PF Online Feature Article - Sizing Heating and Cooling Coils

Zones

Suppliers

Products

Articles

Pgina 1 de 5

Forums

Events

Clinics

Subscribe

Contact Us

[ Article Archive | or use your back button ]

Sizing Heating and Cooling Coils

Why is it important for you to know this?...
By Richard Leopold, President
Vulcanium Corp.
Northbrook, IL

Twisting, turning tubes in tanks of steamy, colorful liquids. It is no wonder many

still consider designing heat transfer equipment a type of sorcery. Most finishers
work diligently at perfecting the chemical, physical and production details required About Vulcanium Corp. call
847-498-3111 or fax 847for consistent quality finishes, and they understand that temperature control is
498-3392.
critical. However, few fully understand how to specify heat transfer equipment and
how the design affects production and operating costs.
Specifying heating equipment does not need to be confusing. Factors that affect
how you boil a pot of water for spaghetti are the same as those influencing heat
transfer equipment in the finishing shop. How much water is in the pot? How long
should it take to heat up? How hot will the water get? How hot is the burner? How
much of the pot is in contact with the burner?

PF Send It - Send This URL To A Friend

These factors, along with the kind of material heated and how well it is mixed, are used to turn "a little of this and a pinch of
that" into precise measurements. Simple calculations determine the proper size heating coil and can help solve a heat-transfer
problem.
A few simple equations. Equation No. 1 combines all the factors that determine the surface area of the heat transfer device.
A = Q/U

T. A = area; Q = total heat input required; U = number describing the heat transfer coefficient or degree of

http://www.pfonline.com/articles/109902a.html

28/05/2009

PF Online Feature Article - Sizing Heating and Cooling Coils

Pgina 2 de 5

influence of materials, agitation, viscosity and other system details. The U-factor is usually developed from past experience.
T is a difference in temperature. There are actually two variations of T that
will be used in calculations. The first ( T1) is the difference in temperature of
the solution in the tank before and after heating.
For example, a solution is at 70F before heating and must be elevated to
140F: T1 = 140 - 70 =70F. This variation of T1 will be used in the equation
MCpDT.
The second variation of temperature (

T2) is between the heating medium

(steam or hot water) and the final temperature of the solution.

1. Typical heating/cooling coil style.

For example, suppose the final solution temperature is 140F and the
temperature of the steam at 10 psi is 239F. T2 = 239 - 140 = 99F. The value of
equation A = Q/U

T2 variation will be used in the basic

T.

As you calculate the required surface area of the heat transfer device, you see where each T value is used. To solve the
basic equation (A = Q/U T), you must first determine the value of Q, or the total heat input needed to elevate the solution
temperature to a final temperature.
Q is usually measured in Btus, which is the amount of heat needed to heat one pound of water one degree F. The amount of
heat needed to heat a tank can be determined using equation two: Q = MCp T. M= the weight of the solution to be heated;
Cp = the specific heat or factor that describes the relative amount of heat needed by different materials to be heated the
same amount; T1 = the difference in solution temperature before and after heating.
To see how Q is determined, consider the following situation: a 3 10-ft, well-agitated finishing tank contains 4 ft of water at
70F and the temperature needs to be raised to 140F.
Knowing there are 120 cu ft of water in the tank and that water weighs 62.4 lb/cu ft, the equation (Q = MCp
solved: M=120 cu ft 62.4 lb/cu ft = 7,488 lb

T) can be

Referring to Table I
Cp = 1.00 (specific heat of water)
T1 = 140 - 70 = 70F
Completing the calculation
Q = MCp T
Q = 7,488 1.00 70 = 524,160 Btus.

http://www.pfonline.com/articles/109902a.html

28/05/2009

PF Online Feature Article - Sizing Heating and Cooling Coils

Pgina 3 de 5

This heat requirement measure does not indicate how quickly the tank will be heated, however. In theory, if the tank were
perfectly insulated and used 1 Btu/hr for heating, it would take 60 years to heat one tank. In a finishing shop, heat up time is
usually two to four hours.
524,160 Btus 4 = 131,040 Btus/hr
Other factors affecting Q. In addition to Btus, other heat input is needed to make up for TABLE ISpecific Heat (Cp) of
heat lost to the environment as well as to materials in the tank such as parts and racks.
Commonly Used Materials
Material
In most finishing systems, heat lost to the atmosphere is more important than heat lost to Water (By Definition)
the work; therefore, heat lost to work is usually ignored. However, if one were to pickle
15 pct Sulfuric Acid
steel sheets that had been outside in very cold weather, an extra heating factor would
Oil
Steel
have to be considered.
Aluminum
Zinc
Heat losses to the air can be calculated using information in Table II.

Cp
1.00
0.88
0.42
0.11
0.23
0.09

The 3 10-ft tank surface loses 48,000 Btu/hr at 140F. This figure is derived from a heat loss figure of 1,600 Btu/hr/sq ft
(Table II, 140F) multiplied by the sq ft (1,600 30=48,000). This means you would have to add an additional 48,000 Btu/hr
to achieve the desired heat up.
If the heat-up time were four hours, the total Btus/hr needed would be 179,040 (131,010 + 48,000). The total Btus/hr
required is the final value of Q in the basic equation A = Q/U T.
Determining the U factor. The next factor in calculating heat transfer surface area is
the heat transfer coefficient or U factor. This varies depending on how well the tank is
mixed or agitated and how viscous the solution is. For most watery finishing solutions
Table III figures apply. For this example, steam will be used to heat the well-agitated
tank. Therefore, a U factor of 150 will be used.

TABLE IIHeat Losses to the

Air (up to 5 ft/sec air
velocity)

Tank
Temperature
(F)
80
Work temperature vs. media temperature. The second DT needed to calculate heat
transfer surface area is the temperature difference between the material being heated and 100
the media providing the heat. In finishing plants, heat is usually provided by hot water or 120
140
steam. For this example, steam is used. Using the data in Table IV, T2 can be
160
determined as shown.
180

Maximum
Heat Loss
(Btu/hr/sq ft)
200
500
900
1600
2750
4900

Assuming a steam pressure of 10 psig, the temperature of the steam delivered to the finishing tank would be 239F. Since the
solution will be heated to 140F, the T2 = 239-140 = 99F.
Completing the basic equation. Now that the basic values have been

http://www.pfonline.com/articles/109902a.html

TABLE III

28/05/2009

PF Online Feature Article - Sizing Heating and Cooling Coils

Pgina 4 de 5

determined for all of the variables in equation A = Q/U T, we can solve it.
In order to heat the solution to 140F in four hours you need the following:
Q = 179,040 Btu/hr
U = 150
T2 = 99F.

Typical Heat Transfer Coefficients"U"

Type
Heating
Medium
Steam
Hot Water

U-Value
(Agitated
Tank)
150
125

U-Value
(Still
Tank)
100
75

Completing the equation

A = 179,040/150 99 = 170,040/14,850 = 12.06 sq ft.
Surface area vs. heat transfer device configuration. When the surface area of a heat
transfer device has been calculated, the next consideration is the configuration of the
device. In many finishing plants in-tank heating/cooling coils are used. When a coil is to
be immersed, there are several major considerations.
Coils must be sized and installed so they do not interfere with material moving into or out
of the tank. The most common form of damage to an in-tank coil is mechanical. In tanks
with current-carrying racks, accidental contact between a rack and coil may cause an
electrical arc, resulting in a hole in the coil.

TABLE IV
Steam Pressure vs. Steam
Temp.
Steam
Pressure
(Psig)
5
10
25
50

Steam Temp.
(F)
227
239
266
297

Coils should be installed to ensure the entire coil body is immersed. This assures that the rated heat transfer surface is
operating at maximum effectiveness.
There are many coil styles available. A typical style is shown in Fig. 1. In a typical heat transfer coil a one-inch outside
diameter tubing is used. Tubes are welded on 1.5 inch centers between two manifolds, one of which includes an inlet and
outlet riser for the heating medium.
Before determining the length and width of the coil, measure the length of the tank wall and the solution depth. For this
example, the tank walls are 3-ft wide and 10-ft long, and the solution is 4-ft deep. Considering each possibility, the coil would
need to be sized to fit within an area that is 3 4 ft or one that is 10 4 ft.
In sizing heat transfer coils it is important to select the configuration
with the smallest width and longest length compatible with tank size to
provide the best heat distribution. Using data found in Table V, you can
determine that a coil width of 18.5 inches and a length of 48 inches
provides 13.2 sq ft of surface area. Moving further down the chart you
find a coil of 13.7 sq ft with a width of 12.5 inches and a length of 72
inches. It, too, has slightly more than the required 12.06 sq ft.
Although both coils will fit,we selected the 13.7-sq-ft coil which offers
the best combination of performance and economy. The coil would be

http://www.pfonline.com/articles/109902a.html

TABLE VHeat-Transfer Coil Sizes vs. Surface

Areas
Coil Dimensions
Surface Area
(sq ft)
4.6
5.6
6.7
6.8

Width
(Inches)
12.5
12.5
12.5
18.5

Length
(Inches)
24
30
36
24

Tubes
8
8
8
12

28/05/2009

PF Online Feature Article - Sizing Heating and Cooling Coils

installed along the 10-ft wall of the tank. If the installation had to be
along the 3-ft wall, a coil with 13.7 sq ft of surface area and dimensions
of 36.5 wide by 24 inches long (Table V) could be used. Assuming that
the solution depth would never go below 4 feet, this coil would function
properly.
The right calculations save time and money. Why is it important to
calculate surface area when determining the size of heating coils? Heat
transfer devices, particularly ones fabricated from a costly material such
as titanium or stainless steel, can be expensive. Since most heat
transfer devices are priced according to size, it simply does not pay to
purchase larger devices than are necessary to accomplish the task.
Using the information in this article will help determine how much area
you will need after you establish how long heat up should take and what
temperature you must maintain.
A little pencil pushing can go a long way toward improving operating
efficiency and lowering heat transfer equipment costs. PF

Pgina 5 de 5

8.4
8.8
9.4
10.0
10.9
11.5
11.5
13.2
13.6
13.7
13.7
14.2
15.1
15.8
16.3
16.8
16.8
17.2
17.8
18.0
19.2
19.5
19.5
20.0

18.5
12.5
24.5
18.5
12.5
24.5
30.5
18.5
24.5
12.5
36.5
30.5
12.5
42.5
18.5
30.5
36.5
12.5
24.5
48.5
12.5
18.5
42.5
36.5

30
48
24
36
60
30
24
48
36
72
24
30
84
24
60
36
30
96
48
24
108
72
30
36

12
8
16
12
8
16
20
12
16
8
24
20
8
28
12
20
24
8
16
32
8
12
28
24

Zones | Suppliers | Products | Articles | Forums | Events | Clinics | Subscribe | Advertise | Contact Us
Products Finishing Magazine. The Web Resource For Product Finishing Professionals
2008 Gardner Publications, Inc

http://www.pfonline.com/articles/109902a.html

28/05/2009