ABSTRACT
This chapter examines some of the more common types of heat exchangers. Heat exchangers are used in reference to devices designed for exchanging heat. Heat exchangers can be classified in a number of ways, depending on their construction or on how the fluids move relative to each other through the device. A double-pipe heat exchanger consists of two concentric pipes or tubes. One fluid—the warmer one, for example—flows through the inner pipe. Another fluid flows through the annulus. Double-pipe heat exchangers are useful as heat-transfer devices for relatively low flow rates and moderate temperature differences. A shell-and-tube exchanger consists of a huge outer cylinder within which are contained many tubes. The shell-and-tube exchanger can handle fluid-flow rates that are many times as large as those in a double-pipe exchanger. In crossflow heat exchangers, the directions of the fluid velocities are generally at right angles to each other; the different types that exist are numerous.
