For floating-head double-arch plate heat exchangers, how are the dimensions of the double arch plates determined?
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I would like to ask the experienced colleagues: In a floating-head double-arch plate heat exchanger, how are the dimensions of the double arch plates determined? As shown in the figure below:
Strictly speaking, the opening size, which requires process calculations, affects the degree of turbulence in the medium; it’s difficult to determine this for the equipment
Is there a specification similar to that in standard floating-head heat exchangers, where the arc-shaped notch is 25% of the nominal diameter?
25% is not a mandatory requirement either; the gap height is determined by the manufacturing process. . . . . .
Double-arch plate heat exchangers are typically used in applications where the shell-side pressure drop or flow rate is a limiting factor. When using software for process calculations, it is possible to specify how many rows of tubes can pass through the overlapping area of the baffle cut in the middle and those cut on the sides (with at least two rows of tubes per side). The software will then automatically determine the width of the cut in the middle of the baffle as well as the widths of the cuts on the sides, based on the principle that the area cut out in the middle of the baffle should be approximately equal to the areas cut out on the sides (i.e., the window areas of the two types of baffles). This eliminates the need to manually calculate the cutting areas of the baffles in order to determine the appropriate cutting widths.
Can you calculate it for a single arch? Divide the heat exchanger into two parts and treat each of those single arches as separate units, calculating half of the value for each
Thank you for your reply! Since it involves equipment manufacturing, without any process calculations, I simply made estimates based on the approximate flow areas of single-arch and double-arch designs.