Plate & Shell Heat Exchangers - Type XPS
Plate & Shell heat exchangers combine the, compact and countercurrnt, advantages of plate heat exchangers (Plate), coupled with the high pressure ratings of shell and tube heat exchaners provided by cylindrical shells (Shell). So, the best of both worlds. Heat transfer surfaces of 1 m² to 1000 m² enables thermal performance ranges from 10 kW all the way up to 100 MW (obviously dependant on the temperature driving force). The design parameters range from full vacuum to 400 bar (5,800 psi) and from -200 °C to 500 °C, so cryogenic LNG duties all the way to some gas turbine exhaust temperatures with everything else between.
- high performance with small surface area, weight and footprint by high heat transfer coefficients – reducing structural steelwork and facilitating skid assembly
- close temperature approach between the hot and cold side by multipass media, providing high heat recovery
- plate design provides a high wall shear stress, which acts as a self-cleaning effect – reducing fouling and extending the time between cleaning
- small installation and surface area due to compact design
- Low cost for steel structures and foundations by a low weight of the equipment
- fully welded design eliminates gaskets, ensuring high reliability and resistance to failure and leakage, as often experienced with gasketed plate and frame units
- wide range of plate materials provides high corrosion resistance
- low liquid inventory provides a rapid start-up and a fast response to changes in process set points and upsets
- range of plate and nozzle sizes, combined with flexibility of shell design and number of nozzles provides optimized solution
- shells can be tailored to increase the volume, for evaporating and condensing duties, such as kettle reboilers
Designs of XPS - Heat Exchangers
Plate Pack
The “heart”, the core component, of Plate & Shell heat exchangers is the plate pack.
GESMEX is the technology leader in the production of laser-welded cylindrical plate packages. Welds with large cross connection zones, but low heat input lead to outstanding product quality, and high integrity even in tough working conditions.
The configuration of the plate packs is done with a number of parameters: Size, number of plates, number of passes, plate thickness, corrugation pattern, plate material, arrangement of the plate pack in the shell, and flow guidance.
Start with the customer – find out what they want and give it to them
Basic configurations: Heater & Cooler
XPS plate heat exchangers can be easily configured for heating and cooling of both liquids and gases. The heating or cooling media can be put on the plate or on the shell side. For maximum heat transfer media are arranged in countercurrent flow, for pressure-loss-optimized applications cross flow is preferred. When the thermal duty requires a large thermal length (high NTU), then a multi passes configuration is required. Heating steam is usually on the shell side as larger connections reduce pressure drop on the vapor side and smaller nozzles are possible for condensate outlet.
counter flow, single pass
size: XPS 100
cross flow, single pass
size: XPS 50
counter flow, multi pass
size: XPS 50
steam heater
size: XPS 50
Heat exchangers in basic configuration, for which the codes for pressure equipment apply only, with standard parts made of carbon steel or stainless steel, in pressure classes PN 6 to PN 40 are available with short lead times.
Additional customer specific or project specific requirements on design, manufacturing, testing or on documentation of the heat exchangers require individual adjustment of the delivery time.
Heater & Cooler in openable design
When the plate pack is required to be removed from the shell for service work or inspections, Plate & Shell heat exchangers can be configured in an openable design. In this case the plate pack is connected to the shell by a girth flange. This product variant is also used when spare plate packs are held on stock to enable a rapid turnaround during short shutdowns of the plant.
The sizing and configuration of heaters and coolers in openable design follows the same criteria as for fully welded units.
counter flow, openable
size: XPS 100
cross flow, openable
size: XPS 100
openable at both sides
size: XPS 100
flooded evaporator with knockout pot for droplet separation
size: XPS 50
flooded evaporator with external droplet separation
size: XPS 100
partial evaporator, multi pass vertical orientation
size: XPS 200
cascade evaporator installation with slope
size: XPS 100
secondary steam generator kettle type
size: XPS 100
vacuum evaporator multi heat packs in the shell
size: XPS 50
Condensers
Round heat exchanger plates in XPS plate heat exchangers are also suitable for condensing duties. GESMEX condensers work as a total condenser, partial condenser or gas dryer, by cooling of water vapor below the dew point. The vapor is normally on the shell side, which provides larger inlet connections and flexability with smaller condensate nozzles.
Beside pure condensation, steam desuperheating and condensate sub-cooling can be combined all in one unit.
- large vapour inlet nozzle sizes (up to 1,000mm), smaller nozzle for full condensation liquid outlet
- integrated vapour-liquid knockout put for partial condensers ensuring good separation of the liquid and gas phases
- separate nozzles for removing non-condensed gases and condensate.
gas dryer
size: XPS 50
total condenser
size: XPS 150
partial condenser, multi passes with liquid collector / separator
size: XPS 200
Sizes and Dimensions
GESMEX supplies Plate & Shell heat exchangers in five sizes, with material thicknesses of the heat exchanger plates from 0.6 to 2.5 mm and with different corrugation patterns.
| Size | XPS 50 | XPS 100 | XPS 150 | XPS 200 | XPS 300 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| shell side nozzles | DN 20 – 150 2/4” – 6” | DN 25 – 300 1” – 12” | DN 50 – 400 1” – 16” | DN 50 – 600 1” – 24” | DN 50 – 1000 1” – 40” |
| plate side nozzles | DN 50 2” | DN 100 4” | DN 150 6” | DN 200 8” | DN 300 12” |
| shell diameter | 360 mm | 610 mm | 890 mm | 1100 mm | 1400 mm |
| heat exchanger length | 150 mm – 5000 mm | ||||
| heat transfer surface | 1 to 30 m2 | to 150 m2 | to 400 m2 | to 900 m2 | to 1500m2 |
Materials of XPS-Heat Exchangers
Flow directors are fabricated from the same material as the plate. No elastomers are used in XPS heat exchangers. Fully welded units are totally gasket-free. The standard configuration of openable heat exchangers is with graphite tanged steel flat-ring gaskets.
| Plate materials | Shell materials |
|---|---|
|
Austenitic steels, e. g.: + 1.4404 / AISI 316L + 1.4547 / SMO 254 |
Ferritic steels, e.g.: + 1.0305 / St. 35.8 + 1.0425 / P265 GH / AISI 516 Gr65 |
|
Nickel materials, e. g.: + 2.4068 / AISI N02201 |
Fine-grain steels, e.g.: + 1.0566 / P355 NL1 / AISI 516 Gr70 |
|
Nickel alloys, e. g.: + 2.4602 / Alloy C-22 + 2.4819 / Alloy C-276 |
Austenitic steels, e. g.: + 1.4404 / AISI 316L + 1.4301 / AISI 304 |
|
Titan materials, e. g.: + 3.7025 / AISI B265 Gr1 |
Nickel alloys, e. g.: + 2.4602 / Alloy C-22 |