Shell and tube heat exchanger

A shell and tube heat exchanger comprising:

• a shell;
• heat surface tubes surrounded by the shell and extending along a longitudinal axis,
• said heat surface tubes having a tube pitch and communicating with an inlet end chamber through a first tube plate at one end and with an outlet end chamber through a second tube plate at an opposite, other end;
• and
• at least one baffle plate in a shell side of the tube heat exchanger;
• flat strips comprising the at least one baffle plate, the flat strips being straight and having a constant width, the flat strips being divided into two groups, the first group comprising a first set of the flat strips arranged in parallel, the second group comprising a second group of the flat strips arranged in parallel the second set of strips being arranged cross-wise with respect to the first set of strips, said first set of flat strips and said second set of flat strips each defining leading and trailing edges, wherein
• the respective leading and trailing edges of the first set of flat strips and the second set of flat strips are in a same plane,
• the flat strips support the heat surface tubes and guide the shell-side flow,
• the flat strips are thinner than a distance between the tubes to be supported,
• required support is provided by placing each flat strip of the baffle plate at an inclined position at an angle (a) with respect to the longitudinal axis of said heat surface tubes, each heat surface tube passing through the baffle plate being supported by portions of the flat strips disposed at or adjacent the leading or trailing edges of the flat strips to thereby engage the periphery of the heat surface tubes at four points.