- those that are used in the petrochemical industry which tend to be covered by standards from TEMA, Tubular Exchanger Manufacturers Association (see TEMA Standards);
- those that are used in the power industry such as feedwater heaters and power plant condensers.
Regardless of the type of industry the exchanger is to be used in there are a number of common features (see Condensers).
A shell and tube exchanger consists of a number of tubes mounted inside a cylindrical shell. Figure 1 illustrates a typical unit that may be found in a petrochemical plant. Two fluids can exchange heat, one fluid flows over the outside of the tubes while the second fluid flows through the tubes. The fluids can be single or two phase and can flow in a parallel or a cross/counter flow arrangement.