The dynamic scraped surface heat exchanger (DSSHE) is a type of
heat exchanger
A heat exchanger is a system used to transfer heat between a source and a working fluid. Heat exchangers are used in both cooling and heating processes. The fluids may be separated by a solid wall to prevent mixing or they may be in direct contac ...
used to remove or add heat to fluids, mainly foodstuffs, but also other industrial products. They have been designed to address specific problems that impede efficient heat transfer. DSSHEs improve efficiency by removing
fouling layers, increasing
turbulence
In fluid dynamics, turbulence or turbulent flow is fluid motion characterized by chaotic changes in pressure and flow velocity. It is in contrast to laminar flow, which occurs when a fluid flows in parallel layers with no disruption between ...
in the case of high
viscosity
Viscosity is a measure of a fluid's rate-dependent drag (physics), resistance to a change in shape or to movement of its neighboring portions relative to one another. For liquids, it corresponds to the informal concept of ''thickness''; for e ...
flow, and avoiding the generation of crystals and other process by-products. DSSHEs incorporate an internal mechanism which periodically removes the product from the heat transfer wall. The sides are scraped by blades made of a rigid plastic material to prevent damage to the scraped surface.
Introduction
An applicable technologies for indirect
heat transfer
Heat transfer is a discipline of thermal engineering that concerns the generation, use, conversion, and exchange of thermal energy (heat) between physical systems. Heat transfer is classified into various mechanisms, such as thermal conduction, ...
use tubes (shell-and-tube
exchangers) or flat surfaces (plate exchangers). Their goal is to exchange the maximum amount of heat per unit area by generating as much
turbulence
In fluid dynamics, turbulence or turbulent flow is fluid motion characterized by chaotic changes in pressure and flow velocity. It is in contrast to laminar flow, which occurs when a fluid flows in parallel layers with no disruption between ...
as possible below given
pump
A pump is a device that moves fluids (liquids or gases), or sometimes Slurry, slurries, by mechanical action, typically converted from electrical energy into hydraulic or pneumatic energy.
Mechanical pumps serve in a wide range of application ...
ing power limits. Typical approaches to achieve this consist of corrugating the tubes or plates or extending their surface with
fins. However, these geometry conformation technologies, the calculation of optimum
mass flows and other turbulence related factors become diminished when
fouling appears, obliging designers to fit significantly larger heat transfer areas. There are several types of fouling, including particulate accumulation,
precipitation
In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls from clouds due to gravitational pull. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, rain and snow mixed ("sleet" in Commonwe ...
(
crystallization
Crystallization is a process that leads to solids with highly organized Atom, atoms or Molecule, molecules, i.e. a crystal. The ordered nature of a crystalline solid can be contrasted with amorphous solids in which atoms or molecules lack regu ...
),
sedimentation
Sedimentation is the deposition of sediments. It takes place when particles in suspension settle out of the fluid in which they are entrained and come to rest against a barrier. This is due to their motion through the fluid in response to th ...
, generation of
ice
Ice is water that is frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 ° C, 32 ° F, or 273.15 K. It occurs naturally on Earth, on other planets, in Oort cloud objects, and as interstellar ice. As a naturally oc ...
layers, etc.
Another factor posing difficulties to heat transfer is
viscosity
Viscosity is a measure of a fluid's rate-dependent drag (physics), resistance to a change in shape or to movement of its neighboring portions relative to one another. For liquids, it corresponds to the informal concept of ''thickness''; for e ...
. Highly viscous fluids tend to generate deep
laminar flow, a condition with very poor
heat transfer rates and high
pressure losses involving a considerable pumping power, often exceeding the exchanger design limits. This problem becomes worsened frequently when processing
non-newtonian fluids.
The DSSHE has been designed to face the aforementioned problems. They increase heat transfer by: removing the fouling layers, increasing turbulence in case of high viscosity flow, and avoiding the generation of ice and other process by-products.
Description
The dynamic scraped surface heat exchangers incorporate an internal mechanism which periodically removes the product from the heat transfer wall. The product side is scraped by blades attached to a moving shaft or frame. The blades are made of a rigid plastic material to prevent damage to the scraped surface. This material is
FDA approved in the case of food applications.
Types
There are basically three types of DSSHEs depending on the arrangement of the blades:
# ''Rotating, tubular DSSHEs''. The shaft is placed parallel to the tube axis, not necessarily coincident, and spins at various frequencies, from a few dozen
rpm to more than 1000 rpm. The number of blades oscillates between 1 and 4 and may take advantage of
centrifugal force
Centrifugal force is a fictitious force in Newtonian mechanics (also called an "inertial" or "pseudo" force) that appears to act on all objects when viewed in a rotating frame of reference. It appears to be directed radially away from the axi ...
s to scrape the inner surface of the tube. Examples are the
Waukesha Cherry-Burrell Votator II,
Alfa Laval Contherm, Terlet Terlotherm and Kelstream's scraped surface heat exchanger. Another example is th
HRS Heat ExchangersR Series o
Sakura Seisakusho Ltd. JapanOnlator.
# ''Reciprocating, tubular DSSHEs''. The shaft is concentric to the tube and moves longitudinally without rotating. The frequency spans between 10 and 60 strokes per minute. The blades may vary in number and shape, from baffle-like arrangements to perforated disk configurations. An example is th
HRS Heat ExchangersUnicus.
# ''Rotating, plate DSSHEs''. The blades wipe the external surface of circular plates arranged in series inside a shell. The heating/cooling fluid runs inside the plates. The frequency is about several dozen rpm. An example is the HRS Spiratube T-Sensation.
Evaluation
Computational fluid dynamics
Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is a branch of fluid mechanics that uses numerical analysis and data structures to analyze and solve problems that involve fluid dynamics, fluid flows. Computers are used to perform the calculations required ...
(CFD) techniques are the standard tools to analyse and evaluate heat exchangers and similar equipment. However, for quick calculation purposes, the evaluation of DSSHEs are usually carried out with the help of
ad hoc
''Ad hoc'' is a List of Latin phrases, Latin phrase meaning literally for this. In English language, English, it typically signifies a solution designed for a specific purpose, problem, or task rather than a Generalization, generalized solution ...
(semi)
empirical
Empirical evidence is evidence obtained through sense experience or experimental procedure. It is of central importance to the sciences and plays a role in various other fields, like epistemology and law.
There is no general agreement on how t ...
correlations based on the
Buckingham π theorem:
:''Fa = Fa(Re, Re', n, ...)''
for pressure loss and
:''Nu = Nu(Re, Re', Pr, Fa, L/D, N, ...)''
for heat transfer, where ''Nu'' is the
Nusselt number, ''Re'' is the standard
Reynolds number
In fluid dynamics, the Reynolds number () is a dimensionless quantity that helps predict fluid flow patterns in different situations by measuring the ratio between Inertia, inertial and viscous forces. At low Reynolds numbers, flows tend to ...
based on the inner diameter of the tube, ''Re is the specific Reynolds number based on the wiping frequency, ''Pr'' is the
Prandtl number
The Prandtl number (Pr) or Prandtl group is a dimensionless number, named after the German physicist Ludwig Prandtl, defined as the ratio of momentum diffusivity to thermal diffusivity. The Prandtl number is given as:where:
* \nu : momentum d ...
, ''Fa'' is the
Fanning friction factor, ''L'' is the length of the tube, ''D'' is the inner diameter of the tube, ''n'' is the number of blades and the dots account for any other relevant
dimensionless
Dimensionless quantities, or quantities of dimension one, are quantities implicitly defined in a manner that prevents their aggregation into units of measurement. ISBN 978-92-822-2272-0. Typically expressed as ratios that align with another sy ...
parameters.
Applications
The range of applications covers a number of industries, including
food
Food is any substance consumed by an organism for Nutrient, nutritional support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or Fungus, fungal origin and contains essential nutrients such as carbohydrates, fats, protein (nutrient), proteins, vitamins, ...
,
chemical
A chemical substance is a unique form of matter with constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Chemical substances may take the form of a single element or chemical compounds. If two or more chemical substances can be combin ...
,
petrochemical
Petrochemicals (sometimes abbreviated as petchems) are the chemical products obtained from petroleum by refining. Some chemical compounds made from petroleum are also obtained from other fossil fuels, such as coal or natural gas, or renewable s ...
and
pharmaceutical
Medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal product, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy ( pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the ...
. The DSSHEs are appropriate whenever products are prone to fouling, very viscous, particulate, heat sensitive or crystallizing.
See also
*
Pumpable ice technology
References
Related reading
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* {{cite web
, url= http://www.personal.soton.ac.uk/cpp/sshe_proj/homepage.html
, title= Scraped-Surface Heat-Exchanger Project page
, authorlink=
, publisher= University of Southampton
, access-date= 2008-09-08
, archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090304185843/http://www.personal.soton.ac.uk/cpp/sshe_proj/homepage.html
, archive-date= 2009-03-04
, url-status= dead
Heat exchangers
Fouling