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.
