Heat exchanger
piece of equipment built for efficient heat transfer from one medium to another
A heat exchanger is a system used to transfer heat between a source and a working fluid. Heat exchangers are used in both cooling and heating processes. The fluids may be separated by a solid wall to prevent mixing or they may be in direct contact. They are widely used in space heating, refrigeration, air conditioning, power stations, chemical plants, petrochemical plants, petroleum refineries, natural-gas processing, and sewage treatment. The classic example of a heat exchanger is found in an internal combustion engine in which a circulating fluid known as engine coolant flows through radiator coils and air flows past the coils, which cools the coolant and heats the incoming air. Another example is the heat sink, which is a passive heat exchanger that transfers the heat generated by an electronic or a mechanical device to a fluid medium, often air or a liquid coolant.
Flow arrangement
According to their flow arrangement, there are three primary classifications of heat exchangers:
In parallel-flow heat exchangers, the fluids enter the exchanger at the same end, and travel in parallel to one another to exit the other side. This configuration is preferable at the expense of efficiency when the two fluids are intended to reach exactly the same temperature, as it reduces thermal stress and produces a more uniform rate of heat transfer.
In counter-flow heat exchangers the fluids enter the exchanger from opposite ends. The counter current design is the most efficient, roughly 70-90% depending on flow rate and temperature differential, in that it can transfer the most heat from the heat (transfer) medium per unit mass due to the fact that the average temperature difference along any unit length is higher.
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This entry incorporates text from “Heat exchanger” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.