ABSTRACT

It is well known that in arid regions like Rajasthan the use of Air Cooled Heat
Exchange (ACHE) systems is inevitable. This paper presents a brief overview on
the development of air-cooled heat exchange system and possibilities of efficiency
improvement. The efficiency improvement in view of its applicability is
considered in this paper. For this purpose, tube bundles with different shapes are
considered, namely, elliptical and the widely employed circular geometry.
Furthermore, validation of the employed code indicates a possible set-up that can
be adopted for analyzing the heat exchange from these tubes with air. A detailed
analysis has clearly revealed the potential or possibilities of improvement in heat
transfer in ACHE. Finally, a planned experiment is also described for further
evaluation of this system.
 PREFACE

Today our country is passing through a critical stage employment is very

scarce, growing number of educated people remain unemployed for long time. Our
government is trying to do its best to provide employment, but the government has
its own limitation. So self-employment is very important aspect according to
present situation.

To provide one with suitable guidance in this direction, project work has
been included in our curriculum of the final year of diploma course. This project
work reflects the theoretical and practical knowledge gained by the student during
their studentship in the institute. It deals with an important aspect in the curriculum
of a student in that the student should be able to design on his own the whole
aspects of the component taken at hand and be able to suggest new ideas to
manufacture a given component on the basis of economically justified ground in
the light of improved techniques.

Being a student of final year Mechanical Engineering we have

selected “AIR COOLED HEAT EXCHANGER” unit which is used in Home
automation system ,with the above ends in views. This subject unique importance
in the field of Mechanical.
 AIR COOLED HEAT EXCHANGER

INTRODUCTION

“Air Cooled Heat Exchangers” are designed and constructed so that the hot
process fluid to be cooled flows through a tube while the cooling air flows across
the outer surface to remove heat. The cooling air is propelled by fans in either a
forced draft or induced draft configuration. These Heat Exchangers can be Cover
Plate / Plug Box and pipe bend models. Tube materials can be carbon or low alloy
steel,copper,copper alloys and nickel alloys. Fin materials which are attached to
the outer surface of tubes in order to create large surface area, can be of Carbon
steel, Aluminum, Marine grade Aluminum and Copper Materials. Fin Type can be
Plain or Crimped with L or G Type, Extruded or Embedded. Special imported
light-duty fans are fitted for outdoor applications. Designing is done considering
fouling, condensation, velocity of the airflow and enhanced tube surface area being
provided by fins. The mechanical design of the exchanger takes almost care of the
process conditions including pressure, temperature, corrosively
STANDARDS AIR USED FOR AIR-COOLED EXCHANGERS & FINNED
TUBES

Standards Air Used For Air-Cooled Exchangers

First, almost all air coolers are built to Sect. VIII of the ASME Code, since
they are pressure vessels. For refinery and petrochemical services most customers
include API 661 (Air-Cooled Heat Exchangers for General Refinery Service)
in their specifications. This API spec is very good since it includes all the
necessary information to properly specify a cooler and provides for a high level of
minimum quality in the design and fabrication of the cooler. In the back it has a
very good checklist where a customer can decide exactly what type construction is
needed and what options are important. These include such items as galvanizing
vs. painting, types of headers, maintenance walkways and platforms, controls, and
external loads on the cooler. The following details refer mostly to the API
specifications.

What kinds of finned tubes are used?

The tubes can be of virtually any material available, such as carbon steel,
stainless steel, Admiralty brass, or more exotic alloys. The minimum preferred
outside diameter is one inch. Some manufacturers sometimes use smaller tubes, but
most of the process coolers have tubes which are 1.0", 1.25", or 1.5" OD. The
minimum tube wall thicknesses vary with the material. In some cases the design
pressure and design temperature of the exchanger govern the minimum thickness.

The fins are almost always of aluminum material. The most common type of
fin is the helically wrapped, L-footed type. These are used where the process
temperatures are below about 350 deg. F. The API specification calls for cast zinc
bands at the ends of the tubes to prevent the fins from unwrapping. Some of the
better manufacturers also use cast zinc bands at the tube supports. For higher
process temperatures, most customers prefer either embedded or extruded fins. The
embedded fins have the highest temperature capabilities. They are made by a
process which cuts a helical groove in the OD of the tube, wraps the fin into the
groove, then rolls the upset metal from the tube back against the fin to lock it into
place. The tube wall must be thicker with embedded fins because of the groove.

In some applications customers often prefer extruded fins. Extruded fins are
made by putting an aluminum sleeve (sometimes called a muff) over the tube, then
passing the tube through a machine which has rollers which squish the aluminum
out to form fins. The process is similar to a thread-rolling machine. The end result
is a fin which has extremely good contact with the tube, and no crevices to allow
corrosion to start on the tube OD. Extruded fins are often used in coastal locations
or on offshore platforms for this reason.

Some manufacturers make some rather startling claims for their "special"
finned tubes. These modifications usually involve some kind of wrinkles or cuts in
the fins to enhance air turbulence. We believe this is a lot of baloney. The cost of
this extra turbulence is increased static pressure for the fan(s) to overcome. These
claims are sometimes just too fantastic to be considered seriously.

Classification of Heat Exchangers:-

(1) A Shell and tube heat exchanger

(2) A single plate heat exchanger
(3) Adiabatic wheel heat exchanger
 (4) Plate fin heat exchanger

TYPES OF HEAT EXCHANGERS

Shell and tube heat exchanger

A Shell and Tube heat exchanger

Shell and tube heat exchangers consist of a series of tubes. One set of these
tubes contains the fluid that must be either heated or cooled. The second fluid runs
over the tubes that are being heated or cooled so that it can either provide the heat
or absorb the heat required. A set of tubes is called the tube bundle and can be
made up of several types of tubes: plain, longitudinally finned, etc. Shell and tube
heat exchangers are typically used for high-pressure applications (with pressures
greater than 30 bar and temperatures greater than 260 °C).[2] This is because the
shell and tube heat exchangers are robust due to their shape.

There are several thermal design features that are to be taken into account
when designing the tubes in the shell and tube heat exchangers. These include:

● Tube diameter: Using a small tube diameter makes the heat exchanger both
economical and compact. However, it is more likely for the heat exchanger to
foul up faster and the small size makes mechanical cleaning of the fouling
difficult. To prevail over the fouling and cleaning problems, larger tube
diameters can be used. Thus to determine the tube diameter, the available
space, cost and the fouling nature of the fluids must be considered.
● Tube thickness: The thickness of the wall of the tubes is usually determined
to ensure:
o There is enough room for corrosion
o That flow-induced vibration has resistance
o Axial strength
o Availability of spare parts
o Hoop strength (to withstand internal tube pressure)
o Buckling strength (to withstand overpressure in the shell)
● Tube length: heat exchangers are usually cheaper when they have a smaller
shell diameter and a long tube length. Thus, typically there is an aim to make
the heat exchanger as long as physically possible whilst not exceeding
production capabilities.
● Tube pitch: when designing the tubes, it is practical to ensure that the tube
pitch (i.e., the centre-centre distance of adjoining tubes) is not less than 1.25
times the tubes' outside diameter.
● Tube corrugation: this type of tubes, mainly used for the inner tubes,
increases the turbulence of the fluids and the effect is very important in the
heat transfer giving a better performance.
● Tube Layout: refers to how tubes are positioned within the shell. There are
four main types of tube layout, which are, triangular (30°), rotated triangular
(60°), square (90°) and rotated square (45°).