Shell-and-tube heat exchanger
Shell-and-tube heat exchangers are used for heating or cooling of liquids or gases. One medium flows through the outer shell, while a second medium flows through a tube or tube bundle. The heat exchangers can be single-phase or two-phase, with the latter being used to boil or condense fluids. Alfa Laval provides compact shell-and-tube heat exchangers for a wide range of duties, using innovative designs and enhanced tube surfaces to ensure high thermal performance and reliability.
Benefits of Alfa Laval shell-and-tube heat exchangers
- High thermal efficiency and reliable performance thanks to optimized heating surfaces
- Compact designs enabling flexible and easy installation
- Compatibility with a wide range of temperatures, pressures and other design conditions
- Options for handling diverse media: viscous or non-viscous, aggressive or non-aggressive
- Designs to match the needs of specific industries, e.g. marine, pharmaceutical or food
Alfa Laval’s many decades of heat transfer experience and thermal innovation have produced shell-and-tube heat exchangers that excel in a wide range of duties.
What makes Alfa Laval shell-and-tube heat exchangers different?
Shell-and-tube heat exchangers are a familiar technology in many industries. But Alfa Laval shell-and-tube heat exchangers stand apart with their features and design options.
Optimized heating surfaces
Design elements such as baffle plates, finned tubes or corrugations optimize the heating surfaces of Alfa Laval shell-and-tube heat exchangers. These enhancements create very compact units with high thermal efficiency.
Turbulent flow
Alfa Laval shell-and-tube heat exchangers ensure turbulent flow both inside and outside the tubes. In addition to maximizing heat exchange, this helps keep them clean and minimizes the risk of fouling by eliminating dead spots.
Easy, flexible installation
Usually delivered as ready-to-install units, compact Alfa Laval shell-and-tube heat exchangers are easy to integrate into your equipment set up. Many can be mounted either horizontally or vertically to match the available space.
Customizable designs
The many options for Alfa Laval shell-and-tube heat exchangers create possibilities to tailor the design to your specific application. For many of our heat exchangers, there is also a wide range of available accessories.
Marine heat exchangers
Alfa Laval has a wide range of shell-and tube heat exchangers for use on board. These are built to last with durable, marine-approved materials, and electric heating options are available to support decarbonization.
Hygienic heat exchangers
To meet demands in the pharmaceutical and food industries, Alfa Laval has dedicated shell-and-tube heat exchangers with hygienic, leak-proof designs and smooth surfaces that are easy to drain and clean.
How shell-and-tube heat exchangers work
Shell-and-tube heat exchangers are used for heating or cooling of liquids or gases. Their outer shell houses either a single tube (monotube-type heat exchanger) or a tube bundle (multitube-type heat exchanger). Multitube designs are most common, while monotube designs are mainly used for heat-treating products with large particles or fibre content.
Depending on the application, the process medium can flow through either the shell side or the tube side of the heat exchanger. The heating or cooling medium flows through the other. A counter-current flow, where the fluids move in opposite directions, is the most thermally efficient. Features like baffles can be used on the shell side, not only to provide structural support but also to boost turbulence and heat transfer rates by directing the flow across the tubes.
Alfa Laval Marine Service
Worldwide and 24/7, Alfa Laval Marine Service is your path to greater uptime, optimized performance and true peace of mind. Our network is always on call, and our service offering brings reliability, efficiency and compliance throughout your equipment's lifetime.
24/7 Service & Support
Contact us anywhere, anytime:
+46 4636 7700
marine.service@alfalaval.com
Our global network of service centres centres, distribution centres and field service engineers is always ready at assist you.