Course detail

CAD Projection of Heat Transfer Equipment for Processes and Power Systems

FSI-KT0Acad. year: 2027/2028

The course follows on from Heat Transfer Processes and focuses on the practical mastery of thermal-hydraulic design of process and power equipment for heat exchange using current software tools. Students learn to work with the professional program HTRI Xchanger Suite (the Xace module for economizers and air coolers and the Xist module for shell-and-tube heat exchangers) and to use the spreadsheet MS Excel in engineering design practice. Emphasis is placed on teamwork. In teams, students work on projects – 1) evaluation and verification of measurement results and 2) assessment of the suitability and payback period of investments. The output of the assignments is always a short calculation report. The course includes the use of artificial-intelligence tools (e.g. for explaining procedures, analysing results, creating pictures, charts, diagrams, code, and documents in MS Excel and MS Word), including verification of the correctness of their outputs. When working on the assignments and projects, students may use any tools, including AI.

Language of instruction

Czech

Number of ECTS credits

3

Assignment to study programme types

Master's

Mode of study

Not applicable.

Guarantor

prof. Ing. Zdeněk Jegla, Ph.D.

Department

Institute of Process Engineering (ÚPI)

Entry knowledge

The student must be able to:

  • set up the heat balance of a heat exchanger and calculate heat duty, log-mean temperature difference and required heat transfer area;
  • calculate the overall heat transfer coefficient and explain the effect of fouling;
  • calculate pressure drop in pipes and tube bundles at a basic level;
  • describe the basic types of heat exchangers (shell-and-tube, air cooler, economizer);
  • work with a computer and convert SI units.

These skills are acquired in Heat Transfer Processes and Hydraulic Processes, which students are expected to have completed.

Rules for evaluation and completion of the course

Course-unit credit (ungraded), conditional on regular attendance, completion of the assigned projects and tasks, and a successful final practical test in HTRI Xchanger Suite. Learning outcomes 1–4 are verified in the projects and tasks, learning outcomes 5 and 6 in the final test.

Requirements:

  1. Attendance: attendance at the exercises is compulsory and checked by the instructor at every class. Two absences are allowed without making up. Every further absence must be duly justified and the student solves the problems that were missed.
  2. Projects and assigned tasks: the student completes the tasks and projects during the exercises; the projects are solved in teams. A short calculation report is always part of the projects; it also briefly describes how AI tools were used and how the correctness of their outputs was verified (e.g. by a check calculation or a balance). When a project is submitted, each team member briefly explains the solution procedure and the results orally, so that the instructor verifies that every student has mastered the project. A project is accepted after submission of the report, the explanation of the solution by all team members and correction of any deficiencies. When working on the tasks and projects, students may use any tools, including AI.
  3. Final practical test (week 13): the test consists of two problems which the student solves independently in HTRI Xchanger Suite – the first in the Xace module (learning outcome 5), the second in the Xist module (learning outcome 6). Students may not use AI when solving the problems. The test is passed with at least 50 % of the points. A student who fails at the regular date has two retakes until the end of the examination period.

Credit calculation

3 credits × 26 h = 78 h of student workload: 39 h of contact teaching (13 × 3 h) and approx. 39 h of independent work (completing the projects and calculation reports, practising procedures in HTRI and preparing for the final practical test).

Aims

Upon completion of the course, the student is able to:

  1. use artificial-intelligence tools when solving an engineering task (explaining a procedure, analysing results, creating charts, diagrams or documents) and verify the correctness of their output,
  2. use the spreadsheet MS Excel to verify input data, perform calculations, plot graphical dependencies and prepare the final report,
  3. process and evaluate measurement results on heat transfer equipment and verify their correctness (e.g. by a heat balance),
  4. assess the suitability of an investment in heat transfer equipment and determine its payback period,
  5. perform design and rating calculations of an economizer and an air cooler in the Xace module of HTRI Xchanger Suite (enter input data, set program options and evaluate the output report),
  6. perform design and rating calculations of a shell-and-tube heat exchanger in the Xist module of HTRI Xchanger Suite and assess the design from the program's output report.

Study aids

Assignments, materials for the projects and guides are provided by the instructor continuously during the semester on a shared drive accessible to enrolled students and in the course group in MS Teams. The core documentation of the program is the HTRI Xchanger Suite help and user documentation.

Prerequisites and corequisites

Not applicable.

Basic literature

HEAT TRANSFER RESEARCH, INC. HTRI Xchanger Suite: nápověda a uživatelská dokumentace. Navasota: Heat Transfer Research, Inc. (EN)
KAKAÇ, Sadik, Hongtan LIU a Anchasa PRAMUANJAROENKIJ. Heat Exchangers: Selection, Rating, and Thermal Design. 4. vyd. Boca Raton: CRC Press, 2020. ISBN 978-1-138-60186-4. (EN)
SERTH, Robert W. a Thomas G. LESTINA. Process Heat Transfer: Principles, Applications and Rules of Thumb. 2. vyd. Amsterdam: Academic Press, 2014. ISBN 978-0-12-397195-1. (EN)

Recommended reading

TOWLER, Gavin a Ray SINNOTT. Chemical Engineering Design: Principles, Practice and Economics of Plant and Process Design. 3. vyd. B.m.: Butterworth-Heinemann, 2021. ISBN 978-0-12-821179-3. (EN)
HEWITT, Geoffrey F., ed. Heat Exchanger Design Handbook 2008. 5. přeprac. vyd. New York: Begell House, 2009. (EN)
RAYAPROLU, K. Boilers for Power and Process. Boca Raton: CRC Press, 2009. (EN)
STEPHAN, Peter, ed. VDI Heat Atlas. 2. vyd. Berlin Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag, 2010. (EN)

Classification of course in study plans

  • Programme N-PRI-P Master's 2 year of study, winter semester, compulsory-optional

Type of course unit

 

Computer-assisted exercise

39 hours, compulsory

Teacher / Lecturer

prof. Ing. Zdeněk Jegla, Ph.D.

Syllabus

  1. Introduction to the course content and working method. Basic calculations of a process engineer and the basics of using AI to solve them.
  2. Basic work with Excel and its use in engineering design practice.
  3. Project – processing and verification of measurement results, part I. Teamwork.
  4. Project – processing and verification of measurement results, part II. Teamwork.
  5. Introduction to the HTRI Xchanger Suite environment, basic control and settings. Overview of the modules and their use. Introduction to the Xace module – air coolers and economizers.
  6. Practical applications – solving examples with the Xace module – economizer.
  7. Practical applications – independent solving of examples with the Xace module – economizer.
  8. Practical applications – independent solving of examples with the Xace module – air coolers.
  9. Project – determining suitability and payback period of investments, part I. Teamwork.
  10. Project – determining suitability and payback period of investments, part II. Teamwork.
  11. Introduction to the Xist module – shell-and-tube heat exchangers with baffle systems.
  12. Practical applications – independent solving of examples with the Xist module.
  13. Final practical test in HTRI Xchanger Suite (two problems: Xace and Xist).