The Influence of Baffle Gap to The Effectiveness of Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger with Helical Baffle

One of heat exchangers now commonly used in industries is shell and tube heat exchanger. The design of heat exchanger process is a major thing and is important in obtaining the effectiveness of the heat exchanger work, including the design of its baffle gap. The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of baffle gap against the effectiveness of the shell and tube heat exchanger with helical baffle type. The object of this experimental study is a shell and tube type heat exchanger with variation in the baffle spacing, which are 4 cm, 8 cm and 12 cm. The type of baffle used is helical baffle. This study obtained the data by measuring the temperature of fluid entering and exiting, using thermocouple installed in various points of inlet and outlet fluid channels, and then analyzed descriptively. The results shows that 4 cm baffle gap leads to largest effectiveness which is 39.86% with a heat transfer rate of 4867.4 Watts. The 8 cm baffle gap has the effectiveness value 35.23% with the heat transfer rate of 3,709.12 Watts and then baffle gap of 12 cm leads to the lowest effectiveness, 29.59% with a heat transfer rate only 3301.21 Watts.