Heat transfer coefficients of shell and coiled tube heat exchangers

In the present study, the heat transfer coefficients of shell and helically coiled tube heat exchangers were investigated experimentally. Three heat exchangers with different coil pitches were selected as test section for both parallel-flow and counter-flow configurations. All the required parameters like inlet and outlet temperatures of tube-side and shell-side fluids, flow rate of fluids, etc. were measured using appropriate instruments. Totally, 75 test runs were performed from which the tube-side and shell-side heat transfer coefficients were calculated. Empirical correlations were proposed for shell-side and tube-side. The calculated heat transfer coefficients of tube-side were also compared to the existing correlations for other boundary conditions and a reasonable agreement was observed. (C) 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.