Question

What application for heat exchanger that use cold fluid in shell side and hot fluid in tube, and also what application that use hot fluid in shell side and cold fluid in tube side, and what is the reason?

Answer 1

A condensing fluid most often goes on the shell side but the choice demands careful evaluation. If the shell-side velocity is low enough, the vapor and liquid can separate inside the exchanger. The liquid dropping out makes the vapor leaner, reducing the temperature required to get more liquid to condense from the remaining vapor.

A viscous fluid on the tube side tends to have high pressure drop and low heat transfer. That favors shell-side allocation. However, high pressure drop on the shell side can prompt significant flow bypassing around baffles, reducing heat transfer.

Because a vapor normally has a higher volume and lower heat transfer coefficient than a liquid, allocate it to the shell side. This reduces pressure drop for a given volume and typically provides a higher heat-transfer coefficient.