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marcot
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Turbulators in Heat Exchangers

03/31/2014 8:29 AM

Dear mechanical and process engineers,

My background is electrical so I need guidance with this problem. I have to add turbulators in the cooling plate used in my product. The tubes are copper and I specified an all copper twisted wire model.

As always, the objective is to extract more heat in a smaller volume, especially when glycol (both types, variable concentration) is used with the water. I realize that the pressure drop will increase.

My questions are:

  • Does anyone have experience with these devices?
  • Do they affect the system reliability? (increase corrosion, ware...)
  • Do they reduce deposit formation in the tubes as claimed?
  • Is this model superior to a "spring" one?

I will be testing the performances in a few weeks but would like to know the long term effect as much as possible before committing to the design.
Thank you for your time

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Pathfinder Tags: cold plate heat exchanger turbulator
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PWSlack
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#1

Re: Turbulators in heat exchangers

03/31/2014 8:48 AM

<...Do they affect...corrosion, wear...>

If the material is the same as that of the tubes, then, no, there will be very little additional corrosion on a galvanic basis beyond what is taking place already. If the metals are different, then corrosion may be expected.

As one is increasing the tubulence in the tubes then there is going to be additional drag and it is possible that vibration will increase. Anywhere two metal surfaces that are moving while in contact with each other will be a place where there is potential for wear.

<...Do they reduce deposit formation in the tubes as claimed?...>

It is impossible to say without details of the settlable solids in the fluid.

  • Anywhere where velocity is reduced might be a place for increased solids build-up on the heat exchange surfaces.
  • If the product were strawberry jam one might reasonably expect some of the larger strawberries to be strained out of the fluid by the device.
  • If the product were china clay slurry or cake mix, one might reasonably expect some solids build-up along the static streamline matrix within the device, leading to an increase in pressure drop.
  • If the product were solids-free water then no solids build up would be predicted.
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marcot
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#2
In reply to #1

Re: Turbulators in heat exchangers

03/31/2014 8:52 AM

Thank you.

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phoenix911
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#3

Re: Turbulators in Heat Exchangers

03/31/2014 9:15 AM

Adding turbulators to a plate.....?

PWSlack has some good responses....... but not knowing what the properties of what you are running, maybe we should address that also.

Just putting this out there,

Are your plates miss-sized........ redoing the plates with a smaller gap, may would help. But not knowing the physical properties its difficult to say.

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marcot
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#4
In reply to #3

Re: Turbulators in Heat Exchangers

04/01/2014 8:32 AM

Hello Phoenix,

This is not a plate heat exchanger but a cold plate with copper tubing running through. This Wakefield one is similar to the one I use. Tubing is 3/8" ID.

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MJCronin
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#5

Re: Turbulators in Heat Exchangers

04/01/2014 3:10 PM

Turbulators are components that work inside heat exchanger tubes

They transform the flow of gas or liquid from "laminar" to "turbulent"; their presence slows this flow, improves heat transfer speed and makes exchanger heating homogeneous. They increase to pressure drop over the drop expected for tubing without turbulators

They are often used in a scheme of tube plugging in order to ensure turbulent flow.

Because you are an electrical engineer performing the work of a process or mechanical engineer, I assume that your boss has an MBA and that is was his idea for you to justify the need for these components...... Is that true ?

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marcot
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#6
In reply to #5

Re: Turbulators in Heat Exchangers

04/01/2014 3:42 PM

Product development in a small firm. We don't have 50 engineers with different backgrounds working with us. Since this is not a safety crytical aspect of our product but simply a performance enhancement, I can give it a try in my test unit without getting anybody frustrated.

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