Local temperature distribution of a plate heat exchanger undergoing crystallization foulingBerce, Jure (Avtor) Zupančič, Matevž (Avtor) Može, Matic (Avtor) Golobič, Iztok (Avtor) plate heat exchangerfoulingcrystallizationinfrared thermographyThe compact design of plate heat exchangers prevents local insights during system operation, which would be desired when designing for and evaluating a given fouling problem. Severe foulant build-up is often confined to specific regions within the flow channel geometry and could be mitigated to an extent by managing the distribution of flow if areas with high susceptibility towards fouling could be identified. We conducted laboratory crystallization fouling experiments on a counter-current brazed plate heat exchanger, coupling real-time measurements of flow rates and temperatures with infrared thermography. This non-intrusive method of spatiotemporal plate temperature characterization allowed local detection and evaluation of severely fouled areas within the upper channel. In the investigated case, the highest susceptibility towards salt crystallization was observed in the flow stagnation zone near the hot outlet, where the largest temperature gradient between both fluids was present and the driving supersaturation was largest. Apart from its use in future plate heat exchanger design, the presented approach can be coupled with computational fluid dynamics simulations, as was illustrated in this work.20252025-08-20 14:16:36Članek v reviji171236sl