Minimizing capital and operating costs of shell and tube condensers using optimum baffle spacing

There is no precise criterion to determine baffle spacing in the presented procedure for condenser design in the Heat Exchanger Design Handbook (HEDH). To consider suitable baffle spacing in the design process, a computer program has been developed which enables designers to determine the optimum baffle spacing for segmentally baffled shell and tube condensers. Total costs of heat transfer area and pumping power are involved to perform objective function, using a weight factor, which depends on the economical conditions of the desired location. As a result, a set of correlation is presented to determine the optimum baffle spacing, which could be considered as a complementary to HEDH recommendations.