Advantages and Disadvantages of Serpentine Heat Exchanger Tubes
Serpentine heat exchanger is a relatively simple heat exchange equipment. It exchanges heat through the fluid medium in the serpentine heat exchanger tube. It is often used in chemical, light industry, medicine and other industrial production. It is one of the tubular heat exchangers, and its heat transfer surface is a serpentine seamless steel pipe bent into a cylindrical or flat shape. In the process of cooling or heating the fluid medium in the tube, the serpentine heat exchanger has a series of characteristics.
Advantages
1. Simple structure and low cost: Its design principle is relatively simple, mainly composed of serpentine pipes and fixtures, so the manufacturing cost is low.
2. Easy to operate: During installation and maintenance, the pipeline layout can be flexibly adjusted to meet different process requirements.
3. The inside of the serpentine tube can withstand high pressure, so it is often used in process flows that need to withstand higher pressure.
4. Rapid heat transfer: Due to the dense layout of the serpentine tube, the small center tube diameter, and the large heat exchange area, the heat transfer efficiency is high, the heat transfer is fast, and the heating or cooling effect is good, which can meet the requirements of high-efficiency heat exchange.
5. Stable and reliable: The coil heat exchanger has a simple structure, is stable and reliable, is not prone to leakage and seepage, has a long service life, and is relatively simple to maintain.
Disadvantages
1. Easy to scale: The coil heat exchanger has high heat exchange efficiency, but due to the different properties of the fluid, it is easy to produce solidified substances deposited on the inside of the coil, forming scale, which affects the heat transfer efficiency.
2. Difficult to clean: Due to the special structure of the coil, the internal scale is not easy to clean. Once scale is formed, professional cleaning equipment and technicians are required to clean it, which increases the cleaning cost and difficulty.
3. Sensitive to flow and pressure: The heat transfer efficiency of the coil heat exchanger is closely related to the flow and pressure of the fluid. Once the flow or pressure changes, it will have a greater impact on the heat transfer effect.
4. Complex pipe bending: Due to the complex bending of the serpentine pipe, it is easy to cause uneven flow of the fluid medium, resulting in a small heat transfer coefficient.
5. Temperature: The temperature difference in various places in the container is not large, so the average temperature difference is small, and the heat exchange effect is relatively poor.
6. The equipment is bulky: For places where large-area heat exchange is required, it takes up a large space.
In terms of application scope, the serpentine heat exchanger is suitable for liquid-liquid and liquid-gas heat exchange in the medium and low temperature range. In the oil refining, pharmaceutical, fertilizer, coating and other industries, it is often used as a heat exchange component in the reactor. Although the heat transfer area of the serpentine heat exchanger is not large, it is still widely used in some specific occasions due to its strong adaptability and convenient operation.
Summary