Performance study of a laboratory scale heat exchanger

Abstract

This work aims to study the development of a laboratory scale prototype of a heat exchanger, from the  design of the project, the assembly of the equipment to obtaining experimental results for the evaluation  of thermal performance. The prototype was conceived taking into consideration the operation of the heat  exchanger in countercurrent and concurrent flow regime, allowing measuring in which of the flow regime  the heat exchanger shows higher efficiency of thermal exchange. After assembling the prototype,  experiments were performed varying the flow rate and temperature of fluids. The overall heat transfer  coefficients ranged from 1286 to 2218 W/(m2·ºC) for countercurrent flow; and from 878 to 2181  W/(m2·ºC) for concurrent flow. In addition, the level curves showed that for both countercurrent and  concurrent flow typologies heat exchange is maximized using higher hot fluid temperatures and higher  cold fluid flow rates. Mathematical models involving the process variables, flow and temperature were  obtained for both operating regimes. It was also found that the highest overall heat transfer coefficients  were obtained by operating the countercurrent heat exchanger. Moreover, this work demonstrates that  efficiency of heat exchangers on laboratory scales can be evaluated by combining theory with practice to  study unit operations involving heat transfer.