Knowledgebase Article 1116

Question:

How do I specify that a heat exchanger is to be designed for external pressure?

Answer:

For standard pressure vessels, COMPRESS provides two inputs for pressure: one for internal pressure and one for external pressure. A positive numerical value is entered in both cases. But for heat exchangers only a single input is provided for pressure. The single input may take positive values for internal pressure, and will take negative values for external pressure. Note that there is provision for 8 possible sets of design conditions; each set is a combination of pressures and temperatures for the shell side and tube side chambers that exist concurrently. Component dialogs for heat exchangers show the design pressure and temperature but these values can be changed only through the Heat Exchanger Wizard.

The COMPRESS Manual provides an example of an exchanger designed for vacuum. Generally, a different set of conditions out of the 8 possible sets must be defined for internal or external pressure condition for each chamber. Refer to the COMPRESS Heat Exchanger Manual: select COMPRESS Help menu, select Heat Exchanger Help, select the chapter on the Shell Side Design Conditions and on the Tube Side Design Conditions and refer to discussion of inputs for Pressure.

You must activate additional sets of design conditions by "checking" additional options Design Condition Active on the Tube Side Design Conditions tab of the Heat Exchanger dialog. Enter the shell side and tube side pressure and temperature for each set of design conditions. Entering the general case of an exchanger designed for internal pressure plus a vacuum condition for shell side and tube side chambers will take 3 sets of design conditions.

For example, for the following case:

  • Tube side: 100 psi @ 500° F & full vacuum @ 300° F
  • Shell side: 250 psi @ 650° F & full vacuum @ 325° F

The following design conditions would be input into COMPRESS:

  Tube side Shell Side
Condition 1 - Operating 100 psi @ 500° F 250 psi @ 650° F
Condition 2 - Tube Side Vacuum −15 psi @ 300° F 250 psi @ 650° F
Condition 3 - Shell Side Vacuum: 100 psi @ 500° F −15 psi @ 325° F

The inputs in the Heat Exchanger Dialog should look like this:

Tube Side Design conditions:

Tube Side Design Conditions

Shell Side Design Conditions:

Shell Side Design Conditions