Shell and Tube Heat Exchangers explained with Animation and Video

A shell and tube exchanger is made up of a number of tubes present inside a cylindrical shell. Figure 1 shows a typical unit that is usually found in a petro-chemical plant. Any two fluids can exchange heat, one fluid flows from outside of the tubes while the second fluid flows through the inner tube.

The shell and tube Exchanger consists of 4 major parts:

1. Front Header—this is where the fluid enters the tubeside of the exchanger. It is sometimes referred to as the Stationary Header.
2. Rear Header—this is where the tubeside fluid leaves the exchanger or where it is returned to the front header in exchangers with multiple tubeside passes.
3. Tube bundle—this comprises of the tubes, tube sheets, baffles and tie rods etc. to hold the bundle together.
4. Shell—this contains the tube bundle.

Below Animated video will give insights of the working of the Shell and Tube Heat Exchangers.