Heat Exchangers
and their
Application in Geothermally Heated Structures

Heat Exchangers are devices that transfer heat from a hot medium to a cool medium through conduction. Heat flows naturally from hot to cold. The heat transfer is more efficient if the different temperature mediums have greater contact, which is accomplished by maximizing the surface area of contact and the lapsed time of contact.

Heat exchangers are useful for heating a separate fluid from the initially hot fluid. For instance, geothermal water from wells usually contains high levels of dissolved elements which are corrosive. Rather than piping the mineral-rich geothermal fluid through pipe systems, turbines, or other machinery, the heat from the geothermal fluid can be extracted and transferred to a second fluid, called a binary or process fluid, using a heat exchanger. The binary fluid that circulates through a heating system, or other process, is a clean, non-corrosive fluid. It can be glycol or purified water, or some other fluid with desirable properties like various refrigerants. For instance, Chena Hot Springs near Fairbanks uses 73 degree Celsius geothermal water to heat a refrigerant fluid with a much lower boiling temperature, enabling the resort to produce steam power from the boiling fluid.
 

Index

Introduction

How do heat exchangers Work?

Applications for Heat Exchangers using Geothermal Water

 Bibliography