Abstract
Pillow-plate heat exchangers (PPHE) are a novel heat exchanger type based on wavy pillow-like plate geometry. Typically, they are composed of parallel plates arranged as a stack. In this way, inner channels within the pillow-plates alternate with outer channels between the adjacent plates, and thus, a structure with alternating inner and outer channels is arranged for the heat transfer media. This chapter deals with fundamentals of PPHE covering manufacturing, basic design considerations and general application fields. The geometric variability of PPHE is extremely high, while their performance strongly depends on the particular geometric details. Therefore, the relevant parameters characterizing the complex pillow-plate geometry as well as the corresponding methods for their calculation are considered. These parameters include the internal and external heat transfer surface areas, cross-sectional areas and characteristic lengths. Furthermore, the welding spot arrangement is discussed, which is important for the flow pattern and overall thermo-hydraulic performance characteristics.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Abbreviations
- A :
-
Area (m2)
- d h :
-
Hydraulic diameter (m)
- d wp :
-
Diameter of welding points (m)
- e i :
-
Inner expansion of the pillow-plate (m)
- h :
-
Heat transfer coefficient (W m−2 K−1)
- l PP :
-
Pillow-plate length (m)
- n PP :
-
Number of pillow-plates (-)
- p :
-
Pressure (Pa)
- Δp :
-
Pressure loss (Pa)
- P w :
-
Wetted perimeter (m)
- \( \dot{Q} \) :
-
Heat flow rate (W)
- R f :
-
Fouling resistance (m2 K W−1)
- s o :
-
Distance of the gap between two neighbouring pillow-plates (m)
- s w :
-
Wall thickness (m)
- s L :
-
Half longitudinal distance between welding points (m)
- s T :
-
Transversal distance between welding points (m)
- u m :
-
Mean overall heat transfer coefficient (W m−2 K−1)
- v :
-
Mean flow velocity (m s−1)
- V :
-
Volume (m3)
- \( \dot{V} \) :
-
Volumetric flow rate (m3 s−1)
- w PP :
-
Pillow-plate width (m)
- x, y, z :
-
Cartesian coordinates (m)
- ζ :
-
Darcy friction factor (-)
- ϑ :
-
Temperature (K)
- Δϑ m,ln :
-
Logarithmic mean temperature difference (K)
- λ :
-
Thermal conductivity (W m−1 K−1)
- ρ :
-
Density (kg m−3)
- cs:
-
Cross-section
- e:
-
Edge
- ht:
-
Heat transfer
- i:
-
Inner
- max:
-
Maximum
- o:
-
Outer
- tot:
-
Total
- w:
-
Wall
References
Behrend H-J (1993) Thermoblechwärmetauscher und -apparate: Vielseitigkeit bewiesen. Schweiz Maschinenmarkt 12:95–97
Djakow E, Springer R, Homberg W, Piper M, Tran JM, Zibart A, Kenig EY (2017) Incremental electrohydraulic forming—a new approach for the manufacture of structured multifunctional sheet metal blanks. In: Proceedings of 20th International ESAFORM Conference on Material Forming, Dublin, Ireland
Goedecke R, Scholl S (2015a) Enlarged operation ranges for thermosiphon reboilers using pillow plates. Chem Eng Res Des 99:58–66. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cherd.2015.05.037
Goedecke R, Scholl S (2015b) Experimentelle Untersuchung eines Thermoblechapparates als Naturumlaufverdampfer. Chem Ing Tech 87:244–252. https://doi.org/10.1002/cite.201400061
Mitrovic J, Maletic B (2011) Numerical simulation of fluid flow and heat transfer in thermoplates. Chem Eng Technol 34:1439–1448. https://doi.org/10.1002/ceat.201100271
Mitrovic J, Peterson R (2007) Vapor condensation heat transfer in a thermoplate heat exchanger. Chem Eng Technol 13:907–920
Piper M, Olenberg A, Tran JM, Goedecke R, Scholl S, Kenig EY (2014) Bestimmung charakteristischer Geometrieparameter von Thermoblech-Wärmeübertragern. Chem Ing Tech 86:1214–1222. https://doi.org/10.1002/cite.201300159
Piper M, Wecker C, Olenberg A, Tran JM, Kenig EY (2015a) An experimental analysis of the topology and dynamics of a falling liquid film over the wavy surface of a vertical pillow plate. Chem Eng Sci 130:129–134. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ces.2015.03.005
Piper M, Olenberg A, Tran JM, Kenig EY (2015b) Determination of the geometric design parameters of pillow-plate heat exchangers. Appl Therm Eng 91:1168–1175. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2015.08.097
Piper M, Zibart A, Tran JM, Kenig EY (2016) Numerical investigation of turbulent forced convection heat transfer in pillow plates. Int J Heat Mass Transf 94:516–527. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2015.11.014
Tran JM, Piper M, Kenig EY (2015a) Experimentelle Untersuchung des konvektiven Wärmeübergangs und Druckverlustes in einphasig durchströmten Thermoblechen. Chem Ing Tech 87:226–234. https://doi.org/10.1002/cite.201400140
Tran JM, Piper M, Kenig EY (2015b) Experimental investigation of heat transfer and pressure drop in pillow-plate condensers. In: Proceedings of AIChE Spring Meeting, 2015, Austin, USA
Tran JM, Sommerfeld S, Piper M, Kenig EY (2015c) Investigation of pillow-plate condensers for the application in distillation columns. Chem Eng Res Des 99:67–74. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cherd.2015.03.031
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Tran, J.M., Piper, M., Kenig, E.Y., Scholl, S. (2018). Pillow-Plate Heat Exchangers: Fundamental Characteristics. In: Bart, HJ., Scholl, S. (eds) Innovative Heat Exchangers. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71641-1_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71641-1_7
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-71639-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-71641-1
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)