Transient response of a parallel flow shell-and-tube heat exchanger and its control

Abstract

The shell and tube heat exchangers constitute the single largest component of the heat exchanger family. Though a vast number of literature is available for their steady state analyses, the number of works on transient analysis are comparatively fewer. The present paper brings out the transient response of a single pass shell and tube heat exchanger neglecting wall heat capacitance. The model is constructed with a distributed parameter approach. Unlike a number of recent analyses the numerical technique is avoided and the path of double Laplace transform has been chosen instead. This gives a scope for a unique functional representation of the response which is useful for deciding the control strategies to be adopted. This strategy has been formulated for the parallel flow model using PID controllers.