Heat exchangers are used in a

wide variety of engineering applications like power

generation, waste heat recovery, manufacturing
industry, air-conditioning, refrigeration, space
applications, petrochemical industries etc. Heat
exchanger may be classified according to the
following main criteria.
1. Recuperators and Regenerators.
2. Transfer process: Direct contact and Indirect
contact.
3. Geometry of construction: tubes, plates and
extended surfaces.
4. Heat transfer mechanisms: single phase and two
phase.
5. Flow arrangements: parallel, counter and cross
flows.
Shell and tube

Heat exchangers find widespread use in power generation, chemical processing, electronics cooling, air -
conditioning, refrigeration, and automotive applications.

These are broadly used in refrigeration, air conditioning, space heating, power
stations, petrochemical plants, petroleum refineries, chemical plants and natural gas processing etc.

Heat transportation is occurs due to a spatial temperature difference. Whenever a temperature difference exists
in a
medium or between media, heat transfer must take place. Types of heat transfer devices are heat exchanger
(HE), heat
pipe, fins, radiators, condensers, etc. [14].A heat exchanger is a device in the habit of transfer heat between a
solid
objective and fluid, and vice versa. These are broadly used in refrigeration, air conditioning, space heating,
power
stations, petrochemical plants, petroleum refineries, chemical plants and natural gas processing etc. Energy
preservation
is critical for the improvement of world’s financial system. To use energy more professionally is one of
significant way
for saving energy. So the study of its optimization design is of immense significance for conserve energy in heat
exchange process. HE classification is shown in following figure [16].

This paper provides the solution to the problem of defining thermal efficiency for heat
exchangers based on the second law of thermodynamics. It is shown that corresponding
to each actual heat exchanger, there is an ideal heat exchanger that is a balanced
counter-flow heat exchanger. The ideal heat exchanger has the same UA, the same arithmetic
mean temperature difference, and the same cold to hot fluid inlet temperature ratio.
The ideal heat exchanger’s heat capacity rates are equal to the minimum heat capacity
rate of the actual heat exchanger. The ideal heat exchanger transfers the maximum
amount of heat, equal to the product of UA and arithmetic mean temperature difference,
and generates the minimum amount of entropy, making it the most efficient and least
irreversible heat exchanger. The heat exchanger efficiency is defined as the ratio of the
heat transferred in the actual heat exchanger to the heat that would be transferred in the
ideal heat exchanger. The concept of heat exchanger efficiency provides a new way for
the design and analysis of heat exchangers and heat exchanger networks.

HEAT EXCHANGER CLASSIFICATION

Due to the large number of heat exchanger configurations, a classification system was devised based upon the
basic operation, construction, heat transfer, and flow arrangements. The following classification as outlined by
Kakac and Liu (1998) will be discussed:
Recuperators and regenerators.
Transfer processes: direct contact or indirect contact.
Geometry of construction: tubes, plates, and extended surfaces.
Heat transfer mechanisms: single phase or two-phase flow.
Flow Arrangement: parallel flow, counter flow, or cross flow.

E. Boilers, Condensers, and Evaporators A condenser and evaporator are heat exchangers in which a change
of phase results. In a condenser, a vapor is converted into a liquid, while in an evaporator (and a boiler) liquid
is converted into a vapor. Due to the twophase nature of these devices, design is not as straight forward. Two
phase fluid flows are much more complex than their single-phase counterparts. Additional understanding of
the phase makes up and distribution is required to perform the necessary design calculations. In addition,
design correlations for two phase flows can be somewhat complicated.
In general, there are no moving parts in most such heat exchangers [17]. Flow arrangements, basically there are
three
flow arrangements are available. In parallel flow HE, the two fluids which are enter into HE in a same direction
and
travel in same direction. In counter flow HE, the fluids which are enter HE in opposite directions (ends). In
cross flow
HE, the fluids travel approximately at right angles to each other [17]. Indirect-contact HE, the fluid stream stay
separate
and heat transfer continuously through an impervious separating wall or else into and out of a wall in a transient
way.
Thus, preferably there is no direct contact between thermally interacting fluids. This kind of HE also referred to
as a
surface HE. Direct-contact HE, two fluid streams approaches direct contact, exchanges heat, and are after that
separates.
Common applications of a direct-contact exchanger engage mass transfer in addition to heat transfer, such as in
evaporative cooling and improvement. Tubular Heat Exchangers are in general built of circular tubes, although
elliptical,
rectangular, or Round or flat twisted tubes have also been used in some applications they are further classified as
Shell
and tube HE, Spiral tube heat exchanger and Double pipe (tube) HE [17]. Plate-Fin HE, This type of exchanger
has
corrugated fins or spacers sandwiched between parallel plates. A plate-fin exchanger with 600 fins/m (15.2
fins/inch)
provides about 1300m2 (400 ft2/ft3) of heat transfer surface area per cubic meter of volume occupied by the fins.
Tube-
Fin HE may be classified as conventional and specialized tube-fin exchangers. These are used extensively as
condensers
and evaporators in air conditioning and refrigeration applications.