4. Educational simulator for the design and evaluation of shell and tube heat exchangers.

Abstract

In the chemical industry, the thermal conditioning of process streams is of vital importance, hence its study is a primary factor; its application at an industrial level reduces costs and optimizes the heat available in the processes; The free-to-use, open-box educational simulator for shell and tube heat exchangers, “Shell and tube heat exchanger, Bell Delaware Method 1.0”, implements the short Bell Delaware methodology, is designed on the Apache NetBeans platform, using object-oriented programming using the Java developed kit version 17 programming language and Java Runtime Environment version 13.1 and validating the results of the program's calculation capacity by reproducing bibliographic examples comparing the simulator error with the reported calculations. The result is an interactive teaching-learning simulator whose purpose is to increase effectiveness in the transmission and acquisition of knowledge, implementing information and communication technologies in education. The design of this software as a learning tool is aimed at university students and professors who need to size a heat exchanger or evaluate existing equipment, allowing graphical visualization of the sequence of steps in the calculation of the thermal and hydraulic design, as well as vary the parameters to analyze the effects of the variables on the performance of the heat exchangers.