Thermal Performance Optimization of Plate Heat Exchangers

Plate heat exchangers are compact devices that transfer thermal energy between two fluid streams through a series of thin, corrugated plates. Optimisation of their thermal performance seeks to maximise the rate of heat transfer while minimising pressure drop and material costs. Current strategies encompass geometric design adjustments—such as corrugation pattern, chevron angle and channel spacing—alongside surface treatments, use of nanofluids and incorporation of porous inserts. Computational fluid dynamics and reduced-order modelling, including semi-empirical and machine-learning approaches, have accelerated the exploration of design parameters, enabling multi-objective trade-offs between effectiveness, pumping power and manufacturing constraints. Active enhancement techniques, such as surface vibrations or flow pulsations, are also under investigation. The global drive towards energy efficiency and decarbonisation has underscored the role of optimised plate heat exchangers in district heating, process industries and waste-heat recovery. Practical applications demand robust correlations for Nusselt number and friction factor across a wide range of Reynolds numbers, along with reliable design platforms that bridge experimental data and predictive models. Continued advances hinge on integrating novel materials, refined numerical methods and system-level performance metrics.

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Thermal Performance Optimization of Plate Heat Exchangers publication trend

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Technical terms

Corrugation: A patterned deformation of plate surfaces that induces turbulence and enhances mixing between fluid layers.

Chevron angle: The inclination of corrugation relative to flow direction, affecting vortex formation and pressure drop.

Nusselt number: A dimensionless parameter expressing the ratio of convective to conductive heat transfer across a fluid boundary.

Pressure drop: The loss of mechanical energy of the fluid due to friction and flow disturbances within the exchanger.

Effectiveness-NTU method: A performance metric linking heat exchanger effectiveness to the number of transfer units, used for design and analysis.

Nanofluid: A base fluid containing suspended nanoparticles, employed to increase thermal conductivity and convective heat transfer.

References

1. Review of Developments in Plate Heat Exchanger Heat Transfer Enhancement for Single-Phase Applications in Process Industries. Energies (2023).
2. Entropy analysis and mixed convection of nanofluid flow in a pillow plate heat exchanger in the presence of porous medium. Alexandria Engineering Journal (2023).
3. Potentials and challenges for pillow-plate heat exchangers: State-of-the-art review. Applied Thermal Engineering (2022).