HeatExchangersinPowerGeneration.docVIP

Chapter 29 Draft 1  CHAPTER 29 HEAT EXCHANGERS IN POWER GENERATION Stanley Yokell and Carl F. Andreone  1. INTRODUCTION This chapter describes shell-and-tube and plate and frame types of power plant heat exchangers and tubular closed feedwater heaters and the language that applies to them. It defines the design point used to establish exchanger surface and suggests suitable exchanger configurations for various design-point conditions and the criteria used to measure performance. It does not cover power plant main and auxiliary steam surface condensers, because of the differences in how they are designed and operated The chapter briefly discusses the effects on the exchanger of normal and abnormal deviations from design point during operation. 2. SHELL-AND-TUBE HEAT EXCHANGERS Shell-and-tube heat exchangers consist of tubes manifolded together in such a way that one fluid (the tube-side fluid) flows through inside of the tubes and another (the shell-side fluid) flows outside the tubes. In U-tube configurations the tube ends are manifolded together in a single plate called a tubesheet or tubeplate. In straight tube configurations, there are two tubesheets. U-tube configurations are always an even number of passes. Straight tube configurations may be single or multipass. The tubes are supported and flow of shell-side fluid is guided along the tube length by perforated plates or other devices called tube supports or baffles. The assembly of tubesheet, tubes and tube supports or baffles is called a bundle or nest. To guide the tube-side fluid into and conduct it from the tubes, a chamber is fastened to each tubesheet at its tube-end face. The seal of the chamber to the tubesheet is hydraulically tight. Depending upon its mechanical configuration, the chamber is called a channel, bonnet or return cover. The rear or inner face of the tubesheet(s) and the external surfaces of the tubes and the tube supports or baffles that make up the exterior of the bundle or n