When designing the cooling side of a heat exchanger, should water flow be controlled through the inlet water or the return water?
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This post was last edited by yiyuguchen on 2019-8-22 at 14:52. When designing the cooling side of a heat exchanger, should a control valve be installed on the circulating cooling supply pipeline or on the circulating cooling return pipeline, in order to regulate the amount of circulating water based on the cooling temperature of the material?
By adding control valves for the return water and feed water, can it be ensured that the heat exchanger is always filled with fluid? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
I personally recommend using it in the outlet pipeline... to ensure that the cooling water can fill the equipment. But... I’ve also seen designs that use it at the inlet end. I asked whether such an approach was reasonable, but all I got in response was that it’s just for cooling anyway. This type of setup is something that the production unit modifies on its own, with no logic at all behind it
In all heat exchangers, the cooling medium flows in from below and out from above, which ensures that the cooling water fills the entire condenser or heat exchanger; usually, the inlet is installed, while the outlet remains open at all times. Of course, you can also install it on the outlet. It is merely installed on the outlet, so the heat exchanger is under pressure all the time.
Experienced engineers install the control valves for circulating water at the outlet, with the aim of preventing the dissolved oxygen from being released as the temperature of the circulating water rises, which could otherwise accelerate equipment corrosion. There are fewer and fewer experts who are aware of this reason!
For vertically installed heat exchangers, the inlet and outlet can be installed either way, as long as the tubes inside the heat exchanger are fully filled; for horizontally installed ones, the outlet should be placed at that end.