Heat exchanger

Article By:

Wooldridge, Margaret Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Fremed, Raymond F. Formerly, Burson-Marsteller Associates, New York, New York.

Last reviewed:December 2019

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.310700

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• Heat exchanger, published January 2014:Download PDF Get Adobe Acrobat Reader

A device used to transfer heat from one fluid to another. Heat exchangers are often known by other names, but the principles are always the same—to transfer heat from a high temperature fluid to a low temperature fluid. The fluids can be mixed in the heat exchange process (such as with some feed water heaters) or the fluids can be separated or unmixed with separate flow pathways. When heated directly by a combustion process, heat exchangers are often described as furnaces, boilers (Fig. 1), heaters, or combustors. If there is a phase change in one of the fluids—for example, condensation of steam from gas-phase to liquid-phase water—the equipment may be called a chiller, evaporator, sublimator, distillation-column reboiler, still, condenser, or cooler-condenser. If the phase change is from a liquid to a gas-phase, the heat exchanger may be called a boiler, superheater, or steam generator. See also: Boiler; Cooling tower; Distillation; Evaporator; Fluids; Furnace construction; Heat transfer; Vapor condenser

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