Tube-side sequentially pulsable-flow shell-and-tube heat exchanger appratus, system, and method

A chemical processing system comprising a means for heat exchange between a process fluid and a heat exchange fluid, the means for heat exchange comprising:

• a heat exchanger apparatus which includes a plurality of tubes, the tubes being open-ended and defining enclosed volumetric spaces between the open ends thereof, and a portion of the heat exchanger apparatus defines a shell-side flow pathway therethrough and another portion of the heat exchanger apparatus defines a tube-side flow pathway therethrough, the tube-side flow pathway comprising the enclosed volumetric spaces of the tubes;
• a source of the process fluid comprising a liquid;
• a process fluid effluent receiving means;
• a source of the heat exchange fluid;
• and
• a heat exchange fluid effluent receiving means,
• wherein the source of the heat exchange fluid is in sequential fluid communication with the shell-side flow pathway in the heat exchanger apparatus and the heat exchange fluid effluent receiving means;
• the source of the process fluid is in sequential fluid communication with the tube-side flow pathway in the heat exchanger apparatus and the process fluid effluent receiving means;
• the shell-side and tube-side flow pathways are in indirect heat exchange communication with each other via the walls of the tubes;
• and the shell-side and tube-side flow pathways lack fluid communication with each other wherein the heat exchanger apparatus further comprises a means for sequentially pulsing a plurality of liquid flows therein, and the means for sequentially pulsing a plurality of liquid flows being in sequentially pulsable fluid communication with the enclosed volumetric spaces of at least two of the tubes wherein:
• (a) the portion of the heat exchanger that defines the shell-side flow pathway comprises a shell defining spaced-apart shell-side fluid inlet and outlet conduits and an enclosed volumetric space, the shell-side fluid inlet conduit being in sequential fluid communication with the enclosed volumetric space of the shell and the shell-side fluid outlet conduit, thereby establishing the shell-side flow pathway;
• (b) the portion of the heat exchanger that defines the tube-side flow pathway comprises spaced-apart tube-side inlet and outlet portions and the plurality of tubes, the tube-side inlet portion defining a tube-side fluid inlet conduit and an inlet plenum, the tube-side outlet portion defining a tube-side fluid outlet conduit and an outlet plenum, the process fluid entering the inlet plenum pump-pressurized and flowing at a pumping flow rate, the tubes having walls and spaced-apart inlet and outlet ends respectively defining inlet and outlet apertures therein, the walls of the tubes defining the enclosed volumetric spaces thereof and having inner diameters, the tubes being spaced apart from each other and contained within the enclosed volumetric space of the shell, the tube-side fluid inlet conduit being in sequential fluid communication with:
• the inlet plenum;
• the inlet apertures, enclosed volumetric spaces, and outlet apertures of the tubes;
• the outlet plenum;
• and the tube-side fluid outlet conduit, thereby establishing the tube-side flow pathway;
• and
• (c) the means for sequentially pulsing a plurality of liquid flows comprises at least one impeller blade which is moved so as to temporarily distribute more process fluid to some tubes and to temporarily distribute less process fluid to other tubes while maintaining a net flow rate of the plurality of the tubes at the pumping flow rate, the at least one blade is disposed in the inlet plenum of the inlet portion of the heat exchanger such that a nearest portion of the at least one blade is within an unobstructed pulsing-effective distance from the inlet apertures of the inlet ends of the tubes and oriented perpendicularly to the length of the tubes, thereby establishing sequentially pulsable fluid communication between the means for sequentially pulsing a plurality of liquid flows, or the pulse-effecting portion thereof, and, successively, the inlet apertures of the inlet ends of the tubes, the enclosed volumetric spaces of the tubes, and the outlet apertures of the outlet ends of the tubes wherein the unobstructed pulsing-effective distance between the nearest portion of at least one blade and the inlet apertures of the inlet ends of the tubes is less than or equal to 0.1 to 4.0 times an average of the inner diameters of the inlet apertures.