Pressure Drop in Plate Heat Exchangers for Single-Phase Convection in Turbulent Flow Regime : Experiment and Theory

Plate heat exchangers (PHEs) play an important role in different technical fields, namely, in energetics, chemical industry, food industry, and others. To use PHE effectively, it is necessary to have correct data for pressure drop. Unfortunately, in open literature, a large difference among different authors occurs. In this work is shown that an essential portion of this difference lies in the choice of the typical length for the calculation of the friction coefficient. Caremust be taken to consider the pressure drop of the distribution zone. A three-component model for hydraulic resistance of PHE in turbulent flow regime is proposed in this work. /e proposed model shows good agreement with experimental data.


State of Research
Plate heat exchangers (PHE) are widely used in industry.A compact size due to high heat transfer coefficients is one major advantage over other heat exchanger types like shell and tube type.e special design of the flow channels results in early transition from laminar to turbulent flow and significant increase in heat transfer coefficients.Unfortunately, this comes along with an increase in pressure drop compared to flat channels, too.A reliable model for pressure drop calculation is required for a successful use of PHE.
e following model is traditionally applied to present experimental data of a PHE: where Δp is the pressure drop in a channel of a PHE, w is the average velocity in a channel, L is the effective length of the PHE, D e is the equivalent diameter of a channel, and f ch is the Fanning friction factor or Fanning factor in a channel.
In literature, the model according to equation ( 1) is widespread [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19].e Fanning friction factor is a function of Reynolds number and is presented in graphical or analytical form.If Fanning factors were found for a specific unit, this model can reproduce the specific unit's pressure drop within 10% to 20% margin.Applied to a PHE with different geometries, the margin of deviation can be much higher.Fanning factors calculated with models of different authors can vary by up to 50-100%.erefore, Fanning factors found for one plate type are mostly valid only for its specific design.Applications of equation (1) to various PHEs are stated in textbooks of Wang et al. [20] and Klemes et al. [21].Some results cannot be explained well according to equation (1).
e study [2] is a good example: it shows different correlations for refrigerants R 245fa and R 236a in turbulent flow regime for the same PHE.
is means that equation (1) cannot always consider a strong influence of physical properties correctly.
Two citations of recent publications summarize the state of the art very well: (i) "Most of the previously reported empirical correlations are restricted to specific experimental geometry and flow conditions and cannot be generalized for all PHE applications" [9].
(ii) "It can be seen from the experimental studies. .., a general correlation applicable to all chevron angle even with the same chevron angle is not possible.A gasketed plate heat exchanger design continues to be proprietary in nature; the correlations obtained are applicable to this exchanger that is marketed" [12].
is work is dedicated to study the influence of reference length L on the pressure drop of a PHE.At first, it is shown that usage of the model according to equation (1) results in Fanning factors that always depend on effective length L. Subsequently, the three-component model proposed by Arsenyeva et al. [23] is enhanced.It divides the channel in the two distribution zones-at the inlet and outlet of a channel-and the corrugation field in the middle of a channel.Each of the three zones of the channel has its own friction factor correlation.Furthermore, it is shown that the corrugation field correlation has universal characteristics and is independent of its length in turbulent regime.

Experimental Setup and Procedure
Experimental setup involves three PHEs (warm-side setup, test set, and cold-side set-up), arranged in two closed loops, as shown in Figure 1.
On the warm side, a pump circulates the warm fluid (water or ISO VG46 Oil).e warm fluid is heated by using a boiler.On the cold side, three air coolers maintain a constant temperature of the fluid (water or glycol).A fully automatic control unit adjusts the temperature and flow rates to comply with the set values.As test PHE were used four plate heat exchangers of FUNKE Wärmeaustauscher Apparatebau GmbH (Germany) [24].One of these plates is shown in Figure 2.
e geometric parameters of a plate are illustrated in Figure 3, and the geometric values for plates P1-P4 are shown in Table 1.
All four plates are similar, and only the length of the corrugated field varies.In Figure 4, the test set with test PHE is shown.
Platinum resistance thermometers Pt1000 (T1-T4) are used to measure the fluid temperatures at the inlet/outlet of the test PHE with the measurement error ±(0.15K + 0.002 t).To improve the precision of the sensors, we calibrate all temperature sensors simultaneously at the area of working temperature.e deviation of measured temperature of all sensors is about 0.05-0.1 K. e flow rates in the test section are measured by volumetric inductive flow meters of type KROHNE OPTI-FLUX 4300 (MF1 and MF2) with a measurement error of ±1% for measuring range 3-500 m /h.Static mixers are used to reduce local temperature variations.Static mixers (2 and 4) at outlets are basically used, mixers (1 and 3) at inlets if necessary.
e pressure losses of the fluid flowing through the test section is measured with a differential pressure transmitter model DPT10 (PD1 and PD2) with the measurement error of ±0.2%.
e two devices are used for measuring ranges 0-500 mbar and 0-3 bar.Pressure at the inlet of PHE is measured with the pressure transmitter (P1 and P2) with the measurement error of ±0.2%.
e values are measured as close as possible to the test PHE, taking care to use calibrated measurement pipes (length/diameter ≥ 10).e test PHE was configurated as a single-pass U-type counterflow device.
e corrugation profile of the plate is given in Figure 5.It is close to sinusoidal.
All data were obtained under steady-state conditions with close energy balance (less than ±5% difference between the measured performance of warm and cold side).A constant inlet temperature (≈60 °C) for the hot fluid was maintained throughout each set of experiments.e inlet temperature of the cold fluid was constant (≈40 °C), too.All sensors and measuring equipment are calibrated accordingly to standard ISO 9001 : 2008.(

Data Reduction
All fluid properties were calculated at the bulk-mean temperature given by T mean � 0, 5 T inlet + T outlet . ( From the measured overall pressure drop across the PHE Δp measur , the pressure drop in the channel can be obtained from the following equation: For the port, pressure drop according to [17] is used: e pressure loss in inlet and outlet pipe Δp pipe was estimated on the basis of the smooth tube friction factor, and local pressure losses on the sudden area changes.e pressure loss Δp pipe considers the distance of pressure sensors to PHE.
e Fanning friction factor was calculated as e choice of effective length of the PHE L is discussed later.

2
International Journal of Chemical Engineering e experimental uncertainties were determined by the procedure outlined by [25].
e maximum errors in the primary measurements of ow rate _ M, pressure drop Δp, and temperature T were ±1%, ±0.2%, and ±(0.15K + 0.002 T), respectively.Based on these measurement uncertainties and the propagation of error analysis, the uncertainties in Reynolds number Re and Fanning friction factor f were 5.7% and 9.2%, respectively.

Experimental Results
For the valid presentation of the data for the pressure losses in the channel of PHEs, the choice of the characteristic length L of the PHEs is important.In common use is the vertical distance between holes in the plate L port [14,16]: Some authors use the relation between the area of the plate and its width [3,5]: e authors [10] consider the choice: For comparison, all our data and data of other authors have been processed with a characteristic length according to equation (7).Results for plate P2 are presented in Figure 6.For each chevron pattern, three zones can be identi ed graphically [16]: (1) Laminar zone without vortices, Re < 100 (2) Vortices zone, 100 < Re < 500    In the turbulent zone, it is obvious that data depend on plate length L port : the higher the length is, the higher the Fanning friction factor is.
e shortest plate P1 has the   International Journal of Chemical Engineering smallest friction factor.e dependence of friction factor f ch (L port ) on the relative length of a plate L port /B ch is conrmed by comparison of our experimental data with literature, too.Our data for the long plates P3 (L port /B ch 3.69) and P4 (L port /B ch 4.73) agree well with the data of Bond [4], Heavner [12], and onon [19], who investigated industrial PHEs.Data for our shorter plates P1 (L port /B ch 2.06) and P2 (L port /B ch 2.86) are considerably lower.
e same characteristic behavior can be observed for data of other authors.Fanning factor f is the highest in the publication of Focke et al. [9] who used a plate with L port / B ch 4.0.Data for a plate with L port /B ch 3.57 from Shaji and Das [18] are lower and agree well with our data for plate P3 (L port /B ch 3.69).Fanning factors of Lee et al. [13] for a plate with L port /B ch 2.94 are approximately the same as our data of plate P2 (L port /B 2.86).Muley and Maglik [16] investigated a plate with L port /B ch 2.4 and received considerably lower Fanning factors compared to all other mentioned authors.
In Figure 8, experimental data for plates P1-P4 with chevron pattern LL are compared to data of other authors.For corrugation angle φ 27 °(LL), the dependence f ch (L port ) on the length L port changes in comparison with HH.For LL chevron pattern, Fanning factors decrease by increase in length L port .erefore, in Figure 8, the values f ch (L port ) of the shortest plate P1 are the biggest ones and values f ch (L port ) for longest plate P4 are the smallest ones.
As before, our experimental data are consistent with the data of Bond [4], Heavner [12], and onon [19].Generally, variation between the correlations has increased.A relatively high in uence of distribution zone on channel pressure drop for LL pattern seems to be a probable cause of this behavior.
Data of Focke et al. [9] (L/B 4.0) are now in the range of the lowest data.Fanning factors of Shaji and Das [18] for a plate with L port /B ch 2.4 are the second highest now.e proportionality of the Fanning factor and plate length is not as expected for data of Shaji and Das [18].
is may be caused by di erent geometries of the distribution zones.

Three-Component Model
e typical approach (equation ( 6)) to make a connection between hydraulic resistance and characteristic length of the plate leads to length-dependent Fanning friction factors.e resulting correlations are of opposite behavior for low and high (LL and HH) chevron angles.It is caused by a di erent character of the ow in all three characteristic zones-inlet and outlet distribution zone and corrugated eld.Due to this, the idea of Arsenyeva et al. [23] to divide a plate in three areas and describe the friction factor independently for each area seems reasonable.
A main challenge of a three-component model is the complexity of measurements for all components.A calculation-based approach to determine the di erent parts of the pressure drop is an alternative to measurements.is is possible if experimental data for one series of plates (equal corrugation type, distribution zone, and width) with di erent lengths of the corrugated eld are available.
From experimental data, the pressure drop of a channel ∆p ch is received.At rst, data for a low corrugation angle (LL) are used.
e turbulent ow region is initially considered because of very limited amount of data in laminar region.A dimensionless form of the channel pressure drop is introduced: e channel pressure drop ∆p ch consist of three components in this model: with pressure drop of the corrugated eld ∆p ch and pressure drop of the inlet ∆p inlet and outlet ∆p outlet distribution zone.Each component is described as follows: International Journal of Chemical Engineering e characteristic velocity of the channel w ch is used for all three zones.is makes the data handling easier, and comparability of results between distribution zones and corrugated field is improved.A main disadvantage is that velocity w ch is not the physical velocity in distribution zones.
e cross section in distribution zones differs from the one of the corrugated field and therefore velocity, too.As a result, friction factor f inlet has only computational meaning.
From equations ( 10)-( 13), we get For PHEs P1-P4, four functions are received from experimental data: Characteristic values for Reynolds number in the range Re � 1000,. .., 10000 are chosen and called Re * .Values f i (Re * ) are according to equations ( 14) and ( 15), linear depending from L corr /D e .Using known mathematical procedure, we receive linear approximation for four points [L corr /D e ; F i ch ] i�1,...,4 for all characteristic values of Re * .e resulting y-intercept of this linear function is 2f inlet (Re * ) while f corr (Re * ) is the slope.e obtained values are presented in Table 2.
By approximating the data from Table 2, we obtain e deviation of equations ( 16) and ( 17) is about 5% from data of Table 2.With equation ( 14), dimensionless pressure drop F ch becomes the form e dimensionless pressure drop can be rearranged to Fanning friction factor of the channel (equations ( 6) and ( 14)).We get According to equation (19), Fanning factor of the channel f ch is related to characteristic length L corr .Earlier in Figures 6-8, the Fanning factor was based on characteristic length L port .By using equations ( 16), (17) Calculated values from equation ( 20) are drawn as lines in Figure 9, and they are labeled with " eory."As can be seen, calculated data agree well with experimental data.e deviation is within ±5%.It must be emphasized that both equations ( 16) and ( 17) are only valid for specific geometry of distribution zone and corrugated field of plates P1-P4.
Distribution zones are equal for all patterns of corrugated fields.Due to this fact, equation ( 16) is valid for HH and HL channels, too.Based on experimental data for pressure drop ∆p ch of HH and HL channels, the Fanning factor can be calculated from equations ( 11)-( 13) for corresponding channel type.
To receive f corr (HH), at first, dimensionless pressure drop is calculated for the HH corrugated field: is allows us to calculate the Fanning friction factor of the channel for characteristic length L corr : With known f inlet (Re) from equation ( 16), we get Values calculated from equation (23) result in a function depending on the Reynolds number.Following approximation is obtained from experimental data of the HH channel type: e Fanning factor of the channel from equations ( 16) and ( 24) is Calculated values of f ch (HH) from equation ( 25)-labeled as " eory"-and experimental data according to equation ( 22) are compared in Figure 10.
For the HH channel type, data show only a slight dependency from the length of the corrugated field.is is due to a relatively low hydraulic resistance of distribution zones compared to HH corrugated field.
All calculations according to equations ( 21)-( 25) are performed for HL channel type, too.We get Calculated values of f ch (HL) from equation ( 27)labeled as " eory"-and experimental data are compared in Figure 11.
Experimental data agree with theoretical values within ±10%, and these are compatible with the uncertainty of the measurements.
e three-component model gives the opportunity to use data sets for twelve con gurations (four plate lengths with three corrugation angles each) and describes with only four correlations for friction factors: f inlet (Re), f corr (HH), f corr (HL), and f corr (LL).It is important to note that these correlations are length independent.
In Figure 12, all experimental data are compared with theoretical values for f corr (Re) of the three-component model.For this purpose, experimental data for all channels f ch,exp were recalculated to experimental data for the corrugated eld according to the following equation: It can be seen that data from experiments of all four plates correspond to the theoretical calculations.Experimentally is con rmed that the factor f corr (Re) does not depend on the length of the corrugated eld L corr .

Dependence of Fanning Friction
Factor f ch (L port ) from Plate Length.Based on the proposed three-component model, a simple physical explanation of observed opposite behavior of Fanning friction factor f ch (L port ) for HH and LL channels can be obtained.It is assumed that friction factor f inlet (Re) is linear dependent from distribution zone length: where RP inlet is a unique relative pressure drop coe cient for each series of plate with equal geometry of distribution zone.It describes the speci c hydraulic resistance of this zone.We derive from equation ( 19) We introduce the relative length of the corrugated eld and get By increase in plate length A pl , both L port and L corr increase; however, length of distribution zone remains unchanged: International Journal of Chemical Engineering 7 With equation (31), we get, As a result, if L port increases, X approaches one (X ⟶ 1) and from equation (32), For plates with very short corrugated eld, X approaches zero (X ⟶ 0) and e characteristic dependence of f ch (L port ) from relative length of corrugated eld X is shown in Figure 13.As a general rule, the Fanning friction factor of HH corrugated eld is bigger than relative pressure drop of the inlet RP inlet , while the friction factor of LL corrugated elds is smaller: For example, for PHE P1-P4 at Re 1000, the friction factor is calculated as follows: According to equation ( 35), an increase in plate length for the HH channel type should result in an increase in friction factor f ch (L port ) that approaches f corr (HH).LL corrugated eld has a relatively low pressure drop according to equation (37); therefore, with increase in plate length, f ch (L port ) should decrease and approach f corr (LL).Our experimental data con rm this behavior.

Pressure Drop Fraction in Inlet and Outlet Distribution
Zones.It is important to know what part of overall channel pressure drop corresponds to distribution zone.We introduce the inlet pressure drop ratio IR(Re): With equations ( 10) and (12), IR(Re) can be written as or IR(Re) Equation (41) shows that always IR(Re) < 1. e higher IR(Re) is, the higher the portion of pressure drop in distribution zones is.For plates P1-P4, Figures 14-16 show calculated values for IR(Re) for all three channel types.
e inlet pressure drop ratio IR(Re) is highest in shortest plate P1 with LL corrugation angle.It is between 66% and 77%.Plates P2-P4 show values from 39% up to 61% as it can be seen in Figure 14.Plates with HH corrugated eld shows values from 12% to 17% for shortest plate P1 (Figure 16).Longer plates have an inlet pressure drop ratio IR(Re) from 4% up to 11%. e results of intermediate corrugation angle HL lay in-between HH and LL channels.Values for IR(Re) from 28%-40% for plate P1 and 11%-29% for plates P2-P4 are calculated.
e calculated values of inlet pressure drop ratio show that the distribution zones play an important role in channel pressure drop for chevron angles of 30 °-45 °and lower.

Comparison of the ree-Component Model to Existing
Data.Our approximation for the pressure drop factor of distribution zone f inlet (Re) (equation ( 16)) is received by investigation of plates with particular distribution zone.Arsenyeva et al. [23] show the following equation: with friction coe cient f DZ calculated by is equation is also obtained for a particular plate design.erefore, a full quantitative match with our data can not be expected.Nevertheless, a comparison is of interest.
By comparing equations ( 12) and (42), it has to be noted that For Re 2700, we get from equation (43), f DZ 38 and according to equation (44), f inlet 38/4 9.5 and from equation ( 16), f inlet 5.525 + 7500/2700 8.3.e di erence between equations (43) and ( 16) is about 13%; this is within the range of experimental uncertainties.Figure 17 shows calculated values of equations ( 43), (44), and ( 16).In the range Re 1000, . .., 40000, values from both equations agree well.why at chevron angles φ > 60 °Fanning friction factor f ch (L port ) increases with increase in length L port , and in case of φ < 30 °in contrast, friction factor decreases with increase in length L port .(v) e portion of hydraulic resistance of distribution zone in general resistance of channel is calculated. is portion can be considerably (up to 70%) in case of corrugation angles φ < 30 °.For corrugation angles of φ > 60 °, it can reach 10-15%.(vi) Comparison of the received dependence of hydraulic resistance of a distribution zone on the Reynolds number with the known data from literature is carried out.Good correspondence is obtained.43) [23] and (ii) equation ( 16) the of three-component model.10 International Journal of Chemical Engineering

e
primary measurements of each fluid consist of the flow rate, inlet and outlet temperatures, pressure drop between the inlet and outlet of the PHE, and inlet pressure for every side.e channel flow Reynolds number is based on the equivalent diameter D e : D e � 2t.

Figure 7
Figure 7  illustrates experimental data in the turbulent zone for all four PHE P1-P4 with chevron pattern HH and data of other authors.In the turbulent zone, it is obvious that data depend on plate length L port : the higher the length is, the higher the Fanning friction factor is.e shortest plate P1 has the

Figure 13 :Figure 16 :Figure 14 :Figure 15 :
Figure 13: Characteristic dependence of friction factor f ch (L port ) from relative length of corrugated eld X.

Table 2 :
Fanning friction factor for plates P1-P4 with LL corrugated field in turbulent flow.