 Alfa
Laval Plate Heat Exchangers
Gasketed plate heat exchangers (PHE) are a compact solution
to almost all of your heat transfer needs. They provide for flexibility
like no other heat exchanger in the industry today with a vast range
of models with connection sizes ranging from 1" to 16". A wide variety
of plate materials are available such as stainless steel 304, 316
and titanium. Exotic alloys such as monel, Hastelloy and Nickel
can also be provided for corrosive applications.
Advantages of Plate Heat Exchangers:
- Due to the high turbulence in the flow pattern of the fluids
through alternate channels a higher heat transfer rate is obtained.
This allows for a more compact design with lower capital costs,
as the heat transfer surface requirement is much lower than a
conventional heat exchanger.
- High turbulence causes plate heat exchangers to have less fouling
and reduced down time for maintenance.
- Modular design permits the user to add on capacity as needs
change simply by adding plates to the heat exchanger.
- Less complicated piping allows for the plate and frame heat
exchanger to be opened without disturbing the piping · Closer
temperature approaches of up to 2°F provides for maximum heat
recovery and cost savings to the user.
- Ease of maintenance with minimal space required for opening/closing
of the heat exchanger and is ideal for skid mounting
Flow principle of Plate and Frame Heat Exchangers:
 Plate
and frame heat exchangers consists of a pack of thin metal plates
with openings for the passage of the fluids. The plates are corrugated
which means that each pair of adjacent plates in the heat exchanger
forms a channel. Every second channel is open to the same fluid.
Between each pair of plates there is a rubber gasket, which prevents
the fluids from mixing and from leaking to the surroundings.
When the media enters the plate and frame heat exchanger
via the connections in the frame, it's directed through alternate
channels by the gasket arrangement. The warm fluid flows through
every other channel and the cold fluid through the channels in between.
Heat is thus transferred from the warm fluid to the colder fluid
via the dividing wall, i.e. the plate material. The corrugations
support the plates against differential pressure and create a turbulent
flow in the channels. In turn, the turbulent flow provides high
heat transfer efficiency, making the plate heat exchanger very compact
compared with the traditional shell-and-tube heat exchanger.
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