ERT 245- Heat and Mass Transfer in Biological Systems

Laboratory Module

EXPERIMENT 3
EVALUATE OVERALL HEAT TRANSFER COEFFICIENT OF
SHELL AND TUBE HEAT EXCHANGER
1.0 OBJECTIVES
1.1 To determine the heat transfer rate of a shell and tube heat
exchanger for
Parallel and Counter Current Flow.
1.2 To determine the overall heat transfer coefficient by using log
mean temperature difference under different flow rates.

2.0 INTRODUCTION
Shell and tube heat exchanger is a bench top model designed for the
students to study the heat exchange characteristics in fluid flow for liquidliquid configuration in shell and tube. The heat exchanger is made of
borosilicate glass shell and stainless steel tubes with connecting flanges with
8 internal temperature measuring points. The valves and piping arrangement
of the apparatus enable students to conduct parallel and counter current
flows.

3.0 THEORY
3.1 Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger
Heat exchangers are mainly classified according to the flow
arrangement and design construction. A basic heat exchanger would be a
concentric tube (also known as double pipe) where fluids move in the same
or opposite direction.
The configuration of shell and tube heat exchanger is shown in Figure
1. Specific forms differ according to the number of shell and tube passes. The
simplest construction would have a single shell pass and single tube pass.

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ERT 245- Heat and Mass Transfer in Biological Systems

Laboratory Module

Figure 1: Single shell pass and single tube pass shell and tube heat exchanger
in counter flow.
3.2

Overall Heat Transfer Coefficient

The most essential and often most uncertain part of any heat

exchanger analysis is determination of the overall heat transfer coefficient.

This coefficient is defined in terms of the total thermal resistance to heat
transfer between two fluids. During normal operation of a heat exchanger,
surfaces are often subject to fouling by fluid impurities, rust formation or
other reactions between the fluid and the wall material. Any deposit forming
films or scales on the wall surface can greatly increase the resistance to the
heat transfer. This effect can be accounted for using the additional thermal
term known as the fouling factor, Rf. The overall heat transfer coefficient
may be expressed as:
(1)

1
1
1

UA U c Ac U h Ah

where c and h refer to the cold and hot side respectively.

Assuming that the heat transfer only occurs within the hot and cold fluids in
the heat exchanger, the steady flow equation may be given as,
q m i h , o i h , i

(2)

q m ic , o ic , i

and

(3)
where i is the fluid enthalpy, subscripts h and c refers to the hot and cold
fluids, and subscripts i and o refers to the inlet and outlet conditions. If there
is no change in the fluid phase and we can assume constant specific heats,
the equation reduces to,
q mc p , h Th ,o Th ,i (4)

and

q m c p ,c Tc ,o Tc ,i

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(5)

ERT 245- Heat and Mass Transfer in Biological Systems

Laboratory Module

where the temperatures appearing in the expressions refer to the mean

temperatures at designated locations. Take note that the above equations are
independent of exchanger types and flow configurations.
We shall be interested in the term of temperature difference T which is the
difference in hot and cold side temperature. However, the temperature varies
with position in the exchanger, thus it is necessary to obtain the mean
temperature difference Tm
The heat transfer rate equation is given by,
q UATm

(6)

4.0 MATERIALS AND EQUIPMENTS

4.1 DESCRIPTION OF APPARATUS

Figure 4: Unit construction of Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger

LEGEND
A - U-tube manometer
B - Temperature measuring points
C - Flow meters
D - Flow regulators
E - Main power switch
F - Heater switch
G - Water pump switch

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ERT 245- Heat and Mass Transfer in Biological Systems

Laboratory Module

H - 4-point temperature selector switch

I - Digital temperature displays
J - Hot water tank

5.0 PROCEDURES
5.6

Set the flow pattern to parallel. Set the flow rate of cold water
side to 4 lpm.

5.7

Heat up the heat transfer medium by switching on the heater

until it reaches a temperature of 60 C. Record the temperature
o

value.
5.9

Adjust the flow rate of the hot water side into the heat
exchanger to 8 lpm with the controls to obtain a constant rate of
heat transfer.

5.10

Wait for at least 2 minutes for the temperature to reach steadystate. Record the temperature readings.

5.12

Repeat the experiment with different hot water side flow rates of
10 lpm and 12 lpm.

6.0 RESULTS AND CALCULATION

6.1

Record all the readings.

6.2

Calculate the heat transfer rate and overall heat transfer coefficient for

each temperature profiles. (Mean specific heat capacity of water, CP: 4200
J/kgoC)
Useful information:
Heat exchanger length, L (Both shell and tubes) = 400mm

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ERT 245- Heat and Mass Transfer in Biological Systems

Laboratory Module

Number of tubes = 16 (Single pass)

Tube outer diameter = 9.525mm (Assume thin walled)
7.0 DISCUSSION
Discuss results and observations during experiment.
8.0 CONCLUSION
Base on the experiment objectives.

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