Effect of Segmental Baffles at Different Orientation on the Performances of Single Pass Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger

Abstract

In present work, experimentation of single pass, counter flow shell and tube heat exchanger containing segmental baffles at different orientations has been conducted to calculate some parameters (heat transfer rate and pressure drop) at different Reynolds number in laminar flow. In the present work, an attempt has been made to study the effect of increase in Reynolds number at different angular orientation “θ” of the baffles. The range of “θ” vary from 0° to 45° (i.e 0°, 15°, 30° and 45°) and Reynolds number ranges from 500 to 2000 (i.e 500, 1000, 1500 and 2000). A prototype model of shell and tube type heat exchanger has been fabricated to carry out the experiments. The experiments were performed to determine the effect of baffle orientation on the performance of shell and tube heat exchanger. Water is taken as the working fluid used in both shell and tubes. The objective of the present work is to predict the variation of heat transfer rate, LMTD, heat transfer coefficient, and pressure drop to the shell side with change in range of Reynolds number at different baffle orientations. Based on the experimental result it has been observed that the angular orientation of baffles and the Reynolds number effects the heat transfer rate and pressure drop in the shell and tube heat exchanger. The heat transfer rate increases up to 30° angular orientation of the baffles and after that there is a drop in heat transfer rate at θ = 45°. The pressure drop to the shell sides decreases continuously from 0° to 45° which helps in reducing the pumping cost of the shell and tube heat exchanger.