It can be operated as a parallel flow or as a counterflow heat exchanger.
Counter flow heat exchanger diagram.
For example in a distillation column the vapors.
The counter current design is the most efficient in that it can transfer.
There are three primary classifications of heat exchangers according to their flow arrangement.
A counterflow heat exchanger will require less heat exchange surface area than a parallel flow heat exchanger for the same heat transfer rate and the same inlet and outlet temperatures for the fluids.
We combine these two types together with an index n to indicate the flow direction of fluid 2.
A counter flow or countercurrent shell and tube heat exchanger s construction is in many ways identical to that of a parallel flow shell and tube heat exchanger.
For a parallel flow heat exchanger n 0 and for a counterflow heat exchanger n 1.
A double pipe heat exchanger consists of one pipe inside another.
Double pipe heat exchanger design requires use of the heat transfer rate the log mean temperature difference and an estimate of the overall heat transfer coefficient to calculate the estimated heat transfer surface area.
The flowing bodies can be liquids gases or even solid powders or any combination of those.
It is a form of a plate heat exchanger usually made of stainless steel.
Countercurrent exchange is a mechanism occurring in nature and mimicked in industry and engineering in which there is a crossover of some property usually heat or some chemical between two flowing bodies flowing in opposite directions to each other.
In counter flow heat exchangers the fluids enter the exchanger from opposite ends.
Counter flow shell and tube heat exchangers.
A counter flow heat exchanger is one in which the direction of the flow of one of the working fluids is opposite to the direction to the flow of the other fluid.
The main difference is that the tubeside fluid enters the exchanger at the opposite end of the shellside fluid.
It is often used in cellulose industries where the heat exchanger is subjected to severe fouling and corrosion.
Generally in this type of heat exchanger the counter flow arrangement is used.
In parallel flow heat exchangers the two fluids enter the exchanger at the same end and travel in parallel to one another to the other side.
Shell and coil heat exchanger diagram spiral plate heat exchanger.
A heat exchanger can have several different flow patterns.
The most common arrangements for flow paths within a heat exchanger are counter flow and parallel flow.
