THE PLATE HEAT EXCHANGER: CONSTRUCTION AND DESIGN

The gasketed plate heat exchanger is now commonly used in a wide range of applications. This paper details the construction of a plate heat exchanger (PHE) and its principles of operation. The capabilities are summarised in terms of operating pressures, temperatures and throughputs, followed by a discussion of its thermal and hydrodynamic characteristics. The paper highlights dimensionless characteristics for single phase heat exchange and discusses how these may be used in the analysis of a plate heat exchanger design. Finally qualitative and quantitative comparisons with shell and tube are given. The paper shows that within its capability range, the PHE is an excellent heat exchanger.