Shell and tube heat exchangers in machinery and plant engineering

In machinery and plant engineering it is almost always the same basic problem: a machine produces waste heat that has to be rejected reliably - usually through oil, against plant cooling water. That is exactly what the shell and tube design is made for.

Typical duties

Hydraulic and gearbox oil cooling. Presses, machine tools, compressors and stationary drives reject their losses through the oil. The shell and tube heat exchanger cools it in continuous operation; the sizing works with the temperature-dependent viscosity of the oil.

Separating circuits. A machine or process circuit is separated from the central cooling water network so that the network’s dirt and pressure do not reach into the machine. This applies to glycol-bearing circuits as well.

Test benches and pilot plants. Changing load points need a clearly defined design point plus a deliberately chosen margin. The configurator makes the operating point visible as you type, and you can set a minimum area margin there; the quote states the margin achieved.

What matters in the sizing

With oil, the oil side dominates the overall heat transfer: low thermal conductivity, high viscosity, about half the heat capacity compared with water. Anyone calculating with water characteristics here underestimates the required area considerably. How that fits together is in the guide oil coolers with shell and tube units; the calculation steps themselves are in the guide sizing.

Second point: the permissible pressure drop. Pushing viscous oil through narrow tubes costs pumping power, and a unit chosen too small buys its area with an unrealistic pressure drop. The sizing therefore checks duty and pressure drop at the same time.

How to get to a quote

Enter media, inlet and outlet temperatures and the duty or one mass flow in the configurator - the energy balance completes whatever you leave open. You receive a confirmation of receipt and an individual quote from us.