The Estimation of Heat Transfer Area of Plate Heat Exchanger for Condensation of Vapour in the Presence of Noncondensing Gas as a Component of Heat Exchanger Networks

The cooling of gaseous streams that include condensable components is frequently encountered in different industrial applications requiring the use of Heat Exchanger Networks (HENs) for optimal heat recuperation. Plate Heat Exchanger (PHE) with enhanced heat transfer can effectively work with condensation of vapours from a mixture with non-condensable gases. For their integration in HENs, a reliable method for estimation of PHE heat transfer area is required. The description of this method is presented. It is based on the mathematical model of the condensation process in PHE and proposes the approach of estimating minimal PHE heat transfer area that can be achieved by variation of plates size and corrugations geometry. The variables are corrugation inclination angle (varied at 30°, 45° and 60° levels) and corrugation height (varied from 2.5 to 5.5 mm with the step equal to 0.5 mm). The method is illustrated by a case study. Based on this method, the software for estimation of PHE heat transfer area as an element of HEN in condensation of steam from its mixture with air is developed. It can be included in software packages for HEN optimisation as a DLL module.