A project to design and build compact heat exchangers

A project of designing compact heat shell and tube heat exchangers for the students was discussed. A double-pipe heat exchanger was constructed as a prototype for demonstrating the concept of project to students and to provide them with ideas of materials and construction methods. The project served as a learning vehicle to acquaint students with pipe schedule and fittings such as a caps, elbows, unions, reducers, tees, and connectors. Computer software tools allowed students to quickly and efficiently perform a sensitivity analysis on the design equations and to investigate potential effects of uncertainty in parameters.