THE INFLUENCE OF THE FIBRES ARRANGEMENT ON HEAT TRANSFER AND PRESSURE DROP OF POLYMERIC HOLLOW FIBRE HEAT EXCHANGERS

Abstract

Polymeric hollow fibre heat exchangers are the new alternative to common metal heat exchangers. These heat exchangers provide advantages, such as low weight, corrosion resistance, easy shaping and machining. Moreover, they consume less energy during their production. Therefore, they are environmentally friendly. The paper deals with shell & tube heat exchangers, which consist of hundreds of polymeric hollow fibres. The structure of the heat transfer surfaces has a significant influence on the effectivity of the use of the heat transfer area that is formed by the polymeric hollow fibres. The study gives a comparison of heat exchangers with an identical outer volume. The difference between them is in the structure of the heat transfer insert. One of the presented heat exchangers has fibres that are in-line and the second heat exchanger has staggered fibres. The study also pays attention to the difference in differential pressures caused by the difference in the structure of the heat transfer surfaces.