Experimental Investigation and Comparison of Shell Tube and Plate Heat Exchanger used in Water Chillers

Authors

S.C. Shamkuwar, Assistant Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering, VIIT Pune, Pune, India.
Nitin Chopra
Mechanical Design Engineer, ION Energy, Mumbai, India.
Mihir Kulkarni, Nikhil Ahire
Department of Mechanical Engineering, VIIT Pune, Pune, India.

Abstract

The main objective of the paper is to compare the performance of Shell and tube heat exchanger (STHE) and Plate heat exchanger (PHE) used in chillers. The paper deals with experimental investigation and comparison, which is based on actual testing of STHE and PHE. Both heat exchangers were designed and tested for a heat load of 6000 kcal/hr. In both types of heat exchangers, the primary working fluid used is Refrigerant R22 and secondary working fluid used is water. Theoretical analysis shows that PHE has a 9.67 % less heat transfer area than STHE. Experimental results show that overall heat transfer coefficient (OHTC) for PHE is higher than STHE by 30.96%. The paper also includes a comparison of the heat transfer rate (Q) of the two heat exchangers experimentally.