Shell-and-tube heat exchanger

Fluid flow simulation for a shell-and-tube style exchanger; The shell inlet is at the top rear and outlet in the foreground at the bottom
Shell and tube heat exchanger

A shell-and-tube heat exchanger is a class of heat exchanger designs.[1][2] It is the most common type of heat exchanger in oil refineries and other large chemical processes, and is suited for higher-pressure applications. As its name implies, this type of heat exchanger consists of a shell (a large pressure vessel) with a bundle of tubes inside it. One fluid runs through the tubes, and another fluid flows over the tubes (through the shell) to transfer heat between the two fluids. The set of tubes is called a tube bundle, and may be composed of several types of tubes: plain, longitudinally finned, etc.

  1. ^ Sadik Kakaç & Hongtan Liu (2002). Heat Exchangers: Selection, Rating and Thermal Design (2nd ed.). CRC Press. ISBN 0-8493-0902-6.
  2. ^ Perry, Robert H. & Green, Don W. (1984). Perry's Chemical Engineers' Handbook (6th ed.). McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0-07-049479-7.