Plate heat exchanger good or bad?

Advantages of plate heat exchanger

1.Flat plate heat exchangers(plate and frame type) have the following advantages over widely used shell and tube heat exchangers.

2.High value of the overall heat transfer coefficient U-For the same two fluids, the plate heat exchanger usually has a much higher U value than the shell and tube heat exchanger or spiral heat exchanger.

3.Compact design-The overall heat transfer coefficient of the plate heat exchanger and the high value of the general compact configuration allow it to have the same heat capacity as its shell and tube heat exchangers five times the size

4.Easy to maintain and clean-As mentioned in the previous section, the plate and frame heat exchangers are removable and can be easily cleaned and maintained. Plate and frame heat exchangers can be designed to easily add or remove plates to expand or reduce their heat transfer capacity.

Temperature control-The plate heat exchanger works well, and the temperature difference between the hot fluid and the cold fluid is small.

Disadvantages of flat heat exchangers

1.Compared with other types of heat exchangers, plate heat exchangers also have the following disadvantages:

2.Potential leakage-Although plate and frame heat exchangers are designed to allow the plates and gaskets between them to be clamped firmly together, they still have greater leakage potential than shell and tube and spiral heat exchangers.

3.Higher pressure drop-the narrow passage of fluid flow leads to a higher overall heat transfer coefficient, which also leads to a higher pressure drop compared to shell and tube heat exchangers, and therefore higher pumping costs.

4.It is not good for large fluid temperature differences-plate heat exchangers cannot work like shell and tube heat exchangers when the temperature difference between the two fluids is large.

5. Does not work properly at very high fluid temperatures-Gaskets may impose temperature restrictions on plate and frame heat exchangers.