Plate Type Heat Exchanger

Plate type heat exchanger plate heat exchangers are now common and very small brazed versions are used in the hot water sections of millions of combination boilers.

Plate type heat exchanger.

Plate heat exchangers. A plate heat exchanger is a type of heat exchanger that uses metal plates to transfer heat between two fluids this has a major advantage over a conventional heat exchanger in that the fluids are exposed to a much larger surface area because the fluids are spread out over the plates. The high heat transfer efficiency for such a small physical size has increased the domestic hot water dhw flowrate of combination boilers. Baffles direct the flow of fluid between plates.

A plate exchanger consists of a series of parallel plates that are placed one above the other so as to allow the formation of a series of channels for fluids to flow between them. It is made up of a series of plates held together in a frame with a fixed space between. Fluids normally run counter currently through the heat exchanger. Plate heat exchangers were first produced in the 1920s and have since been widely used in a great number of sectors.

The flow pattern is set up so that the hot fluid flows between alternate spaces between plates with the cold fluid. Plate type heat exchanger consists of plates instead of tubes to separate the hot and cold fluids. This facilitates the transfer of heat and greatly increases the speed of the temperature change. The heat transfer area of a gasketed plate heat exchanger consists of a series of corrugated plates assembled between a frame and pressure plates to retain pressure.

Because each of the plates has a very large surface area the plates provide each of the fluids with an extremely large heat transfer area.