PHE-14 Condensation in Welded-Plate Heat Exchangers

R. C. Craft

2010

The design of plate heat exchangers (PHEs) makes them well suited for applications that require compactness, low weight, and high efficiency. When operating pressures and temperatures exceed the range of a traditional gasket PHE, a welded-plate design is sometimes used. This report reviews data collected from an Alfa Laval Compabloc welded-plate heat exchanger (WPHE), with steam condensing on one side and water flowing on the other. We compare the WPHE heat transfer data with open literature correlations and other PHE data sets. The comparison indicates that one open literature correlation predicts all shear-controlled data well. This report also reviews pressure drop methods.