A framework for developing educational software using the Visual Basic (VB) programming language for designing shell-and-tube heat exchangers (based on Kern and Bell-Delaware methods) is presented in this study. Simulation values from the software have been validated using manual calculations and compared with those from related software (HEXTRAN)

Acellam, D.

El-Harbawi, M.

Yin, C-Y

English

Research Repository

  MURDOCH RESEARCH REPOSITORY     This is the author’s final version of the work, as accepted for publication  following peer review but without the publisher’s layout or pagination.  The definitive version is available at http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/manup/ijmee/2011/00000039/00000004/art00002       El-Harbawi, M., Acellam, D. and Yin, C-Y (2011) Development of educational software for designing shell-and-tube heat exchangers. International Journal of Mechanical Engineering Education, 39 (4). pp. 291-296.   http://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/10536/         Copyright: © Manchester University Press  It is posted here for your personal use. No further distribution is permitted.    Development of Educational Software for Designing Shell and Tube Heat Exchangers  Mohanad El-Harbawi, David Acellam  Department of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, 31750, Tronoh, Perak, Malaysia. Email: mohanad_elharbawi@petronas.com.my  Chun-Yang Yin School  of  Chemical  and  Mathematical  Sciences,  Faculty  of  Minerals  and  Energy, Murdoch  University,  Murdoch,  WA  6150,  Australia.  Email:  c.yin@murdoch.edu.au yinyang@streamyx.com    Abstract: A framework for developing an educational software using Visual Basic (VB) programming language for designing shell and tube heat exchangers (based on Kern and Bell-Delaware methods) is presented in this study. Simulation values from the software have  been  validated  using  manual  calculations  and  compared  with  another  related software (HEXTRAN).  Keywords: shell and tube heat exchanger; Visual Basic; educational software, simulation     1. Introduction  Heat exchangers are devices used for effective transfer of heat energy from one or more  fluids  to  another  across  a  solid  surface,  usually  for  both  cooling  and  heating large/small scale industrial processes. Globally, they are extensively used in numerous industries, namely, petrochemical, power generation and food processing. Industrial heat exchangers, in essence, are categorized in accordance to various parameters including type of transfer process, size, flow configurations and arrangements, pass arrangements and heat-transfer mechanisms. Examples of these heat exchangers include shell and tube, compact, double pipe and plate.  In many process-based industries, shell and tube heat exchangers are used in great numbers, far more than any other type of exchanger. More than 90% of heat exchangers used in industry are of the shell and tube type [1] and they are preferred due to their robustness  and  capacity  to  handle  high-pressure  processes.  Due  to  the  various applications  of  heat  exchangers  in  industries,  many  university  engineering  programs (especially chemical and mechanical engineering) provide courses such as process heat transfer to help students understand the design and analysis concepts of heat exchangers, including  rating  and  sizing  of  the  system  component  for  specific  applications.  The established process of rating and sizing the components  in a heat exchanger  involves tedious and extensive routine calculations that are time-consuming and prone to human error  [2].  As  such,  computer-aided  heat  exchanger  design  elements  are  typically incorporated  in  engineering  courses  in  order  to  facilitate  the  undergraduates’ understanding of the design while increasing the speed of design parameter simulations.     Several  research  groups  have  developed  educational  softwares  for  heat  exchanger designs. Leong and co-researchers [3] developed a software for the thermal and hydraulic design  of  shell  and  tube  heat  exchangers  with  flow-induced  vibration  checks  using Windows-based  Delphi  programming  environment.  Lona  and  co-researchers  [4] developed an educational software called Heat Exchanger Simulator (HES) for use in chemical engineering undergraduate classes. Tan and Fok [2] designed and developed an educational computer-aided tool  for designing heat exchangers that integrates thermo-hydraulics  analysis  with  mechanical  design  using  Java  programming  language.  The software  focuses  on  the  shell  and  tube  heat  exchanger  that  aims  to  complement  the theories behind the thermo-hydraulics design analysis with practical mechanical design details  required  for  costing  and  production.  Recently,  Cartaxo  and  Fernandes  [5] developed a Windows-based program used to introduce heat exchanger equipments to undergraduate  students  and  provide  unit  operation  courses  with  realistic  exercises involving simulation of chemical processes.  This  paper  describes  a  framework  for  developing  a  standalone  and  user-friendly software package for designing shell and tube heat exchangers using Visual Basic. This software, called Heat Exchanger Design and Analysis Simulation Software (HEDASS), is validated  via  comparison  of  its  design  and  analysis  results  with  benchmark  problems from established heat exchanger design text books and another simulation software.      2. Development and Description Of Software  HEDASS addresses two main heat exchanger issues, namely, rating issue in which one must determine whether a fully given specified exchanger performs a given heat-transfer duty satisfactorily or otherwise and the design issue in which one must determine the specifications for a heat exchanger that handles a given heat-transfer duty [6]. There are  essentially  numerous  methods  available  for  the  designing  and  analysis  of  heat exchangers but the most established methods are the Bell-Delaware [7], Kern [8] and stream analysis methods. This software can be customized to apply any of these three methods. Therefore, the user is given an option to select the most appropriate method for his/her  design.  The  development of  HEDASS  was  based  on  Kern  and  Bell-Delaware methods, both used for the thermo-hydraulic design analysis. The mechanical design is based on TEMA standard [9]. For the heat exchanger analysis, Log Mean Temperature Difference (LMTD) method presented in textbook authored by Serth [6] is used. To create HEDASS, we undertake a typical program development cycle that includes the following steps. Further details regarding such development cycle can be found in the following website: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-1552100260.html.   1.  Analysis:  defining  the  problem,  what  the  program  (software)  should  do  and  the appropriate inputs to produce the required outputs. Fig. 1 shows the input and output data presented in this study [6].  2.  Designing: planning the solution to the problem, by using logical sequence of precise steps or algorithm. The design algorithm of the software gives the  simple  logical sequences used in the program for the design of heat exchanger. The software design logic is illustrated in Fig. 2 [6]. The design algorithm of the software was constructed based on the simple logical sequences created by Sinnott [10] (for Open University Course T333 Principles and Applications of Heat Transfer) for the design of shell and tube heat exchanger. 3.  Building  the  graphical  user  interface  (GUI):  selecting  objects  (text  boxes, command tab etc), for obtaining the inputs and displaying the outputs. 4.  Coding:  writing  the  computer  program  that  translates  the  algorithms  into  a programming language. 5.  Testing and Debugging: identifying and eliminate any errors in the program. Then, testing to find the errors and debugging to correct them. 6.  Documentation:  deploying  the  project  into  distribution  package  with  necessary manual to assist users.  HEDASS  can  be  executed  on  any  personal  computer  which  has  a  Windows 95/98/NT/ME/2000/XP operating system with 20 MB of disk space and at least 64 MB of RAM.  3. Results and Discussion  The simulation results generated by the software depend on the data input by the user and the discussion or analysis of any result should be essentially the same. The following example shows how the software can be used to design shell and tube heat exchangers by simulating design parameters.  3.1 Example of usage  We use data provided in Example 5.1 shown in a textbook authored by Serth [6] to illustrate an example of usage and validation of HEDASS. The user is required to key in the input values for the exchanger configuration, fluids properties and conditions using the design interface (Fig. 3). By clicking the design button, the software computes the values needed for the design of the heat exchanger and generates a summary analysis report. The software is developed with an alert option, e.g. if the calculated pressure drop is greater than the allowable pressure drop, it will be highlighted in the analysis summary in red. However, if the value is within the allowable pressure drop as shown in Fig. 4 (analysis  interface),  the  software  will  highlight  the  value  in  green  colour  indicating pressure drop compliance. Ultimately, the user is shown the sketched interface (Fig. 5) that illustrates the shell and tube fluids, their inlet and outlet temperatures, flow rates, tube length, shell and tube diameters, baffle cut as well as baffle spacing. The simulation results obtained from HEDASS are shown in Table 1. These results are compared with the text book answers and simulation results from HEXTRAN, an established software developed by SimSci-Esscor, a division of Invensys Systems, Inc. As can be seen from Table 1, the results from the HEDASS are found to be consistent with the text book answers  and  HEXTRAN  simulation  results  and  therefore,  validate  the  simulation accuracy of HEDASS.    4. Conclusions  Heat  Exchanger  Design  and  Analysis  Simulation  Software  (HEDASS)  has  been successfully  developed  using  VB  programming  language.  The  utilization  of  VB programming language in our study is a significant plus point as this program is relatively uncomplicated and therefore affords engineering program stakeholders the prospect to develop the software themselves with relative ease. HEDASS can be used for educational purposes or perhaps as supplemental simulation software for industrial applications. The software  has  been  validated  by  comparing  its  simulation  results  with  benchmark problems from a well-known heat exchanger design text books and results from another simulation  software.  The  user-friendly  graphic  user  interface  (GUI)  exhibited  by HEDASS renders it easy for users to input parameters and obtain output in an interactive manner.  References  [1]  D.  Chisholm,  Developments  in  Heat  Exchanger  Technology,  Applied  Science Publishers, London, 1980. [2]  F. L. Tan and S. C. Fok, An educational computer-aided tool for heat exchanger design, Computer Applications in Engineering Education, 14 (2006) 77-89. [3] K. C. Leong, K. C. Toh and Y. C. Leong, Shell  and tube heat exchanger design software  for  educational  applications,  International  Journal  of  Engineering Education, 14 (1998) 217-224.  [4] L. M. F. Lona, F. A. N. Fernandes, M. C. Roque and S. Rodrigues, Developing an educational  software  for  heat  exchangers  and  heat  exchanger  networks  projects, Computer & Chemical Engineering, 24 (2000) 1247-1251.   [5] S. J. M. Cartaxo and F. A. N. Fernandes, Educational software for heat exchanger equipment, Computer Applications in Engineering Education, 18 (2010) 193-199.  [6]  R.  W.  Serth,  Process  Heat  Transfer:  Principles  and  Applications,  Elsevier  Ltd., Oxford, United Kingdom, 2007.  [7] K. J. Bell, Final Report of the Cooperative Research Program on Shell and Tube Heat Exchangers, Bulletin No. 5, University of Delaware Engineering Experimental Station Newark, Delaware, 1963.  [8] D. Q. Kern, Process Heat Transfer, McGraw Hill, New York, 1950. [9] TEMA, Standards of the Tubular Exchanger Manufacturing Association, 7th Ed, New York, 1988. [10] R. K. Sinnott, Chemical Engineering Design, Volume 6, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford, United Kingdom, 2005.         Table and Figure Captions  Table 1 Simulation Results Comparison Between HEDASS, HEXTRAN and text book values.  Fig. 1 Input and output data [6].   Fig. 2 Software design logic [6].  Fig. 3 Input of data using the design interface.  Fig. 4 The analysis interface.  Fig. 5 The sketch interface.                Table 1 Simulation Results Comparison Between HEDASS, HEXTRAN and text book values. Calculated variable  Serth [6]  HEXTRAN  HEDASS Heat transfer area (ft2)  454  444  454.48 Overall transfer coefficient (Btu/h.ft2.oF)  46  53.3  44.25 Fouling resistance (h.ft2.oF/Btu)  0.0056  0.00560  0.005597 Shell side transfer coefficient (Btu/h.ft2.oF)  122  191.2  104.15 Shell side Reynold’s number  37158  45148  31327.87 Shell side pressure drop (psi)  2.2  2.1  1.2133 Tube side transfer coefficient (Btu/h.ft2.oF)  156  156.2  162.12 Tube side Reynold’s number  10189  10189  10670 Tube side pressure drop (psi)  10.2  10.06  10.72             Fig. 1 Input and output data [6].                        Fig. 2 Software design logic [6].      Fig. 3 Input of data using the design interface.      Fig. 4 The analysis interface.     Fig. 5 The sketch interface.     

An educational computer-aided tool for heat exchanger design,

Chemical Engineering Design,

Developments in Heat Exchanger Technology,

Educational software for heat exchanger equipment,

Final Report of the Cooperative Research Program on Shell and Tube Heat Exchangers,

Process Heat Transfer,

Process Heat Transfer: Principles and Applications,

Shell and tube heat exchanger design software for educational applications,

Development of educational software for designing shell-and-tube heat exchangers

http://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/10536/

Development of educational software for designing shell-and-tube heat exchangers

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