The Basics On Heat Exchangers

Heat exchangers are pieces of equipment whose main objective is to efficiently transfer heat from one medium to another. The two mediums in question here could be in direct contact with each other or separated by a solid barrier. They are mainly found in manufacturing and processing plants. A well known type example is the cooling mechanism of the internal combustion engine.

Such equipment was introduced after concern was raised on how much energy through dissipation was being wasted. The need for saving energy could not be underestimated and various ways were introduced to curb the issue. Thus a device known as the heat exchanger was introduced to take care of this costly problem.

The basic law governing such devices comes from thermodynamics which states that when an object is heated then the energy, in form of high temperature, within the said object will diffuse outward to the surrounding environment until the temperature in the object and in the environment have reached equilibrium. Thus energy is passively transferred from one material to another.

A basic example of an exchanger is a refrigerator and air conditioner which use the device to remove heat from a certain area and pump it away to leave a cool atmosphere in that surrounding. In engines, the device can be found near the exhaust where it removes heat from waste gases and recycles the heat to other sections of the engine where it may be needed thus saving energy.

Basically the task is the same, transfer of high temperature from one medium to another; however, there are different types of the device that may work in different ways. We will try and delve into the main types of such devices and how they work. The most common are the shell and tube and the plate or fin exchangers.

The shell and tube devices consist of a network of tubes and a sealed shell surrounding them. One fluid may be passing through the set of metal tubes while the other fluid is in the encasing shell. The fluids could be flowing in the same direction or in opposite directions depending on the systems involved. Thus by thermodynamic law, there is exchange between the two fluids.

The plate or fin device is another common type of exchanger. Its design consists of thin metal plates or fins that have a large surface area. The huge surface is meant to maximize on the exchange as much as possible. The fluids flow in between the huge plates and the plates absorb the energy and transmit it to other sections of the system.

As mentioned before, this device is highly recommended in various processes and it is now almost a guarantee to find it installed in very many machinery where energy saving is required. They are used in all sorts of industrial processes and they can be customized for each individual system but the working principle is basically the same. One will discover that they are in much more common use than you expected.