ChE 332

Fluid Mechanics and Heat Transfer

Spring, 2011

Washington State University

Voiland School of Chemical Engineering
and Bioengineering
Richard L. Zollars

Problem 13.3, McCabe, Smith and Harriott

A horizontal shell-and-tube condenser is to be used to condense saturated ammonia vapor at
145 lbf/in.2 abs (Th = 82F). The condenser has 19 steel tubes (1.5-in. OD, 1.3-in. ID) 14 ft long
through which cooling water is flowing. The tubes are arranged hexagonally on 2-in. centers.
The latent heat of ammonia at these conditions may be taken as 500 BTU/lb. The cooling water
enters at 70F. Determine the capacity of the condenser for these conditions.
Additional Questions
1. Explain in words what drives the process of condensation.
2. Explain the various ways in which you might enhance condensation rate for a given fluid on
a cold surface.
3. For a given tube material surface characteristics and fluid, which orientation (horizontal or
vertical) will give the higher amount of condensate per unit time and why?
SOLUTION
The arrangement of the tubes would look something like the following

Thus the condenser could be envisioned as a vertical stack of five tubes, plus two vertical stacks
of four tubes, plus two vertical stacks of three tubes. If we want the maximum capacity of this
condenser we would want water running through the tubes at a very high velocity. This would
mean that the water temperature would not change significantly and that the heat transfer
coefficient from the water to the tube wall (hi) would be very large, i.e., there is negligible
resistance to heat transfer between the water and the inside wall of the tubes.
The heat transfer coefficient for a stack of N tubes is given by equation 13.17 from the text.

 k 3f 2f g
hN 0.729
N To Do f

1/ 4

To compute the heat transfer coefficient on the outside of the tubes well need the thermal
conductivity of liquid ammonia, its density and viscosity, and the temperature drop across the
condensate film. The thermal conductivity (kf = 0.29BTU/hrftF) and viscosity (f = 0.1 cP at
80F) can be found in Appendices 13 and 9, respectively. The density of liquid ammonia is
f = 0.618 g/cm3 from Perrys Handbook. We now have to determine a value for the temperature
drop across the condensate film. We know that the outer surface of the film will be at 82F. The
inner temperature of the film will be close to the water temperature but somewhat higher due to
the T through the tube wall. Assume a T of 2F through the tube wall (this will have to be
checked later). Thus the outer tube surface would be at a temperature of 72F and To = 82 72
= 10F. Thus the heat transfer coefficient for a stack of five tubes would be
3
3 2

1lbm 30.48 cm
1 hr
BTU
g
ft
BTU

32.174 2 500
0.29 hr ft F 3600 s 0.618 cm 3 453.593 g
ft
lbm
s

h5 0.729

1lbm
1 ft
30.48 cm
g

0.1 10 2
5 10 F 1.5 in

in
cm
s
g
ft
12
453
.
593

BTU
BTU
h5 0.303
1090
2
s ft F
hr ft 2 F

The same calculation can be repeated for the stack of four and three tubes to get h3 =
1239 BTU/hrft2F and h4 = 1153 BTU/hrft2F. We still need to include the resistance through
the tube wall. Start by getting an average heat transfer coefficient for a single pipe. Thus

h5 5 Asingle pipe h4 8 Asingle pipe h3 6 Asingle pipe

5 Asingle pipe 8 Asingle pipe 6 Asingle pipe

BTU
BTU
BTU
8 1153
6 1239

5 1090
2
2
2
hr ft F
hr ft F
hr ft F
BTU

h
1164
19
hr ft 2 F
Note that the average has been taken by weighting the heat transfer coefficients by the total area
over which that heat transfer coefficient is applicable. We now can compute an overall average
heat transfer coefficient

1/ 4

1
Uo

1
Uo
Uo

1 ft
x D 1
12 in
1.5 in
1

w o
BTU
k w DL h
1164 BTU
26.2

hr ft 2 F
hr ft F 1.5 in 1.3 in

ln 1.5 in
1.3 in

1
1
1

BTU
BTU
BTU
2929
1164
833
2
2
hr ft F
hr ft F
hr ft 2 F
BTU
833
hr ft 2 F
0.1in

The total rate of condensation then should equal the rate of heat transfer. So

m U o Ahx T

1 ft
BTU
BTU
19 1.5 in
833
14 ft 82 F 70 F
m 500
2

12 in
lbm
hr ft F

lb
m 2088 m
hr

We should check our assumption about To that was used to determine the heat transfer
coefficient for the tubes. Equating the heat transfer overall with that through the liquid gives
U o Ahx Tgas Twater h Ahx Tgas Touter wall
833

BTU
BTU
82 F 70 F 1164
82 F Touter wall
2
2
hr ft F
hr ft F

Touter wall 73.4 F

We had initially estimated this to be 72F. Thus the value for To is now 82F 73.4F = 8.6F.
Using this value for To then gives values for h5, h4 and h3 of 1139, 1204, and
1294 BTU/hrft2F, respectively. This gives an average heat transfer coefficient of
1215 BTU/hrft2F and an average overall heat transfer coefficient of 859 BTU/hrft2F. The
condensation rate then is 2150 lbm/hr. This allows us to recheck our assumption concerning To.
U o Ahx Tgas Twater h Ahx Tgas Touter wall
859

BTU
BTU
82 F 70 F 1215
82 F Touter wall
2
2
hr ft F
hr ft F

Touter wall 73.5 F

This is close enough to our prior estimate that we can accept the last result giving a capacity of
2150 lbm/hr for the condenser.
Additional Questions
1) As the temperature is lowered the vapor pressure of any material also goes down. When
the vapor pressure becomes equal to the partial pressure of that component in a gas the
component will condense. Before a vapor can condense, however, it must give up its
latent heat of vaporization. Thus condensation is ultimately driven by a lowering of the
total energy of the vapor.
2) There are a number of things that can be done to increase the rate of condensation,
increase the heat transfer coefficient, increase the area and increase the temperature
difference. The heat transfer coefficient can be increased by keeping the condensate film
as thin as possible. This can be done by using horizontal tubes rather than vertical,
treating the surface so that the condensing liquid does not wet the surface so that you get
dropwise condensation, or mechanically wiping the surface to remove the condensation.
3) Horizontal tubes will typically give greater condensation rates. This is because the fluid
flows off of the surface more rapidly, leaving a thinner condensate film and increasing
the heat transfer coefficient.