ABSTRACT
The advantageous features of compact heat exchangers (CHEs) have been recognized in aerospace, car and gas turbine power plants since the start of the development of efficient transport vehicles. A further boost in the development of CHEs gave the energy crisis of the 1970s. The additional driving factors for new heat exchanger (HE) designs have been the need for reducing energy consumption with increased heat recuperation at power and process plants with limited increase of space and material consumption and minimizing the capital investment in grass root and retrofitted plant projects. In process industries the use of plate heat exchangers (PHEs) and other CHEs has been increasing owing to their inherent advantages of small size and high heat transfer efficiency. Two new types of PHEs, brazed and welded, were introduced, with the new principle of designing plate-and-frame PHE using one HE plate with different geometries of corrugation pattern.
