PLATE HEAT-EXCHANGERS - 10 YEARS OF RESEA RCH AT GRETH .1. FLOW PATTERN AND HEAT-TRANSFER IN SINGLE-PHASE AND 2-PHASE FLOWS

Plate heat exchangers : ten years of research at GRETh. Part I. Flow p attern and heat transfer in single-phase and two-phase flows. This pap er presents the main results of the researches obtained at GRETh (Grou pement pour la Recherche sur les Echangeurs Thermiques) in the field o f plate heat exchangers. These heat exchangers ave mainly used in sing le-phase pow, but with new technologies they ave move and move used in evaporation and condensation processes. In a first part, the heat tra nsfer and the pressure drop laws ave given for single-phase pow applic ations, and a local pow analysis allows to give a physical interpretat ion of the results. In a second part, two-phase pow applications ave s tudied, and some general laws are given to estimate the heat transfer coefficient and the pressure drop during evaporation and condensation processes.