Heat exchangers are important devices for managing thermal energy in the industrial world. There are many industrial applications where proper temperature needs to be maintained and heat exchangers are used to accomplishing this task. There are different types of heat exchangers based on their design and these include plate, plate fin, tube fin, double pipe, shell, and tube types. Materials having good thermal conductivity are used for manufacturing heat exchangers and these include metal, plastic, and ceramic.
Tube fin heat exchangers
Tube fin heat exchangers are manufactured using tube and fins are attached to the tube. Fins are attached to the tube with a strong mechanical bond. Technics used for attaching fins include welding, soldering, tension winding, and brazing. Both tube and fins are manufactured using material that is a good thermal conductor so that they absorb heat from the hot liquid passing through the tube and release the heat into the surrounding air. As a result, hot liquid passing through the tube cools down. The fins attached to the tube help increase the area used for transferring heat into the ambient and make heat exchangers efficient. If the cold liquid is passed through the tube then the tube and fins cool down and as a result, they absorb heat from the ambient as a result cold liquid passing through the tube gets hot. The idea of attaching fins to the tube is to increase the heat transfer surface area and make heat exchangers efficient.
Deionized water in Tube fin heat exchangers
Deionized water is water from which all the ions of the minerals are removed. These minerals are copper, iron, calcium, and sodium. Anions like sulfate and chlorides are also removed from the water. Deionized water is used in laboratories for experiments to avoid impurities of the tap water affecting solids dissolved in the water. The main use of deionized water in the industry is to avoid the accumulation of the salt on the industrial equipment.
When electronics systems are in use, they generate heat and they need to be cooled to remain operational. In most the industrial applications use of untreated water as a coolant is okay, but for cooling the electronics systems, the use of untreated water can create problems. Ions in the untreated water can cause short-circuit and damage the electronic equipment. Since deionized water contains few ions, it is relatively safe to use it as a coolant in electronics systems because it reduces the chances of short-circuit. So, it is required to remove impurities in the water to make it an optimal coolant.
There are many applications that use deionized water in tube fin heat exchangers. Many electronics equipment use deionized water as a coolant in the heat exchange systems. The electronic system is transferring heat to the cool deionized water in the loop and then the heat is released into the ambient using water to air heat exchangers. Since these systems need to be provided with cool deionized water in the main loop, they are attached to the water processing unit which removes ions from the water to ensure optimal performance of the system. After ions are removed using ion exchanger, water is filtered. The required level of purification of the water depends upon the reliability required by the electronics system being cooled. The design of the water treatment process depends on the required purification level of the water.
Deionized water is used widely in heat exchangers, it is due to its electrical and chemical properties.