Experimental Investigation of the Characteristics of a Chevron Type Gasketed- Plate Heat Exchanger

In this study, an experimental set-up is designed and constructed to determine the characteristics of an industrial gasketed-plate heat exchanger with chevron plates. Experiments are performed to measure the temperatures and volumetric flow rates at all ports and the pressure drops between inlet and outlet ports at different channel Reynolds numbers (450-5250). A gasketed-plate heat exchanger with different number of plates with city water as the working fluid for both hot and cold sides is utilized. Mass flow rates and inlet temperatures are changed for different cases during experiments. Pressure drop and temperature values are measured close to inlet and outlet ports to minimize the environmental effects. Volumetric flow rates are measured before the heat exchanger where a fully developed regime is obtained. Results are used to develop new correlations for the heat transfer coefficient and the friction factor for pressure drop calculations for the chevron plates tested. Obtained correlations are compared with correlations in literature.