HRS Heat Exchangers are well known for producing compact, reliable heat exchanger solutions which offer exceptional levels of heat transfer and energy efficiency. The key to this is our use of corrugated tubes which offer a number of benefits, such as reducing fouling. What is less well known is that the corrugation profile is tailored to every individual heat exchanger design and application.
We have written before about the numerous benefits which corrugated tubes provide over the use of smooth tubes in tubular heat exchangers. The first is that corrugations create turbulent flow in the product, preventing viscous or suspended materials sticking to the wall of the tube, where they can form a boundary layer and prevent efficient heat transfer.
In turn, this improved efficiency means that corrugated tubes provide greater levels of heat transfer than smooth tubes of the same length, so corrugated tube heat exchangers can be up to half the size of their smooth tube equivalents. The turbulence created in the tube also reduces cleaning frequency and simplifies maintenance compared to other heat exchanger designs.
Not all corrugations are equal
You could be forgiven for thinking that we use a standard type of corrugated tube, and that the corrugation geometry (the size, angle, pitch and depth of the corrugations in the tube) is the same for all our heat exchangers. In fact, the corrugation geometry varies with each design.
To obtain optimal product flow, we need to optimise the corrugation profile in the heat exchanger tube, and this is determined by a number of factors, including: the physical and chemical properties of the product (which is why we like to test non-standard products at the start of the design process); the required throughput, heat transfer rate, pressure drop, etc.; the diameter of the tube and the construction material used.
While we have standard angles for each diameter of tube, these are then varied according to the other parameters above. During the initial design process, we determine the optimum corrugation design to provide the best thermal performance.
Once the design has been finalised, the details of the corrugations, as well as the rest of the design, are sent to the workshop for construction. As each design is different, we start with smooth steel tubes, which are then profiled according to the design specification. Throughout this process regular quality checks are carried out to ensure that the corrugated tubes meet the design parameters exactly.
Once the tubes have been profiled, they are then combined into the individual heat exchanger elements, and then into final products or integrated systems. This tailored approach means that every HRS heat exchanger is designed to deliver optimal heat transfer and energy efficiency throughout its working life.
