How Are Tubular Condensers Classified?

How are tubular condensers classified?

The tube condenser is a type of heat exchanger commonly used in chillers, similar to shell and tube evaporators. The tube condenser is a closed water-cooled condenser consisting of a shell, tube plate, heat transfer bundle, cooling water distribution components, cooling water and refrigerant inlet and outlet pipe joints.

In the case of small condensers the shell is generally available as a thick seamless steel tube. In the case of large condensers, the shell is made of rolled and welded steel plates. The tube plates are welded to the ends of the shell to form a complete shell. The tube plate has a number of holes, and the heat transfer tube bundle is inserted into the holes and connected to the tube plate by expansion or welding at both ends, and must have a good airtightness.

Tube condensers are mainly used in water-cooled chillers.
Depending on the spatial orientation of the shell and the heat transfer bundle, tube condensers can be divided into vertical and horizontal types. But no matter which type, the cooling water is going to the tube process, the refrigerant is going to the shell process, i.e. high temperature, high pressure refrigerant vapour is cooled on the outer surface of the heat transfer tube, condensed and converged to the shell of the ground. The reason for this arrangement is that the average heat transfer coefficient between the cooling water and the tube bundle is generally higher than the average heat transfer coefficient of the refrigerant vapour condensation, which requires a larger heat exchange surface; in addition, in order to keep the pressure of the high temperature and high pressure refrigerant vapour within a certain range, a larger space is also required.

In addition to the different orientation of the space in which they are located, there is another important difference between vertical and horizontal tube condensers, which is that horizontal tube condensers have a water cover at both ends, and the water cover is often connected to the shell in the form of a flange, so that the cooling water is in a closed space. This is why horizontal tube condensers are also called closed shell and tube condensers. Vertical shell and tube condensers are often located in a pool of water, without a water cover at the upper and lower ends, but with a water distribution box at the upper end. The cooling water is distributed by many water distributors in the distribution box and then enters each heat transfer pass, absorbs heat from the wall of the tube and then flows out from the lower end and falls into the collecting pool, so the vertical shell and tube condenser is also known as an open tube condenser.