Plate evaporators are widely used in the evaporation market due to
their advantages such as high heat transfer efficiency, convenient
maintenance, and easy expansion.
A plate evaporator is mainly composed of a plate preheater, a plate
heat exchanger, a plate condenser, as well as a material pump, a
separator, a demister, a steam scrubber, pipelines, etc. It is an
evaporation equipment with plate heat exchangers as the heat
exchangers in the whole set of equipment. This kind of evaporator
is used in evaporation processes, with plates as the main heat -
transfer elements.
The working principle of a plate evaporator is to achieve heat
transfer through a partition wall. The material to be evaporated is
heated to a temperature above the boiling point under the
corresponding pressure, resulting in continuous boiling. Then, it
is separated into a high - concentration liquid and pure saturated
water vapor in the gas - liquid separator to achieve the purpose of
concentration.
The material and steam channels of a plate evaporator are
alternately combined by the same plates through gaskets or welding.
The assembly forms include detachable, semi - welded, and fully -
welded types.
Detachable plate evaporators have advantages such as high overall
heat transfer efficiency, low comprehensive cost, reduced
consumption of precious metals, relatively small floor space,
convenient operation and maintenance, and adjustable evaporation
area.
Plate evaporators have a high heat transfer coefficient, enabling
the liquid to easily reach a turbulent flow state. Their heat
transfer coefficient is 2 - 3 times that of tubular evaporators.
Plate evaporators are not prone to blockage. The liquid forms a
turbulent flow on the heat - transfer surface, flushing the surface
of the heat exchanger and thus extending the scaling cycle.
Plate evaporators have a compact structure and small volume. Under
the same evaporation capacity, the space occupied by a plate
evaporator is only one - third to one - fourth of that of a tubular
evaporator, and its height is only one - tenth of that of a tubular
evaporator. Maintenance is very convenient; it only requires
loosening the screws of the plate heat exchanger. Expansion of the
plate heat exchanger is also relatively easy, enabling it to adapt
to various environments and overcome space - limited situations.
