Different Categories Of Shell And Tube Heat Exchangers

By Author: NICHEFPP
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Shell and tube heat exchanger is a certain class of heat exchanger or design that are the most common types used in the chemical process industry. It consists of a shell or pressure vessel and a bundle of tubes or tube nests inserted into the shell. In most chemical processing applications, the corrosive fluid runs through the tubes, and another fluid flows over the tubes (through the shell) to transfer heat between the two fluids. The set of tubes is called a tube bundle, Niche patent honeycomb design fusses the tubes to make a tube-tube sheet joint. Due to this manufacturing procedure, our heat exchangers are limited to a single pass, but we can provide units in series or parallel if more surface area is required for a particular application.

Though the standard construction of a shell and tube heat exchanger is simple in the design there are different varieties, materials, and configurations to suit a multitude of industry needs. The standard construction of a shell and tube heat exchanger consists of the following:

Shell or pressure vessel is where a cooling or heating fluid will flow through to transfer heat ...
... or remove heat from a tube bundle.

Tube bundle The bundle is inserted into the pressure vessel and process fluid is run through for heating or cooling purposes.

Tube Sheet The tube sheet is used to support and isolate the tubes within a shell and tube heat exchanger.

Baffles are plates that direct shell fluid flows around the tube bundle to promote heat transfer.

Every process need will be different and thus have a different need for their heat exchanger materials of construction. This is dependent upon the fluids, pressures, and temperatures used within the heat exchanger. Examples of the more common materials of construction are listed below: