Experimental investigation of shell-and-tube exchanger with a sealer

The configuration of shell-and-tube exchanger was improved through installation of sealer in the shell. The gap between the baffle plates and shell was blocked by the sealer, which effectively decreased the short circuit flow in the shell. The experimental results show that the convective heat-transfer coefficient in the shell of improved heat exchanger increases by 20%-25%, the total-heat-transfer coefficient increases by 15%-19%, while the pump output power is less than 10 W. Though pressure losses increase with the sealer installation, the pump output power increases slightly, which can be neglected compared to the increase of heat exchange quantity. The heat transfer performance of improved heat exchanger is intensified obviously, which is benefit to the optimizing design of heat exchanger for energy saving.