Pillow plate heat exchangers are a type of completely welded heat exchanger that feature an inflation process that creates a wavy, "pillow-shaped" surface. Pillow plates are a relatively new invention when compared to older machinery like shell and tube and plate and frame heat exchangers. They can be used as jackets to cool or heat vessels as well as "plate-type" heat exchangers because of their geometric flexibility. The process industry is currently paying more attention to and using pillow plate equipment.
Construction
Pillow plates are manufactured by an inflation process, where two thin metal sheets are spot-welded to each other over the entire surface by laser or resistance welding. The sides of the plates are sealed by seam welding, other than the connecting ports. Finally, the gap between the thin metal sheets is pressurized by a hydraulic fluid causing a plastic forming of the plates, which eventually leads to their characteristic wavy surface.
In principle, there are two different types of pillow plates: single-embossed and double-embossed. The former commonly form the double walls of jacketed vessels, while the latter are assembled to a stack (bank) to manufacture pillow plate heat exchangers. Single-embossed pillow plates are formed when the base plate is significantly thicker than the top plate. The thinner top plate deforms, while the base plate remains plane.
Additionally, "baffle" seam weldings are frequently used on pillow plates to provide targeted flow direction in the channels of the pillow plate in situations where flow distribution or fluid velocity may be an issue. In pillow plate heat exchangers, a technique for achieving flow guiding via baffles in the channels between neighboring pillow plates has recently been presented.
Pillow plates are hermetically sealed as a result of their design, which also gives them a high level of structural stability, automation, and adaptability during production. At pressures more than 100 MPa and temperatures as high as 800 °C, pillow plates can be used.
Technical Parameters
| Product Name | Pillow plate heat exchanger |
| Material | Stainless Steel |
| Color | Nickel White |
| Standard | DIN GB ISO JIS BA ANSI ASMI |
| Grade | SUS201,SUS304,SUS316,DSS2205 |
| Overview double pillow embossed plate material ratios | Pillow plate 0.8mm+0.8mm pillow plate 1.0mm+1.0mm |
| Overview single pillow embossed plate material ratios | Pillow plate 0.8 mm + 2.0 mm base plate pillow plate 1.0 mm + 2.5 mm base plate pillow plate 1.2 mm + 4.0 tot 15 mm base plate pillow plate 1.5 mm + 4.0 tot 15 mm base plate pillow plate 2.0 mm + 5.0 tot 15 mm base plate |
Applications
The application of pillow plates is very extensive, due to their favorable properties such as high geometric flexibility and good adaptivity to almost every process. Their implementation depends on their underlying construction, i.e. pillow plate banks or pillow plate jacketed tanks. The relatively flat external surface is easy to clean and suitable for high fouling or sanitary applications, but the internal surface has fine seams around each spot weld and is not easy to clean, therefore the internal surface is only suitable for non-fouling fluids like water, steam or refrigerants.
1. Pillow plate banks (heat exchangers)
Pillow plate banks are typically used in applications involving liquid-liquid, gas-liquid, high viscosity or dirty media, low pressure loss requirements, condensation (e.g. top condensers), falling film evaporation (e.g. paper & pulp industry), reboilers, water chilling, drying of solids, flake ice generation (food industry) and more. They are also commonly used as immersion chillers (e.g. in electroplating), where the banks are immersed directly into the tank. Banks can be constructed to allow the individual plates to be separated from the stack, allowing easy cleaning or maintenance.
2. Pillow plate jacketed tanks
The most extensive application of pillow plates to date is with jacketed vessels, because of their flexibility, full surface area coverage for heat transfer, low fluid hold-up, favorable manufacturing costs & time, and easy cleaning, especially in sterile applications. The tanks can be equipped with multiple jackets over its surface, including also the tank bottom, e.g. conical or dished, and can include additional cylindrical shells inside the tank. Typical areas of implementation of pillow plate jacketed tanks are in food and beverage industry and in chemical and pharmaceutical industry. These jackets are also referred to as "dimple jackets".
FAQ
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4. What is your advantage compared with your competitors? Quality and experience. We are the top centrifuge supplier in China, our designs and structures are similar to world leader Alfa Laval, Westfaliar, Flottweg etc.
5. How do you protect the quality? My factory is a state owned enterprise with more than 100 years experience, strict operation policy is performed, advanced processing machines guarantee the precision of all components, workers with operation license, parts get multiprocessing, transmission&electrical parts are of international famous brand. Series of test and inspection are done in the whole producing stage.
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