Velocity Through Plate Heat Exchanger

[takiyasamsama]

I referred to few articles and catalogs for plate heat exchanger and most of the velocity through the plate (plate hydraulic slots/opening) is between 0.5 m/s to 3 m/s. Anyway know how this velocity is calculated? From my understanding when the fluid enters the inlet port, let say at 3 m/s then when it enters the slots between the plate it should be higher isn't it? I mean referring to continuity equation when fluid goes from higher area to lower area the velocity would increase but for this case it gets higher, any experts could advise this phenomenon?

 

[Caloooomi]

You are typically reducing the area from the inlet nozzle to the plate, but there would normally be more than one plate in a plate heat exchanger. This means that the flowrate would split up (assume equally), between them. On top of this, the flowrate per plate may split up further too depending on the thermal/hydraulic requirements of the unit!

 

[EdStainless]

The gap between plates may be small, but is wide and there are many such plate gaps.
I have seen people fail plates by running velocity too high and causing fatigue.

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P.E. Metallurgy, Plymouth Tube

 

[IRstuff]

Generally, everything is designed per some requirement. One possibly requirement is prevention of fouling, which does require a minimum velocity.

TTFN (ta ta for now)
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