Experimental Investigation and Performance Analysis of Gasketed-Plate Heat Exchangers

Abstract

In this study, the thermal and hydrodynamic performance analyses of sa elected gasketed-plate heat exchanger with different number of plates are performed experimentally. A gasketed-plate heat exchanger (GPHE) test set-up is designed and constructed to perform experimental measurements for thermal and hydrodynamic performance analyses of plate heat exchangers. The experiments are performed for an industrial chevron-type plate heat exchanger under different flow conditions for a wide range of Reynolds numbers between 450 and 5250. The temperatures at the inlet and outlet ports, the volumetric flow rates of the hot and cold fluids, and the pressure drops between the inlet and outlet ports are measured during the experiments. By using the experimental data, Nusselt number correlation for heat transfer analysis and a friction factor correlation for pressure drop calculations are developed for the chevron-type plate heat exchanger tested as a function of Reynolds number and Prandtl number. The results obtained from these new correlations are compared with several existing correlations in the literature, which were developed for different plates. Although the trends of the new correlations are similar with the ones in the literature, this study shows that every plate design needs its specific correlations for heat transfer and pressure drop calculations, since the specific correlations developed for the specific plates tested are different than the ones given in literature. Obtaining these kinds of correlations for local products is especially important for the related industry to improve with the help of local test set-ups.