Calculation of the shell-side flow area for large and small baffle plates in tubular heat exchangers
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Dear experts, I have a vertical tubular chiller for main machines, which uses large and small baffle plates and is installed vertically. I would like to ask how to calculate the flow area between the large and small baffle plates. Please give me some guidance. Thank you.
The so-called flow area refers to the contact area between the fluid and the heat exchange tube bundle. When the distance between the baffle plates is constant, the outer diameter of each tube multiplied by the number of tubes in the bundle, and then multiplied by the distance between the baffle plates, gives the so-called flow area, which is also the heat exchange area.
Is the cross-sectional area inside the shell minus the cross-sectional areas of all the tube bundles equal to the flow area of the fluid in the shell?
Flow area at the baffle: For small baffles: inner diameter area of the cylinder – diameter area at the baffle – sum of the areas of all tubes at the baffle. Large plate: Inner diameter area of the baffle – Area of all tubes contained within the holes of the baffle
Flow area between the two flow-dividing plates: approximately equal to the area of the circle centered on the innermost row of tubes in the larger baffle, minus the area enclosed by the diameters of all tubes in that row, that is, the area of the gap in the middle of those tubes