Derivation of charts for the approximate determination of the area requirements of heat exchangers using plain and low-pinned tube bundles (part A)

Heat exchangers can be made more compact by either enhancing the heat trans fer coefficient or by increasing the amount of area per unit volume. The us e of low-finned tubes is an effective means of achieving the latter. The ex tent to which the equipment size can be reduced using such means is problem -dependent. Decisions of whether or not to employ process intensification h ave to be made at the conceptual stage of design. There ist therefore, a ne ed for sizing procedures that avoid the recourse to full detailed design. S uch a procedure is reported here. The key to the procedure is a relationshi p between the shell-side pressure drop, shell-side heat transfer coefficien t and overall exchanger surface area. The procedure has been applied to a n umber of 'typical' fluids. The results are presented in a series of charts relating exchanger size and duty. It is shown how individual duties can be 'normalized' in the form of a 'duty factor' that relates shell-side pressur e drop, mass flow rate, stream temperature change and exchanger temperature driving force. So, the charts are independent of duty.