AEL Plate Heat Exchangers are generally available as either a Brazed sealed unit or as a Plate and Gasket unit that can be opened for servicing or to alter the number of plates should the design duty change.
All AEL Plate Heat Exchangers are designed to instantaneously supply the required flow of water and most other fluids at a pre determined set point temperature within a 1 or 2 degree tolerance for your project.
Should the system design change in future the plate and gasket plate pack can be redesigned by removing, adding or changing the plate pack within the frame.
The brazed plate heat exchanger plates are a fixed design that can only be changed by increasing or decreasing the flow rate, temperature on either Primary or Secondary circuits or by increasing or decreasing the Primary KW input but not by changing the plates.
DOMESTIC HOT WATER (DHW) PLATE HEAT EXCHANGERS
Domestic Hot Water (DHW) Plate Heat Exchangers can be supplied as a Plate / Gasket unit or supplied as a Brazed Plate unit. In practice both types of heat exchanger transfers energy from hot or cold fluid and ensures that the Primary circuit does not mix with the Secondary circuit therefore creating two completely independent separate heating or cooling circuits.
When close control is required in a system that has limited temperature control it is common practice to install an AEL Packaged Plate Heat Exchanger with integral controls in a DHW application as the temperature needs to be controlled properly so as not to scald anybody using a tap or shower.
USING PLATE HEAT EXCHANGERS AS A CENTRAL HEATING SYSTEM BREAK
Using an AEL Plate heat exchanger as a central heating system break to protect an expensive piece of equipment such as a Boiler or Chiller is a very common practice.
AEL Plate Heat Exchangers are used in these applications to separate the Central Heating system into two circuits, one Primary circuit dedicated to the boiler which in turn heats up the Secondary circuit that feeds the radiators and associated heating or cooling equipment.
The general idea of the Central Heating System Break is to separate the heating into two circuits so that any deposits floating around an old heating system will not damage or shorten the life of the expensive boiler & associated equipment .
FULLY CONTROLLED PACKAGED PLATE HEAT EXCHANGERS
Systems requiring an AEL Packaged Plate Heat Exchangers usually require very close temperature control. These units are skid mounted and can be fully or partially controlled c/w control panel, pumps, diverting valves and control thermostats.
Applications – usually used for Domestic Hot Water (DHW), Swimming Pools (SP) or can be a Bespoke Plate Heat Exchanger specifically designed for ypur application.
BRAZED PLATE HEAT EXCHANGERS
Brazed plate heat exchangers are very compact and can operate in pressures exceeding 30 bar.
Brazed Plate Heat Exchangers do not have bolts or frame so they cannot be opened up for any necessary cleaning which will need to be done by circulating chemicals around the plates.
The number of plates on a Brazed plate heat exchanger plates are fixed which means that the design duty can only be changed by increasing or decreasing the flow rate, temperature or primary KW input.
PLATE AND GASKET HEAT EXCHANGERS
The advantage that a Plate and Gasket type heat exchanger has over a Brazed type is that they do come with bolts within a frame and can be opened for servicing / cleaning or to alter the number of plates to change the performance / duty at a later date by increasing or decreasing the flow rate, temperature or primary KW input.
Plate and gasket heat exchangers are suitable as Central Heating System Breaks, direct Domestic Hot Water (DHW) supply, Swimming Pools and most other applications.
SWIMMING POOL PLATE HEAT EXCHANGERS
AEL Swimming Pool Plate Heat Exchangers must be robust and purpose made to cope with the corrosive atmosphere and water in a swimming pool environment.
The AEL fully controlled packaged Swimming Pool Plate Heat Exchangers tend to be most popular with medium to larger new build pools. Whilst the Bare Plate Heat Exchangers (excluding controls) are also popular with new build but they are more popular as replacements for older equipment that have failed as they can easily be incorporated into an existing system to operate within the design of the existing pumps and controls.
Most Plate Heat Exchanger Designs for Central Heating, Domestic Hot Water and Swimming Pools tend to be the same or very similar 90% of the time so with this in mind AEL have provided all the cost prices and technical information required for each application from 30KW up to 1000KW as a standard design so that they can be viewed and purchased online.
AEL Plate Heat Exchangers have been used to heat and cool many types of fluids in the UK for over 35 years and they all operate the same way in principle whether assembled as a Plate and Gasket unit, Brazed or supplied as a Shell and Tube unit.
In practice all three types of heat exchanger transfers energy from a hot or cold fluid and ensures that they do not mix by creating two completely independent separate heating or cooling circuits.
Please see the link below and feel free to send over any questions or enquiries you may have.