Shortcut Design Approach for Spiral Heat Exchangers

This paper presents a shortcut method for the sizing of spiral plate heat exchangers. The approach consists of an iterative process where physical dimensions like plate width and external spiral diameter are given initial values; convergence is achieved until the calculated pressure drop and heat duty meet the required specifications of the design problem. The results of the application of the approach are compared with case studies reported in the literature. A numerical study using computational fluid dynamics is performed to rate the performance of the geometry. The temperature profiles of the exchanger calculated analytically show the same tendency as those obtained numerically; thus, the method provides a good starting point for estimating the dimensions of spiral heat exchangers in single-phase applications.