Abstract:
This research involves the investigation of the performance of a Shell and Tube Heat
Exchanger. The study is focused on examining the existing baffle designs. It also involves the
design of changing the baffle to improve thermal performance. The existing model of the
thermal performance of the baffle is studied and discussed. Limitations are highlighted and
based on those; the changed baffle is proposed.
Meshing of the heat exchanger is performed to observe the theoretical results. After that
experiments on the baffle are also performed. Experiments involve observing the results of the
temperature variation as well as pressure drops. It was observed that the conventional baffle
did not perform as per desire. Main issues were that the copper tubing was initially painted,
thus reducing performance. The paint was removed and the results slightly improved. There is
also the issue that the heat exchanger is parallel flow which is a lower performing type. We
can change the configuration to a counter flow to improve the performance. For future works,
it is suggested that the baffle design may be further improved with a pressurized heat exchanger
test bench as well as counter flow heat exchanger.
