Experimental and numerical investigation of different types of plate heat exchangers

Heat exchangers are the most used devices in the industry for energy transfer between fluids at different temperatures. Heat exchangers, developed with the need in the food industry, are nowadays used in many areas such as cooling and air conditioning systems, chemical industry and heating systems, as well as the food industry. The equations given in the literature for plate heat exchangers differ from each other because they are specific to the plate. In this thesis study, three different types of industrial type plate heat exchangers with high, medium and low angles, which have many usage areas, were examined experimentally and using the results, equations for Nusselt number and pressure loss coefficient were derived and compared with other studies in the literature. The high-angle plate heat exchanger was also investigated numerically to verify the experimental study and obtain information about the flow distributions. The study also examined the effect of two different plate numbers. It has been observed that the experimental results are in agreement with both the literature and numerical studies. The speed distributions within the channel are given in graphics and information about possible improvements is given by using these distributions.