Heat Exchanger Industry Solutions

Different industries have distinct process requirements for heat exchangers—such as pressure, temperature, medium corrosiveness, hygiene standards, and structural compactness. We provide customized heat exchanger solutions for various industries, selecting the most suitable exchanger types and materials based on specific industry characteristics.

Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger

Shell-and-tube heat exchangers are the most widely used and versatile heat transfer equipment in the industrial sector, known as the "backbone of heat exchange". Featuring robust structural design, strong adaptability to extreme working conditions and easy maintenance, shell-and-tube heat exchangers are the preferred equipment for fluid heating, cooling, condensation and vaporization across all industries, especially suitable for process scenarios with high temperature, high pressure and large flow rates.

Shell-and-Tube Heat Exchangers in Petrochemical Applications

The petrochemical industry is the most critical application field for shell-and-tube heat exchangers, with the strictest requirements for heat transfer equipment. We provide customized design and manufacturing solutions for petrochemical applications as follows:

1. Reasons Why the Petrochemical Industry Relies on Shell-and-Tube Heat Exchangers

• Adaptability to extreme operating conditions: Capable of withstanding high temperatures (≤600℃) and corrosion from various hydrocarbon media and acid gases (H₂S, CO₂).

• Continuous operation capability: Modular tube bundle design allows online cleaning and maintenance to meet the 24/7 continuous production requirements of petrochemical plants.

• High waste heat recovery efficiency: Realize effective recovery of waste heat generated during petrochemical processes, reduce enterprise energy consumption and improve economic benefits.

• Powerful customization capability: Designs can be tailored to specific process parameters of different petrochemical products, including tube bundle materials, baffle design and flow path layout.

• Compliance with industry standards: Conform to TEMA and API standards, the mandatory standards for the design and manufacturing of petrochemical equipment.

2.Key Design Considerations for Hydrocarbon Processing

• Material selection: Carbon steel for non-corrosive fluids.

• Thermal expansion compensation: Adopt floating head structure, U-tube bundle structure or install expansion joints to eliminate thermal stress between the shell side and tube bundle.

• Baffle and flow channel design: Segmented baffles with spacing ranging from 0.2 to 1.0 times the shell inner diameter are selected; heat transfer tubes adopt triangular pitch (to increase heat transfer area) or square pitch (for easy cleaning).

• Fouling allowance: Set a reasonable fouling allowance based on the fouling characteristics of hydrocarbon media to ensure long-term efficient operation.

It is mainly used to complete the heat exchanger of the medium. The pressure vessel separates two or more fluids of different temperatures through the wall surface, so that the heat is transferred from the high-temperature fluid to the low-temperature fluid to achieve the purpose of heating, cooling, condensation or evaporation, thereby meeting the temperature control requirements of various industrial processes. Including heat exchangers, coolers, condensers, etc.

Heat Exchanger

Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger: It is composed of shell, tube bundle, tube sheet, head, baffle and other components. High temperature fluid flows in the tube, low temperature fluid flows outside the tube, and heat exchange is carried out through the tube wall. This structure has the advantages of strong structure, strong adaptability, easy manufacturing and maintenance, and is widely used.

Plate Heat Exchanger: It is composed of a series of metal plates with a certain corrugated shape stacked together, and narrow channels are formed between the plates. The cold and hot fluids flow in adjacent channels respectively, and heat exchange is carried out through the plates. Its advantages are high heat transfer efficiency, compact structure, and small footprint, but the processing capacity is relatively small, and the sealing requirements are high.

Spiral Plate Heat Exchanger: It is made of two parallel metal sheets rolled to form two spiral channels. The cold and hot fluids flow in their respective channels for heat exchange. It has the advantages of high heat transfer efficiency, not easy to scale, and can handle high viscosity fluids, but the manufacturing process is complicated and difficult to repair.

Cooler

Air Cooler: mainly composed of tube bundles, fans, frames, etc. Using air as a coolant, the hot fluid flows in the tube, and the heat is transferred to the air outside the tube through the tube wall and fins. The air is forcibly supplied by the ventilator. Air coolers do not require a water source and are suitable for water-scarce areas or occasions with high water requirements, such as some cooling processes in industries such as petrochemicals and power stations.

Liquid Cooler: The cooling liquid is transported to the heat exchanger by a pump. The cooling liquid flows in the tube or shell side and exchanges heat with the hot fluid outside the tube or in another channel, thereby reducing the temperature of the hot fluid. Common ones include shell and tube liquid coolers and plate liquid coolers.

Thermoelectric Cooler: Based on the Peltier effect, when direct current passes through a loop composed of two different semiconductor materials, heat absorption or heat release will occur at the node, thereby achieving cooling or heating. By reasonably designing the structure and connection method of the thermoelectric module, heat can be transferred from one object to another to achieve the purpose of cooling or heating.

Chiller: also known as Ice Water Host or freezer, is a device used to produce low-temperature chilled water, widely used in air-conditioning systems, industrial cooling and other fields.

Condenser

Evaporative Condenser: Evaporative condenser is a device that uses the evaporation of water to absorb heat to cool the refrigerant. It is mainly composed of cooling coils, spray systems, fans, water baffles, and water collection trays. During operation, high-temperature and high-pressure gaseous refrigerant flows into the cooling coils, and the spray system evenly sprinkles water on the surface of the coils to form a water film. The fan causes air to flow outside the coils, and part of the water in the water film evaporates, absorbing the heat of the refrigerant in the coils, causing it to cool and condense into liquid. The evaporated water vapor is carried away by the air, separated by the water baffle, and most of the water flows back to the water collection tray for recycling.

Air-cooled Condenser: Air-cooled condenser is mainly composed of fin tubes and fans. High-temperature and high-pressure gaseous refrigerant enters the fin tubes, and the fan forces air to flow through the outer surface of the fin tubes, and transfers the heat of the refrigerant to the air through the tube wall of the fin tubes, causing the refrigerant to cool and condense into liquid. After the air absorbs heat, the temperature rises and is discharged outdoors.

Electronic Gas Condenser: Electronic gas condenser is used in the electronics industry to cool high-purity electronic gas. The working principle is similar to that of ordinary condensers, but the material, sealing and cleanliness requirements are extremely high. The refrigeration cycle system is used for cooling, and the heat of the electronic gas is transferred to the cooling medium through the heat exchanger to cool, condense or liquefy it. In order to ensure the purity of the gas, special materials that do not react with the electronic gas are selected inside, and the equipment has good sealing to prevent the intrusion of external impurities.