Brazed plate heat exchangers. Design, advantages and disadvantages (5 photos)

The operation of a plate heat exchanger - advantages, disadvantages, device

Heat exchangers include stamped plates that are not subject to corrosion processes. They can be used as air coolers or heaters. various kinds liquids such as fuel oil, oil, water, oil and others.

For right choice heating equipment you need to know how the plate heat exchanger works.

The power of the device can change if you increase or decrease the number of plates. This cannot be done in other types of appliances because the number of heat exchange tubes is constant in them. Gaskets used in the manufacture of devices strengthen the interlamellar channels. The rubber seals form two completely sealed channels for the fluids that circulate during the heat exchange.

Fluids that move towards each other produce a process in which the hot coolant transfers heat to the cold environment. The operation of a plate heat exchanger is based on this efficient principle.

The heat exchange equipment has a high percentage performance and power levels. It is adjusted if the number of plates changes. It is easy to care for such a device, disassemble and remove various contaminants. The advantage of such devices is that the plates become dirty rather slowly and do not require frequent cleaning. High-quality polishing of the plates, as well as high turbulence during the operation of the device, contributes to cleaning.

Flaws

But, like all devices, plate heat exchangers have their drawbacks. The main disadvantage is the use of low quality equipment. When choosing a low-quality device, the device becomes clogged in the shortest possible time, and ordinary cleaning, without the use of special chemical compositions, will not be effective. This shortcoming is probably the only one heat exchange equipment.

Sometimes plate heat exchangers cost more than shell and tube heat exchangers, which is a significant disadvantage in some cases.

We must not forget that the installation of heat exchange equipment requires the allocation of a separate small room. This fact can also become a disadvantage and a problem if the equipment is operated in a small space or a private house. Sometimes additional space was simply not provided for during the construction of the structure.

Despite some minor drawbacks, plate heat exchangers are very practical equipment that is very popular in today's building market.

Plate heat exchangers from Zavod Triumf today are one of the advanced and optimal solutions to heat transfer problems in small and large industries. Therefore, they are actively used by all industries.

Among the advantages of components, the following can be noted:

low production costs, device maintenance is not expensive;
ensuring efficient and high-quality heat transfer (the coefficient was increased by 3-5 times compared to smooth-tube heat exchangers);
cost-effectiveness due to the use of asymmetric channels;
the device occupies a small area, as it uses the smallest temperature difference;
among the main advantages plate heat exchangers– self-cleaning effect with high turbulence flow;
power is increased by expanding the plate pack.

The device is reliable and practical, mixing of media is excluded. The equipment is light in weight, which implies ease of washing and dismantling.

Equipment use

Benefits of using plate type heat exchangers in operation:

ease of installation, use and repair of the device;
to increase power, the use of additional plates is provided;
flow turbulence allows for the least contamination of the working surface;
small overall parameters of equipment allow saving production space and financial resources for maintenance;
seal configuration prevents fluids from mixing;
the complete set provides high resistance before corrosion processes.

The equipment is optimal. The device is selected according to the requirements of the customer. A wide range of insert profiles and dimensions are available. The maximum allowable load for equipment is 60 MW. The heat exchange surface covers from 5 to 1750 square meters.

Brazed plate heat exchangers used in refrigeration, air-conditioning equipment, acting as a condenser or evaporator. They can also be used indirectly in Food Industry as coolers or pasteurizers for dairy products, beer drinks, etc.

Often referred to as welded plate heat exchangers, which is correct in its own way, because the process of brazing stainless steel plates is similar to the welding process.

Brazed plate heat exchanger structure:

Brazed plate heat exchangers are made from stainless corrugated plates, which in turn are connected to each other, and eventually into a whole package by vacuum soldering, where copper or nickel solder is used. After all the plates have been soldered into a finished structure (the main thing is to do it correctly), branch pipes are attached to the outer plates, which are then connected to the pipeline systems of a house, cottage or industrial enterprise at the facility or in some construction.

When connecting plates in brazed plate heat exchangers, adjacent plates are connected so that their corrugations are directed in different directions. At some points, the walls of the plates are connected, this is needed as reference points (stiffness points) for the entire plate package. Additional soldering is performed at all these points. This is necessary so that the plate heat exchanger can withstand high pressure and not tear somewhere along the seam. Moreover, the pressure can reach 4 and even 5 MPa.

Brazed plate heat exchangers differ in many aspects in manufacturing from collapsible lamellar ones. This is due to the fact that, unlike collapsible in brazed heat exchangers, the edges of the plates are bent towards each other, in the place of the bend between the plates a copper plate is laid (its thickness is the same as the corrugated plate itself). After that, the entire package of plates is compressed by straighter and thicker plates on one side and the other, to which pipes are subsequently welded for connection to pipeline systems. At the end of the whole process of joining, pressing and welding, the plate pack is soldered in a special vacuum chamber.

AT brazed plate heat exchangers copper is used as solder (Copper brazed plate heat exchanger). If, on request, it is necessary to use some kind of aggressive liquid as a working medium in the heat exchanger, for example, ammonia, then I make nickel solder, and such heat exchangers are called nickel.

Advantages of brazed plate heat exchangers:

The main advantages of brazed plate heat exchangers are that they are small in size and very economical. This is due to the fact that brazed ones do not have clamping plates, therefore they are ten times lighter than collapsible heat exchangers, and also, in terms of price, brazed ones win on average a third of the price of collapsible ones, with the same power and nature of heat exchange.

Also brazed plate heat exchangers can withstand long-term temperature loads, even if the heating medium is above 150C.

When brazed plate heat exchangers are dirty, the cleaning and flushing process takes a maximum of 3 hours, and it is fashionable to carry out cleaning without disassembling the heat exchanger itself. This can be done by chemical washing using special chemicals that will not destroy the surface of the plates and copper (nickel) solder. Thus, the maintenance process does not require large interruptions in the operation of the entire heat supply system, and moreover, no routine maintenance is required.

Plate heat exchangers are specialized devices that transfer heat from a hot medium to a medium to be heated by means of corrugated plates. The plates themselves can be made of different materials such as graphite, copper, steel and so on. In this case, cold and hot layers are placed through one.

Pros and cons

The plate heat exchanger appeared relatively recently, but has already gained popularity among consumers due to its outstanding qualities. One of the biggest advantages is that the stackable heat exchangers are very compact and save a lot of installation space.

If there is a need to increase the number of plates, then the equipment does not have to be dismantled at all, since the required number of plates is added or reduced during operation, and this is a big plus.

In addition, all vane units are easy to clean, and their degree of contamination is the lowest. Operating costs and cash costs for energy supply are low. And the equipment is able to fully function at very low temperature indicators.

The application is quite effective if there is a need for low-grade heat and its transfer. Thanks to all of the above, plate heat exchangers remain the most technologically advanced and durable, and therefore the most in demand. Meet to different types plate heat exchangers, available at http://www.teploprofi.com/.

The disadvantages of these heat exchangers include the fact that when using a low-quality coolant, the heat exchanger will quickly become clogged. And in this case, you will have to systematically clean it using special agent. There are other types of heat exchangers, for example, shell and tube or brazed heat exchanger, but they are too narrow specialization, so they are not as popular as lamellar ones.

Scope of plate heat exchangers

Heat exchangers of this type are used for heating, cooling and condensation:

In heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems, including heating points.
In swimming pools, in hot water systems.
In case of separation of energy systems.
During the extraction and recovery of heat in the municipal sector.
In specialized refrigeration equipment, evaporators and condensers in cooling systems.
For the purpose of cooling different media for technological needs.
In food, automotive, steel, textile and many other areas of modern industry.