A shell and tube heat exchanger is a class of heat exchanger designs.

It is the most common type of heat exchanger in oil refineries and other large chemical processes, and is suited for higher-pressure applications.

As its name implies, this type of heat exchanger consists of a shell (a large pressure vessel) with a bundle of tubes inside it.

One fluid runs through the tubes, and another fluid flows over the tubes (through the shell) to transfer heat between the two fluids.

The set of tubes is called a tube bundle, and may be composed of several types of tubes: plain, longitudinally finned, etc.

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Shell and tube Heat Exchangers represent the most widely used vehicle for the transfer of heat in industrial process applications. They are frequently selected for such duties as:

• Process liquid or gas cooling
• Process or refrigerant vapor or steam condensing
• Process liquid, steam or refrigerant evaporation
• Process heat removal and preheating of feed water
• Thermal energy conservation efforts, heat recovery
• Compressor, turbine and engine cooling, oil and jacket water
• Hydraulic and lube oil cooling
• Many other industrial applications