Design, Fabrication and Testing of Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger Integrated with Vacuum Tubes Solar Water Heater

Heat exchanger is a device used to accomplish the transfer of heat from one fluid to another. There are a wide variety of applications regarding shell and tube heat exchangers in the fields of petroleum and industrial applications, due to its enhanced heat transfer characteristics. This project was designed to establish an insight of detailed design and performance of the shell and tube heat exchanger based on energy and mass conservation laws. Solar water heating system techniques were used to provide the system with necessary hot water. One of these techniques was to evacuate tube solar heating system which can be considered as a more efficient way to supply this system with hot water. To enhance the system performance, proper material selection for shell and tubes structure and flow pipe network based on their availability in the local markets was brought into consideration as well. Furthermore, the implemented design was examined under Medina climatic conditions for its cost-effectiveness, simplicity, execution and sustainability. It was found that the heat exchanger efficacy, performance and the vacuum tube efficiency were in highly acceptable ranges and cost effective. In addition, the vacuum tube solar water heating was found to be a clean and safe source of renewable energy. Finally, a comprehensive analysis of the system effectiveness was conducted and the outlet temperature determined for the system varied between 44 to 50ºC for the heat exchanger whereas the vacuum tube exit temperature was elevated up to 84 to 90ºC. The efficiency of the solar collector was found to be 61.84%.