Baffle plate with eight-lobed tube-receiving openings and cold-formed flow-restricting tabs in each lobe

In a heat exchanger including a pressure vessel closed at one end by a tube sheet and a plurality of heat exchange tubes within the vessel extending into the tube sheet for heat exchange between a fluid flowing through the tubes and a liquid flowing around the tubes in a flow path extending generally parallel thereto, the improvement comprising:

• a baffle plate disposed within the vessel and extending transversely thereof in the liquid flow path adjacent to the tube sheet, said baffle plate serving to limit liquid flow parallel to the tubes and to redirect at least a portion of the flow generally parallel to the tube sheet, said baffle plate having parallel upper and lower surfaces and a plurality of tube-receiving openings extending therethrough substantially perpendicular to said upper and lower surfaces for respectively receiving said tubes, each of said openings having a circular central portion dimensioned freely to accommodate the associated tube and a plurality of peripheral lobe portions communicating with said central portion, said baffle plate having a plurality of surface portions cooperating to define said central portions of said openings and being engageable with the associated tubes at the planes of said upper and lower surfaces, each of said lobe portions extending generally radially outwardly from said central portion for defining a flow channel alongside the associated tube, each of said lobe portions having a transverse cross-sectional area which varies between said upper and lower surfaces of said plate.