International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology (IJMET)

Volume 9, Issue 7, July 2018, pp. 736–745, Article ID: IJMET_09_07_077

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ISSN Print: 0976-6340 and ISSN Online: 0976-6359

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THERMAL DESIGN OF SPIRAL PLATE HEAT

EXCHANGER THROUGH NUMERICAL
MODELLING
Venkateswara Rao Metta, Dr. Ramakrishna Konijeti and Abhishek Dasore
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Koneru Lakshmaiah Education Foundation, Greenfields, Vaddeswaram,
Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India

ABSTRACT
Spiral plate heat exchangers allow large areas of heat exchange surface in a small
space. Thermal design of spiral plate heat exchangers is complicated in relative to
that of ordinary double pipe or plate type heat exchangers. Numerical approach can
be regarded as an appreciated technique for rapid designing of spiral plate heat
exchangers. Hence in the present work, numerical modelling approach is explained in
thermal design of a spiral plate heat exchangers. The temperature variation along the
heat exchanger and heat transfer rate has been estimated and presented. Optimal
design.
Key words: Spiral plate heat exchangers, Temperature distribution, Numerical
modelling, Optimal design.
Cite this Article: Venkateswara Rao Metta, Dr. Ramakrishna Konijeti and Abhishek
Dasore, Thermal Design of Spiral Plate Heat Exchanger Through Numerical
Modelling, International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology 9(7),
2018, pp. 736–745.
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1. INTRODUCTION
A heat exchanger is one of the most common and important equipment using in industry for
heat recovery or heat removal. A spiral heat exchanger (SHE), may refer to a helical (coiled)
tube configuration, more generally, the term refers to a pair of flat surfaces that are coiled to
form the two channels in a counter-flow arrangement. Each of the two channels has one long
curved path. Wu dongwu [1] has given the geometrical calculations for SHE by considering
the Archimedean spiral as the base reference. First spiral heat exchanger was produced in
Switzerland by Rosenblad Company in 1932. Louis C. Burmeister [2] has derived formula for
the dependence of heat exchanger effectiveness on the number of transfer units for a SHE
with equal capacitance rates. Probal Guha et al [3] has proposed a mathematical model by
using Shah London empirical equation for Nusselt number design parameters are optimized.
In this survey the brief description about the spiral plate heat exchanger is given which
includes various design approaches and calculation methods for the heat transfer rate of the

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 Thermal Design of Spiral Plate Heat Exchanger Through Numerical Modelling

spiral plate heat exchanger. M. Picόn-Núñez et al [4] presented a shortcut method for the
sizing of SHE. Picón-Núñez M et al [5] shows the application of a graphical design tool
originally developed for shell and tube heat exchangers and extended to the case of compact
units. M. Bidabadi et al [6] investigated optimisation methods based on genetic algorithms
(GAs) for SHE. D. K. Nguyen et al [7] described the effect of solid heat conduction on heat
transfer performance of a SHE. Piotr Kolasiński et al [8] explained the use of SHE in the orc
domestic systems. Og˘uz Emrah Turgut et al [9] study deals with global best algorithm based
thermal design of SHE and heat pipes. Th. Bes et al [10] developed an analytical solution
which describes the thermal behaviour of the counter current SHE. A. B. Jarzębski [11]
presented simple expressions for calculating approximate dimensions of SHE to give
minimum annual cost. Th. bes et al [12] developed analytical method for the accurate
calculation of the temperature changes in counter current flow SHE. Th. bes et al [13] done an
analytical investigation of heat transfer in a counter flow SHE. M.R. Haque [14] described
about Minimizing fouling in SHE. Petro Kapustenko et al [15] developed an interactive
software modelling of heat exchangers in phosphoric acid production processes. Kaliannan
Saravanan et al [16-17] presented an experimental investigation of convective heat transfer
co-efficient for electrolytes using SHE.
Kaliannan Saravanan et al [18] investigated the heat transfer coefficients of benzene in a
SHE. Rangasamy Rajavel et al [19] investigated heat transfer coefficients in a SHE. S.
Ramachandran et al [20] studied heat transfer in a SHE for water – palm oil two phase
system. M. Thirumarimurugan et al [21] conducted experimental and simulation studies on
SHE for miscible system using MATLAB. LI Meng Li et al [22] The comprehensive failure
analysis was taken to investigation. Kondhalkar G. E [23] discusses about the effective use of
spiral tube heat exchanger in oil extraction process. S. Sathiyan et al [24] work presented a
new predictive correlation for heat transfer to immiscible liquid-liquid mixtures in a SHE. A.
Mohamed Shabiulla et al [25] presented an experimental investigation of Water- Methanol
system in a SHE. Kulkarni Pavan Venkatesh et al [26] performed Design and Analysis of a
Double Spiral Counter Flow Heat Exchanger Using CFD.
Shuobing Yang et al [27] proposed a model for SHE. Prakash J Sakariya et al [28]
performed Analysis of Heat Transfer in SHE Using Experimental and CFD. Edris
Ebrahimzadeh et al [29] conducted Theoretical and Experimental Analysis of Dynamic Plate
Heat Exchanger. Ryohei Fujii et al [30] performed Nonlinear remote temperature control of
spiral heat exchanger. R. W. Tapre et al [31,37] explained about the heat transfer rate in SHE.
Duc-Khuyen Nguyen et al [32] described about the Decrement in heat transfer effectiveness
due to solid heat conduction for a counter-current SHE. Jamshid Khorshidi et al [33]
demonstrated the performance and applications of a SHE. Manoj.V et al [34] presented the
heat transfer enhancement using Aluminium oxide-water nanofluid in a SHE. Tisekar Salman
W et al [35] focused on use of corrugated plate heat exchanger for water as a working fluid.
Susheel S. Pote et al [36] studied the experimental method for finding the performance of
SHE over the shell and tube heat exchanger. Martin Martinez Garcia et al [38] proposed a
numerical method for rating thermal performance in spiral plate heat exchangers. J. F. Devois
et al [39] performed a numerical 2D modelling of spiral plate heat exchanger. R Rajavel [40]
performed both experimental and numerical analysis and derived an empirical equation for
Nusselt number. M.D. Kathir Kaman et al [41] performed analysis on SHE for cooling
applications. Mohan vishal verma et al [42] performed an experimental procedure by
fabricating spiral plate heat exchanger with stainless steel.
SHE dominates other heat exchangers, by its unique features in particular compact size,
low tendency of fouling, easy fabrication and high efficiency. Now-a-days SHE found wide

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 Venkateswara Rao Metta, Dr. Ramakrishna Konijeti and Abhishek Dasore

applications in paper, petrochemical, food and sugar industries. The major setbacks lie in its
design. Hence in the present work authors modeled and analyzed SHE numerically and
investigated the temperature distribution in spiral plate heat exchanger.

2. GEOMETRICAL MODELLING
Wu dongwu 2003 [1] method of calculating the geometry is simple to understand and the
results obtained will have more accuracy when compared with Louis C. Burmeister 2006 [3]
and A. B. Jarzebski 1984 [11]. In this work Wu dongwu 2003 [1] work is adopted to calculate
the geometry of the spiral plate heat exchanger. Figure 1 gives the cross-sectional view of
spiral plate heat exchanger.

Figure 1 A cross sectional view of spiral plate heat exchanger [1]

Table 1 Specifications of spiral plate heat exchanger

Parameter Value
Semicircle diameter of the central line 125 mm
Width of the channel plate 0.2 m
Thickness of the plate 1 mm
Material of the plate Stainless steel
Pole radius from center 40 mm
Central line length 9m
Number of turns 7
Outer diameter of the heat exchanger 0.7 m

2.1. Calculation Methodology

The heat flow is modeled in the direction normal to the plate by conduction and convection.
Heat transfer coefficient along the plate can be calculated by considering following
assumptions: uniform temperature across the channel, fully developed flow, isotropic metal,
incompressible fluids, no heat sources, no heat losses to the surroundings. By first law of
thermodynamics,
Heat transfer rate on hot side can be calculated as
       
Heat transfer rate on cold side can be calculated as

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 Thermal Design of Spiral Plate Heat Exchanger Through Numerical Modelling

       

Using equations (1) & (2), the overall heat transfer coefficient is obtained from the
relation

 
  

3. NUMERICAL MODELLING
A spiral plate heat exchanger is modelled to account for the fluid flow and heat transfer
characteristics under the specified hot and cold fluid flow rates. A CFD software package is
used to predict the temperature distribution of fluids in the spiral plate heat exchanger for a set
of hot and cold fluid flow rates. The inlet temperatures of cold and hot fluids are maintained
constant, and the outlet temperatures for the hot and cold fluids are calculated for counter
flow configurations. The three-dimensional governing equations for momentum, continuity
and heat transfer are solved using a finite volume based computational fluid dynamics code. A
data of temperatures and heat transfer coefficients at various locations along the length of the
plates are extracted. However, the numerical simulation of the problem is described in detail
at the preceding steps.
Step 1: Geometries for the spiral plate heat exchanger are formed in the ANSYS design
modeler. Properties of the spiral plate material are set to those of stainless steel. Figure 2
gives the final design of spiral plate heat exchanger.

Table 2 Input data for the hot and cold fluids of spiral plate heat exchanger
Flow rate Specific heat Inlet temperature
Fluid
(kg/s) (J/kg K) (K)
Nitrobenzene 0.8 1400 353
Water 0.5 4180 293
Step 2: Meshing is carried out to represent a finite number of elements of the geometric
structure. The presence of more elements ensures higher accuracy. Uniform coarse mesh is
used for spiral plate heat exchanger for meshing and a mesh size of 1mm is considered. The
3D meshed CFD model is shown in Figure 3.
Step 3: It is critical to specify the correct or realistic boundary conditions. At the inlet, a
uniform velocity boundary condition is specified. Velocity inlet boundary conditions are used
to define the flow velocity, along with other relevant scalar properties of the flow, at the flow
inlets.

Figure 2. Spiral plate heat exchanger

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 Venkateswara Rao Metta, Dr. Ramakrishna Konijeti and Abhishek Dasore

The pressure outlet boundary conditions require the specification of gauge pressure at the
outlet. The K-model is employed for turbulence modeling in the simulation of flows.

Figure 3 Mesh view of spiral plate heat exchanger

Step 4: Simulations are performed using Nitrobenzene at 800 C as hot fluid and water at 200C
as cold fluid. For a hot and cold fluid flow rates, the temperatures and the heat transfer
coefficients at the outlet of hot and cold fluids are noted. The final temperature contour results
after the simulations are given in the Figures 3.
It can be seen that the cold fluid enters into the outer periphery of the SPHE with a
temperature of 20 0C and leaves at the central core of the heat exchanger. On the other hand,
the hot fluid enters into the central core of the heat exchanger with a temperature of 800 C and
leaves it on the outer periphery of the heat exchanger.

4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

The variation of temperature of hot fluid and cold fluid along the length of the central line of
the spiral passage for different hot and cold fluid flow rates is as shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4 Contours of temperature distribution for hot and cold fluids in SPHE

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 Thermal Design of Spiral Plate Heat Exchanger Through Numerical Modelling

360

350

340

Temperature, K
330
Hot fluid
Cold fluid
320

310

300

290
0 2 4 6 8

Length of the spiral plate, m

Figure 5 Variation of hot and cold fluid temperature (K)

It is observed from Figure 5, that the temperature of the hot fluid decreases and cold fluid
temperature increases along the length of the spiral plate heat exchanger.

Table 3 Simulated results

Outlet temperature Heat Transfer Heat Transfer rate
Fluid
(K) Coefficient (kW)
Nitrobenzene (Hot) 353 1434.52 26.92
Water (Cold) 293 217.25 26.906

4.1. Determination of length of the spiral plate heat exchanger

Log mean temperature difference (LMTD)
      
  
   (1)
  
 
       
    
 
  
Over all heat transfer coefficient (U)

      (2)
 
  


           

 
 

Area of the spiral plate (A)


 

 (3)


    
  

Optimal length of the spiral plate

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 Venkateswara Rao Metta, Dr. Ramakrishna Konijeti and Abhishek Dasore


 

 (4)

     
  

Numerically obtained length of the spiral plate value finds good agreement with that of
the geometrical values considered with an error of 

5. CONCLUSIONS
The following conclusions can be inferred from this work
 Spiral plate heat exchangers are designed and analyzed numerically.
 Numerical approach is a cost-effective method to choose the ideal fluid system for
spiral plate heat exchanger.
 Based on the inlet temperatures and the flow rates of the hot and the cold streams, the
outlet temperatures and heat transfer coefficient have been estimated.
 Numerically obtained length of the spiral plate value finds good agreement with that of the
geometrically considered length with an error of 

NOMENCLATURE
A Area of spiral plate heat exchanger,  
C Specific heat, 
H Width of spiral plate, 
h Heat transfer coefficient,  
 
k Thermal conductivity, 
L Length of spiral plate, 
m 
Mass flow rate, 

Q Rate of heat transfer, 

T Temperature, 
t Thickness of the plate, 
U Overall heat transfer coefficient,  
Subscripts
h Hot fluid
c Cold fluid
i Inlet
o Outlet
w Wall

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