Contents

OBJECTIVE..............................................................................................................1
METHOD...................................................................................................................1
THEORY....................................................................................................................1
APPARATUS/EQUIPMENT.....................................................................................4
PROCEDURE............................................................................................................6
RESULT & CALCULATION....................................................................................6
DISCUSSION & CONCLUSION...........................................................................16
REFERENCE...........................................................................................................17

TF6: Plate Heat Exchanger (Cocurrent and Countercurrent Flow)

OBJECTIVE
To demonstrate the differences between cocurrent flow (flows in same direction) and
countercurrent flow (flows in the opposite direction) and the effect on the heat
transferred and temperature efficiencies.
METHOD
To calculate the heat energy transferred and the temperature efficiencies by measuring
the temperatures of the two fluid streams and using the temperature changes and
differences.
THEORY
Countercurrent operation
When the Heat Exchanger is connected for countercurrent operation, the hot and cold
fluids enter the exchanger at opposite ends. However, the flows are not truly
countercurrent throughout the exchanger because the flow on either side of the plates
is not always in the opposite direction as shown below.

Figure 1a: Countercurrent Flow Pattern

Figure 1b: Countercurrent temperature profiles

Reductionhot fluid temperature , T hot =T 1T 2 ( )

(1)
(2)

Increasecold fluid temperature, T cold =T 4T 3 ( )

(3)
Heat power emitted hot fluid , Q e =q m h ( C p ) h ( T 1T 2 ) (W )
(4)
Heat power absorbed by cold fluid , Qa=q mc ( C p )c ( T 4T 3 ) ( W )

A useful measure of the Heat Exchanger performance is the temperature efficiency of

each fluid stream. The temperature change in each fluid stream is compared with the
maximum temperature difference between the two fluid streams giving a comparison
with an exchanger of infinite size.
T 1T 2
(5) Temperatureefficiency for hot fluid , h= T 1T 3 100 ( )
(6)

Temperature efficiency for cold fluid , c =

T 4T 3
100 ( )
T 1T 3

+
Mean temperature efficiency , m = h c ( )
2
Cocurrent operation

(7)

When the Heat Exchanger is connected for cocurrent operation the hot and cold fluids
enter the exchanger at the same end. However, the flows are not truly cocurrent
throughout the exchanger because the flow on either side of the plates is not always in
the same direction as shown below.

Figure 2a: Cocurrent Flow Pattern

Figure 2b: Cocurrent temperature profiles

(8) Reductionhot fluid temperature , T hot =T 2T 1 ( )
(9)

Increasecold fluid temperature, T cold =T 4T 3 ( )

(10)
Heat power emitted hot fluid , Q e =q m h ( C p ) h ( T 2T 1 ) (W )
(11)
(12)

Heat power absorbed by cold fluid , Qa=q mc ( C p )c ( T 4T 3 ) ( W )

Temperature efficiency for hot fluid , h=

T 2T 1
100 ( )
T 2T 3

Temperature efficiency for cold fluid , c =

(13)
Mean temperature efficiency , m =

T 4T 3
100 ( )
T 2T 3

h +c
()
2

(14)

APPARATUS/EQUIPMENT

Thermocouple temperature sensors

HT32 Plate Heat Exchanger Residual Current Device (RCD) Hot water pump
Figure 3a: Set-up of Apparatus

Figure 3b: Countercurrent Flow Operation Software

Figure 3c: Cocurrent Flow Operation Software

PROCEDURE
1. The equipment is set up and the accessory is installed with a cold water supplied
and the pressure regulator is adjusted. The apparatus is switched on and connected
to a suitable PC on which the software has been installed.
2. The HT30XC software is run with the apparatus configured for countercurrent
operation.
3. The temperature controller is set to 60C before the hot water circulator is
switched on. The cold water control valve setting is adjusted to give a cold water
flow rate of 1 litre/min. Then, the hot water flow rate controller is set to 2
litres/min. The temperature is allowed to stabilize by monitoring them using the
console display or the sensor display on the software screen.
4. When the temperature are stable, the
icon is selected to record the
following: T1, T2, T3, T4, Fhot and Fcold. The cold water control valve is closed by
setting it to 0%.
5. The logged data is saved by selecting Save As from the File menu and the
results are given a meaningful name, such as HT32C Countercurrent Operation.
6. The system is changed to cocurrent operation and steps 3 to 5 are repeated.

RESULT & CALCULATION

For Countercurrent Flow,
Table 1a:
Hot fluid
volume
flow rate,
qvhot (m3/s)
3.541E-5
2.706E-5
3.154E-5
3.968E-5
2.320E-5
2.706E-5
3.683E-5
3.337E-5
4.090E-5

Hot fluid
inlet
temperature,
T1 (C)
60.0
59.8
60.1
60.3
60.3
60.4
60.5
60.4
60.4

Cold fluid
Hot fluid
volume
outlet
flow rate,
temperature,
qvcold
T2 (C)
(m3/s)
47.9
1.730E-5
47.9
1.791E-5
47.8
1.791E-5
48.2
1.750E-5
48.3
1.770E-5
47.9
1.750E-5
48.2
1.730E-5
48.3
1.892E-5
48.3
1.770E-5
6

Cold fluid
inlet
temperature,
T3 (C)

Cold fluid
outlet
temperature,
T4 (C)

27.0
27.0
27.0
27.0
27.0
27.0
27.0
27.0
27.0

48.6
48.6
48.6
48.8
49.0
48.7
49.0
49.0
49.0

2.401E-5
4.131E-5
3.520E-5
2.829E-5
3.541E-5
4.070E-5
3.378E-5
3.785E-5
3.256E-5
3.622E-5
3.154E-5

60.3
60.5
60.4
60.3
60.5
60.4
60.8
60.6
60.7
60.7
60.9

48.2
48.4
48.3
48.2
48.3
48.2
48.4
48.3
48.3
48.4
48.6

1.750E-5
1.892E-5
1.831E-5
1.770E-5
1.770E-5
1.750E-5
1.791E-5
1.608E-5
1.730E-5
1.811E-5
1.669E-5

27.0
27.0
27.0
27.0
27.0
27.0
27.0
27.1
27.1
27.1
27.1

48.9
49.2
49.0
49.0
49.1
49.1
49.3
49.1
49.1
49.2
49.4

Experimental errors for the above measurements

a)

Heat Loss to the Surrounding

According the second law of thermodynamics, a perfect system with 100% efficiency
does not exist in real world. Thus, there must be some dissipation of heat energy of
our plate heat exchanger system throughout the experiment. This means that not
100% of the heat energy was transferred from the hot fluid to the cold fluid. For
instance, the metal plate would absorb and dissipate a portion of heat energy to its
internal energy or to the surrounding when the hot fluid flowed through it. Besides,
other components of the system such as hot fluid pump and connecting tubes would
also dissipate a small portion of heat energy. This caused the measurements of T1, T2,
T3 and T4 to encounter some deviation.
b)

Unstable Flow Rate of Hot and Cold Fluids

Although the flow rate of hot and cold fluids had been set to a certain value in the
software, the reading of flow rate kept fluctuating throughout the experiment. When
the flow rate dropped or increased to a greater extent, we had to adjust the flow rate
setting in the software to bring the reading back. The unstable flow rate would affect
the heat transfer rate between hot and cold fluids and thus caused our readings for
temperature to be inconsistent. To minimize the error, we waited for a longer time for
the flow rate to stabilize before the reading was taken.
c)

Flowing Direction of Fluids was not 100% countercurrent/concurrent

7

As mentioned in the theory section before, the flows of fluids were not truly
countercurrent/cocurrent throughout the exchanger because the flow on either side of
the plates was not always in the same direction as what we set. The change in flowing
direction of some portions of the fluids caused the flow rate to fluctuate and thus
resulted in some errors of our data.
Table 1b:
Hot fluid
Hot fluid
inlet
outlet
temperature, temperature,
T1 (C)
T2 (C)
60.0
59.8
60.1
60.3
60.3
60.4
60.5
60.4
60.4
60.3
60.5
60.4
60.3
60.5
60.4
60.8
60.6
60.7
60.7
60.9

Average
Cold fluid
Cold fluid
cold
inlet
outlet
water
temperature, temperature,
temperaT3 (C)
T4 (C)
ture (C)
27.0
48.6
37.83
27.0
48.6
37.81
27.0
48.6
37.81
27.0
48.8
37.93
27.0
49.0
38.02
27.0
48.7
37.89
27.0
49.0
38.02
27.0
49.0
38.04
27.0
49.0
38.01
27.0
48.9
37.97
27.0
49.2
38.10
27.0
49.0
38.04
27.0
49.0
38.02
27.0
49.1
38.09
27.0
49.1
38.06
27.0
49.3
38.15
27.1
49.1
38.10
27.1
49.1
38.09
27.1
49.2
38.14
27.1
49.4
38.22

Average hot
water
temperature
(C)

47.9
47.9
47.8
48.2
48.3
47.9
48.2
48.3
48.3
48.2
48.4
48.3
48.2
48.3
48.2
48.4
48.3
48.3
48.4
48.6

53.95
53.87
53.93
54.21
54.32
54.14
54.34
54.36
54.32
54.24
54.49
54.32
54.27
54.40
54.29
54.60
54.44
54.49
54.55
54.71

For each set of data, the average hot water and cold water temperature tabulated in
Table 1b is calculated as follow:
Average hot water temperature=

T 1+T 2
2

Average cold water temperature=

T 3+T 4
2

Table 1c:
Specific
heat of
Density of
Hot mass
hot fluid,
hot fluid,
flow rate,
Cphot
hot (kg/m3)
qmh (kg/s)
(kJ/kgK
)
4.182
986.19
0.0349
4.182
986.23
0.0267
4.182
986.20
0.0311
4.182
986.07
0.0391
4.182
986.02
0.0229
4.182
986.10
0.0267
4.182
986.01
0.0363
4.182
986.00
0.0329
4.182
986.02
0.0403
4.182
986.05
0.0237
4.182
985.94
0.0407
4.182
986.02
0.0347
4.182
986.04
0.0279
4.182
985.98
0.0349
4.182
986.03
0.0401
4.182
985.88
0.0333
4.182
985.96
0.0373
4.182
985.94
0.0321
4.182
985.91
0.0357
4.182
985.83
0.0311

Specific heat
of cold fluid,
Cpcold
(kJ/kgK)

Density of
cold fluid, cold
(kg/m3)

4.178
4.178
4.178
4.178
4.178
4.178
4.178
4.178
4.178
4.178
4.178
4.178
4.178
4.178
4.178
4.178
4.178
4.178
4.178
4.178

993.02
993.03
993.03
992.99
992.95
993.00
992.95
992.95
992.96
992.97
992.92
992.95
992.95
992.93
992.94
992.90
992.92
992.93
992.91
992.88

Table 1d:

Cold mass
flow rate,
qmc (kg/s)
0.0172
0.0178
0.0178
0.0174
0.0176
0.0174
0.0172
0.0188
0.0176
0.0174
0.0188
0.0182
0.0176
0.0176
0.0174
0.0178
0.0160
0.0172
0.0180
0.0166

Reduction in hot
fluid temperature,
Thot (C)

Increase in cold
fluid temperature,
Tcold (C)

Heat power
emitted from
hot fluid,
Qe (W)

Heat power
absorbed by
cold fluid,
Qa (W)

12.1
11.9
12.3
12.1
12.0
12.4
12.3
12.1
12.1
12.1
12.1
12.1
12.1
12.2
12.1
12.3
12.2
12.3
12.3
12.3

21.6
21.6
21.5
21.8
22.0
21.7
22.0
22.0
21.9
21.9
22.1
22.0
22.0
22.1
22.0
22.2
22.0
22.0
22.1
22.3

1.768
1.333
1.596
1.981
1.149
1.388
1.869
1.662
2.037
1.199
2.057
1.753
1.412
1.777
2.038
1.714
1.910
1.656
1.833
1.596

1.547
1.604
1.599
1.579
1.612
1.575
1.575
1.726
1.609
1.586
1.736
1.670
1.612
1.621
1.598
1.650
1.470
1.579
1.661
1.542

The calculation of Thot, Tcold, Qe and Qa is based on equations (1), (2), (3) and (4)
respectively.
20

T hot
Average T hot =

20

=12.2

20

T cold
Average T cold=

20

=21 . 9

10

Table 1e:

Temperature
efficiency for hot
fluid, h (%)

Temperature
efficiency for cold
fluid, cold (%)

Mean Temperature
Efficiency, m (%)

36.75
36.40
37.17
36.46
36.10
37.33
36.80
36.22
36.26
36.43
36.08
36.26
36.39
36.41
36.45
36.51
36.57
36.75
36.52
36.35

65.42
65.78
65.19
65.49
65.95
65.11
65.63
65.92
65.79
65.72
66.05
65.98
65.95
66.02
66.08
65.90
65.86
65.57
65.80
65.96

51.08
51.09
51.18
50.98
51.02
51.22
51.21
51.07
51.02
51.07
51.07
51.12
51.17
51.21
51.27
51.20
51.21
51.16
51.16
51.15

20

m
Overall Mean Temperature Efficiency=

20

For Cocurrent Flow,

Table 2a:

11

=51.13

Hot fluid
volume
flow rate,
qvhot (m3/s)
3.500E-5
3.642E-5
3.113E-5
3.602E-5
3.704E-5
3.358E-5
3.480E-5
3.459E-5
3.195E-5
3.927E-5
3.195E-5
3.704E-5
3.765E-5
3.297E-5
3.459E-5
4.111E-5
3.378E-5
2.890E-5
3.236E-5
3.988E-5

Hot fluid
inlet
temperature,
T1 (C)
54.2
54.5
55.0
54.6
54.8
54.6
54.4
54.7
54.5
54.6
54.8
54.4
54.6
54.8
54.9
54.6
54.6
54.9
54.7
54.3

Cold fluid
Hot fluid
volume
outlet
flow rate,
temperature,
qvcold
T2 (C)
(m3/s)
67.9
1.648E-5
67.8
1.669E-5
68.1
1.608E-5
67.6
1.608E-5
67.6
1.669E-5
67.4
1.669E-5
67.5
1.730E-5
67.7
1.689E-5
67.8
1.648E-5
67.5
1.648E-5
67.4
1.648E-5
67.2
1.669E-5
67.6
1.730E5
67.6
1.770E-5
67.7
1.587E-5
67.2
1.608E-5
67.3
1.608E-5
67.6
1.608E5
66.9
1.730E-5
66.9
1.608E-5

Cold fluid
inlet
temperature,
T3 (C)

Cold fluid
outlet
temperature,
T4 (C)

27.1
27.1
27.1
27.1
27.1
27.1
27.1
27.1
27.2
27.2
27.2
27.2
27.1
27.2
27.1
27.2
27.2
27.2
27.2
27.2

51.3
51.7
51.9
51.8
51.8
51.8
51.5
51.7
51.6
51.8
51.9
51.6
51.5
51.9
52.0
51.9
51.9
52.0
51.9
51.7

Experimental errors for the above measurements

a)

Heat Loss to the Surrounding

According the second law of thermodynamics, a perfect system with 100% efficiency
does not exist in real world. Thus, there must be some dissipation of heat energy of
our plate heat exchanger system throughout the experiment. This means that not
100% of the heat energy was transferred from the hot fluid to the cold fluid. For
instance, the metal plate would absorb and dissipate a portion of heat energy to its
internal energy or to the surrounding when the hot fluid flowed through it. Besides,
other components of the system such as hot fluid pump and connecting tubes would
also dissipate a small portion of heat energy. This caused the measurements of T1, T2,
T3 and T4 to encounter some deviation.
12

b)

Unstable Flow Rate of Hot and Cold Fluids

Although the flow rate of hot and cold fluids had been set to a certain value in the
software, the reading of flow rate kept fluctuating throughout the experiment. When
the flow rate dropped or increased to a greater extent, we had to adjust the flow rate
setting in the software to bring the reading back. The unstable flow rate would affect
the heat transfer rate between hot and cold fluids and thus caused our readings for
temperature to be inconsistent. To minimize the error, we waited for a longer time for
the flow rate to stabilize before the reading was taken.
c)

Flowing Direction of Fluids was not 100% countercurrent/concurrent

As mentioned in the theory section before, the flows of fluids were not truly
countercurrent/cocurrent throughout the exchanger because the flow on either side of
the plates was not always in the same direction as what we set. The change in flowing
direction of some portions of the fluids caused the flow rate to fluctuate and thus
resulted in some errors of our data.

Table 2b:
Hot fluid
Hot fluid
inlet
outlet
temperature, temperature,
T1 (C)
T2 (C)
54.2
54.5
55.0
54.6
54.8
54.6
54.4
54.7
54.5
54.6
54.8
54.4

67.9
67.8
68.1
67.6
67.6
67.4
67.5
67.7
67.8
67.5
67.4
67.2

Average hot
water
temperature
(C)
61.0
61.1
61.5
61.1
61.2
61.0
60.9
61.2
61.1
61.1
61.1
60.8
13

Average
Cold fluid
Cold fluid
cold
inlet
outlet
water
temperature, temperature,
temperaT3 (C)
T4 (C)
ture (C)
39.2
27.1
51.3
39.4
27.1
51.7
39.5
27.1
51.9
39.5
27.1
51.8
39.5
27.1
51.8
39.5
27.1
51.8
39.3
27.1
51.5
39.4
27.1
51.7
39.4
27.2
51.6
39.5
27.2
51.8
39.5
27.2
51.9
39.4
27.2
51.6

54.6
54.8
54.9
54.6
54.6
54.9
54.7
54.3

67.6
67.6
67.7
67.2
67.3
67.6
66.9
66.9

61.1
61.2
61.3
60.9
60.9
61.2
60.8
60.6

27.1
27.2
27.1
27.2
27.2
27.2
27.2
27.2

51.5
51.9
52.0
51.9
51.9
52.0
51.9
51.7

39.3
39.5
39.6
39.5
39.5
39.6
39.5
39.4

For each set of data, the average hot water and cold water temperature tabulated in
Table 2b is calculated as follow:
Average hot water temperature=

T 1+T 2
2

Average cold water temperature=

T 3+T 4
2

Table 2c:
Specific
heat of
Density of
Hot mass
hot fluid,
hot fluid,
flow rate,
Cphot
hot (kg/m3)
qmh (kg/s)
(kJ/kgK
)
4.180
988.15
0.0346
4.180
988.12
0.0360
4.180
988.00
0.0308
4.180
988.12
0.0356
4.180
988.10
0.0366
4.180
988.15
0.0332
4.180
988.18
0.0344
4.180
988.09
0.0342
4.180
988.11
0.0316
4.180
988.12
0.0388
4.180
988.12
0.0316
4.180
988.21
0.0366
4.180
988.13
0.0372
4.180
988.09
0.0326
4.180
988.06
0.0342
4.180
988.17
0.0406

Specific heat
of cold fluid,
Cpcold
(kJ/kgK)

Density of
cold fluid, cold
(kg/m3)

4.247
4.248
4.248
4.248
4.248
4.248
4.247
4.248
4.248
4.248
4.248
4.248
4.248
4.248
4.248
4.248

952.60
952.49
952.44
952.47
952.45
952.45
952.55
952.48
952.51
952.45
952.43
952.52
952.54
952.44
952.40
952.44

14

Cold mass
flow rate,
qmc (kg/s)
0.0157
0.0159
0.0153
0.0153
0.0159
0.0159
0.0165
0.0161
0.0157
0.0157
0.0157
0.0159
0.0165
0.0169
0.0151
0.0153

4.180
4.180
4.180
4.180

988.17
988.08
988.20
988.28

0.0334
0.0285
0.0320
0.0394

4.248
4.248
4.248
4.248

952.44
952.42
952.43
952.50

0.0153
0.0153
0.0165
0.0153

Table 2d:

Reduction in hot
fluid temperature,
Thot (C)

Increase in cold
fluid temperature,
Tcold (C)

Heat power
emitted from
hot fluid,
Qe (W)

Heat power
absorbed by
cold fluid,
Qa (W)

13.7
13.3
13.1
13.0
12.8
12.8
13.2
13.1
13.3
12.9
12.7
12.8
13.1
12.8
12.7
12.6
12.7
12.7
12.1
12.6

24.2
24.5
24.8
24.6
24.7
24.7
24.4
24.6
24.5
24.6
24.7
24.4
24.4
24.7
24.9
24.7
24.7
24.8
24.7
24.5

1.981
2.003
1.678
1.932
1.962
1.779
1.890
1.865
1.752
2.091
1.671
1.962
2.034
1.746
1.818
2.133
1.776
1.515
1.623
2.070

1.611
1.657
1.611
1.601
1.666
1.666
1.704
1.679
1.630
1.641
1.650
1.648
1.706
1.767
1.597
1.605
1.607
1.611
1.731
1.592

The calculation of Thot, Tcold, Qe and Qa is based on equations (8), (9), (10) and (11)
respectively.
20

T hot
Average T hot =

20

=12.9

15

20

T cold
Average T cold=

20

=2 4.6

Table 2e:

Temperature
efficiency for hot
fluid, h (%)

Temperature
efficiency for cold
fluid, cold (%)

Mean Temperature
Efficiency, m (%)

33.65
32.77
31.88
32.10
31.70
31.83
32.58
32.16
32.72
31.96
31.45
32.04
32.32
31.73
31.41
31.39
31.72
31.43
30.58
31.67

59.33
60.43
60.51
60.83
61.00
61.24
60.34
60.56
60.24
61.03
61.45
60.99
60.22
61.04
61.38
61.64
61.57
61.33
62.31
61.70

46.49
46.60
46.19
46.47
46.35
46.54
46.46
46.36
46.48
46.50
46.45
46.51
46.27
46.39
46.39
46.51
46.64
46.38
46.44
46.69
20

m
Overall MeanTemperature Efficiency=

20

=46.46

DISCUSSION & CONCLUSION

From the result, it can be deduced that both Thot and Tcold increases when the heat
exchanger is converted from countercurrent operation to cocurrent operation. This is
16

normal because countercurrent maintains a slowly declining difference of temperature

gradient whereas cocurrent gives a higher initial temperature gradient but it falls
quickly afterwards. Therefore, higher Thot and Tcold in cocurrent does not indicate
that cocurrent exchange can cause a greater mass of heat transfer. The rising of T hot
and Tcold is just because the higher initial temperature gradient created by cocurrent
flow results in a higher rate of heat transfer. As time proceeds, the temperature
gradient of cocurrent will fall greatly and so with T hot and Tcold. Due to time
constraint to conduct the experiment, we cannot wait until the temperature gradient of
cocurrent flow to fall. Therefore, we cannot determine the temperature efficiency of
both operation solely by observing T hot and Tcold. We need to apply the equations of
temperature efficiency to calculate the percentage in order to determine which
exchange is more efficient.
From Tables 1e and 2e, we can deduce that countercurrent flow is more efficient in
heat exchange than cocurrent flow since its overall mean temperature efficiency is
higher. In contradict to Thot and Tcold, h and cold drop when the countercurrent
operation is changed to cocurrent operation. This is relevant because for
countercurrent flow, the hotter entering fluid becomes the exiting cooler fluid and
vice versa by maintaining the differential in temperature. Unlike in cocurrent, both
hot and cold inlet fluids are arranged in parallel and thus the heat transfer is done by
approaching each other only. This is why cocurrent flow cannot maintain the
temperature gradient during heat exchange.
In conclusion, countercurrent flow can achieve a greater amount of heat mass transfer
than cocurrent flow, provided that the experiment is conducted in similar conditions.

REFERENCE
J.Moran, M. (2011). Fundamentals of Engineering Thermodynamics. United
States of America: Don Fowley.

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