Development and Evaluation of Enhanced Heat Transfer Tubes for Transitional Reynolds Number Flow

D.J. Kukulka, R. Smith
2012 Chemical Engineering Transactions  
Heat transfer enhancement plays an important role in improving energy efficiency and developing high performance thermal systems. A wide variety of industrial processes involve the transfer of heat energy and many of those processes employ old technology. These processes would be ideal candidates for a redesign that could achieve improved process performance. Increasing efficiency in process plant operations is always a priority with engineers constantly looking for new ways to reduce energy
more » ... uirements in process plants. Additionally, there is pressure from the government to reduce energy usage to meet economic and environmental goals. Utilization of an enhanced heat transfer tube is an effective method to be utilized in the development of high performance thermal systems. In many areas of the world the availability of process water is scarce and the lack of abundant cooling water volume causes major problems in process design. Extreme water availability risks exist across the Middle East and North Africa. Many countries in this region have a growing population and ambitious economic development plans, creating additional demands on water. Of particular importance to the global and regional economy is the use of large quantities of water in the production of oil and chemical products. Water scarcity could also lead to further increases in global oil prices and heightened political tensions to protect water supplies in the future. Use of enhanced heat transfer tubes to decrease process water requirements while at the same time provide higher levels of heat transfer in energy conversion processes are important design considerations. These were some of the goals that were considered when the Vipertex™ EHT series of enhanced tubes were developed. Enhanced heat transfer tubes must be considered in the design of high efficiency heat exchangers. Their use will allow operations to decrease the required cooling water mass flow rate in order to obtain the required heat transfer rate; allowing the heat exchangers to opera [...]
doi:10.3303/cet1229249 doaj:ca3402abde7a40ed9658d93c1d6e5677 fatcat:w3z5p6vkanbsdcpirmst42w2ve