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Plate heat exchangers: calculation of pressure drop for single phase convection in turbulent flow regime

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Abstract

Plate heat exchangers (PHE) are of primary importance for many technical applications. To use PHE effectively it is necessary to calculate the pressure drop correctly. Unfortunately, in open literature a large difference between the different authors occurs. As shown in an earlier work (Gusew and Stuke in Int J Chem Eng vol. 2019, 6) an essential portion of this difference lies in the pressure drop of the distribution zone. In this work new geometrical parameters are introduced to calculate the pressure drop of the distribution zone. The resulting correlations with new parameters include the pressure drop of both corrugated field and distribution zones. This new three-component model for hydraulic resistance show good agreement with experimental data for PHEs in turbulent flow regime. Furthermore, observed differences in data of other authors can be explained by the influence of the new introduced geometrical parameters of the distribution zone.

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Abbreviations

a, b:

Coefficient in Eq. (14), dimensionless

\(\overline a,\overline b\) :

Coefficient in Eq. (15), dimensionless

A:

Area, m2

AEC:

Area enlargement coefficient, dimensionless

B, b:

Width, m

D:

port diameter, m

De :

equivalent diameter, =2t, m

f:

Fanning friction factor

GPI:

geometrical parameter acc. to Eq. (10), dimensionless

L, l:

Length, m

N:

number of parallel channels in distribution zone, dimensionless

Npl:

number of different plate types in experiments, dimensionless

Re:

Reynolds number, dimensionless, Re = pwDe

t:

wave amplitude of corrugation, m

w:

velocity, m/s

γ = 2t / Λ – :

geometrical parameter of corrugated field, dimensionless

ε:

Error in Eq. (16), %

Δp:

pressure losses, Pa

Λ:

wavelength of corrugation, m

μ:

dynamic viscosity, kg/(m∙s)

ρ:

density, kg/m3

φ:

chevron corrugation angle relative to flow direction, degree

corr:

corrugation

ch:

channel

inlet:

inlet

mean:

mean

outlet:

outlet

pl:

plate

port:

inlet/outlet port

se:

sudden expansion

st:

static height difference

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Acknowledgements

Authors would like to thank firma Funke Wärmeaustauscher Apparatebau GmbH for providing the opportunity to publish this work.

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Correspondence to Sergej Gusew.

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Gusew, S., Stuke, R. Plate heat exchangers: calculation of pressure drop for single phase convection in turbulent flow regime. Heat Mass Transfer 58, 419–430 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00231-021-03099-6

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