ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the design and analysis of various types of heat exchangers. Heat exchangers are engineering devices that transfer thermal energy between two or more fluids, or between a solid object and a fluid, at different temperatures. Heat exchangers are used widely in space heating, power plants, refrigeration systems, air conditioning, and chemical plants, among many others. The most common types of heat exchanger configurations are concentric tube (or tubular), cross-flow, and shell-and-tube heat exchangers. A concentric tube heat exchanger consists of two fluid streams whereby an internal fluid flows through the inner tube and an external flow passes through the annular region between the inner and outer tubes. The number of transfer units (NTU) is a dimensionless parameter that characterizes the ratio of the total conductance in the heat exchanger to the heat capacity rate. The effectiveness–NTU method is a widely used method to calculate the rate of heat transfer in heat exchangers, especially counterflow arrangements.
