Modelling of plate heat exchangers with generalized configurations.

A mathematical model was developed in algorithmic form for the steady-state simulation of gasketed plate heat exchangers with generalized configurations. The main purposes of this model are to study the configuration influence on the exchanger performance and to further develop a method for configuration optimization. The main simulation results were: temperature profiles in all channels, thermal effectiveness, distribution of the overall heat transfer coefficient and pressure drops. Moreover, the assumption of constant overall heat transfer coefficient was analysed.