Shell & Plate Heat Exchanger Advantages Technical Article0 pages
Stefan
Gavelin,
Tranter
International
AB, Sweden,
explains the
advantages
of using shell
and plate heat
exchangers
over other
designs.
Shell and plate,
worth the wait
P
late heat exchangers have been used for many years in the hydrocarbon industry. The advantages of plate heat exchangers
became more apparent with the introduction of the gasket free all welded plate heat exchangers in the early 1990s. However,
the traditional all welded heat exchangers with square/rectangular plates (the four corner grid design) suffer from thermal and
pressure fatigue due to the weak corner welds that often fail in dynamic processes, which results in unexpected shutdown and
maintenance. Therefore, this design should be replaced by more reliable shell and plate heat exchangers in order to improve reliability
and availability.
The benefits of using plate heat exchangers are well known. They are more efficient, occupy less space, are lighter and do not
need to be cleaned as often as shell and tube heat exchangers. When the material is exotic (high cost), the cost is less than for
traditional shell and tube heat exchangers due to lower heat transfer area requirements; therefore, costs are reduced where corrosive
fluids are present. The traditional welded plate heat exchangers available are of the four corner grid design and are manufactured
www.hydrocarbonengineering.comt
Reprinted from September2009 HydrocarbonEngineering
"