of 20°, 30°, and 40° were tested. Comparisons were made of the experimental data of the STHXsHB with the same helix angles but 50% overlap proportion. The theory of entransy dissipation was employed to evaluate the irreversible loss in STHXsHB with different helix angles and overlap proportions. The results indicated that both the baffle overlap proportion and the helix angle have a great effect on the shell-side flow resistance and heat transfer. For a given helix angle, the comprehensive performance of STHXsHB with small overlap proportion is always better than that with large overlap proportion at the same mass flow rate or Reynolds number on the shell side. However, for the same heat transfer area, working conditions, and helix angle, the STHXsHB with large baffle overlap proportion has less irreversibility in the heat exchange process, according to the theory of entransy dissipation. In addition, experimental results demonstrated that the configuration of the relatively large helix angle and baffle overlap proportion is the preferred alternative in STHXsHB.     

Numerical and experimental study of a shell and tube heat exchanger for different baffles

In the present work, the shell and tube heat exchanger (STHX) is designed based on The Tubular Exchanger Manufacturers Association standards with hot fluid (water) flowing on the shell side and cold fluid on the tube side. A comparison is made between the Nusselt number and friction factor obtained from numerical and experimental results of segmental baffles (SBs) and helical baffles (HB) with different baffle inclinations. The results show that SB provided a higher Colburn factor (j_s) when compared with HBs STHXs (20°, 30°, 40°, and 50°), but shell side pressure drop is lower for 40° HBs STHXs for the same shell side fluid flow rates.     

管壳式换热器壳侧强化传热与管束支撑方式的研究进展

从管壳式换热器壳侧管束支撑方式和强化传热的角度,综述了从弓形折流板换热器、折流杆式换热器到螺旋折流板式换热器的研究进展,特别介绍了一种适合正三角形布管的三分螺旋折流板换热器的新型结构,并指出非连续折流板螺旋换热器中相邻折流板形成的三角区的泄漏是方向指向上游的有益流动,而目前常用的螺旋折流板轴向搭接方案则开启了一条指向下游的旁通捷径,将影响绕行主流正常流动和传热。     

Optimization of high-pressure shell-and-tube heat exchanger for syngas cooling in an IGCC

This work investigates the flow field and the heat transfer characteristics of a shell-and-tube heat exchanger for the cooling of syngas. Finite volume method based on FLUENT software was used and the RNG k–ε turbulence model was adopted for modeling turbulent flow. The porosity rate, the distribution of the resistance and the distribution of the heat source are introduced to FLUENT by coupling the user defined function. The pressure drop, the temperature distribution and the variation of local heat transfer are studied under the effects of the syngas components and the operating pressure, and the effect of the arrangement of the baffles on the heat transfer is studied. The results show that higher operation pressure can improve the heat transfer, however brings bigger pressure drop. The components of the syngas significantly affect the pressure drop and the heat transfer. The arrangement of the baffles influences the fluid flow.     

连续拼接型螺旋折流板换热器壳程流场与温度场数值研究

针对单弓形折流板换热器壳程压降大、连续型螺旋折流板换热器安装制造成本高的缺点,提出一种连续拼接型螺旋折流板换热器。基于流体力学基本原理与周期性充分发展模型理论,对连续拼接型螺旋折流板换热器壳程流场与温度场进行数值模拟,研究表明：雷诺数在2000~10000范围内,当螺旋角为70°时换热器的综合换热性能最好,且是同尺寸单弓形折流板换热器的15~21倍;利用多元线性回归方法推导出了连续拼接型螺旋折流板换热器壳程对流换热系数与压降的准则数关系式。     

Numerical research on heat transfer and flow resistance performance of specially‐shaped rod baffle heat exchangers

In order to overcome the disadvantages of heat transfer performance in the shell side of the common circular cross section rod baffle heat exchanger with a low Reynolds number, a numerical simulation on fluid flow and heat transfer in the shell side with different types of rod baffles is carried out. The rod baffles include the circular cross section, trigonal cross section, and rhombic cross section. The influence of heat transfer enhancement and flow resistance reduction affected by baffles is summarized. It is indicated that the trigonal and rhombic cross section rod baffles present the better performance of heat transfer enhancement and flow resistance reduction. With the rhombic cross section rod baffles in the shell side, the higher heat transfer coefficient and overall property in the shell side are achieved when Re is lower, and the heat transfer coefficient in the shell side is 10% higher than that of a circular cross section rod baffle at the same Reynolds number. The trigonal and rhombic cross section rod baffles in the shell side give more optional structure forms for expanding the application scope of rod baffle heat exchangers. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heat Trans Asian Res; Published online in Wiley Online Library ( wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/htj ). DOI 10.1002/htj.20388