HTRI Xchanger Suite
HTRI Xchanger Suite, the most advanced tool for the design, rating, and simulation of heat exchangers, brings our rigorous research to end users in an integrated graphical environment. With the addition of our latest component—Xspe—HTRI’s premier technology and expertise are available in a full complement of products for all your engineering needs.
Read more about the many features that all of the components share and then click the icons for more information about specific components.
HTRI Xchanger Suite components share many common features.
Supporting Data
Since 1962, HTRI has collected and analyzed data from industrial-sized units. These data have been used to develop the methods and correlations integral to our software. Heat transfer and pressure drop correlations are continually reviewed and updated as part of our ongoing research program.
A partial list of HTRI data banks follows:
- high-finned tubes
- shellside single-phase
- shellside flow boiling
- plate heat exchangers
- tubeside boiling
- shellside pool boiling
- shellside condensation
- tubeside condensation (horizontal, inclined, vertical, and reflux)
- tubeside single-phase
Input/Output
Each Xchanger Suite component accepts data and can provide output in SI, U.S. Customary, MKH, and user-specified units. Most components have identical input structure: process conditions and physical properties are entered in the same way, using the same input panels. You can set units across an entire case or item-by-item.
Output from the various components also is similar. Process conditions, geometry, nozzles, and other common elements print in the same areas of reports.
Documentation
All components fully incorporate documentation as online help. You can instantaneously access explanatory text, helpful illustrations, and reference information, as well as learn how to enter specific cases.
Interfaces
Xchanger Suite components link to other software, including process simulators, mechanical design programs, physical property data banks and systems, and integrated engineering software. Direct connections are provided to some software from the graphical interface; in other cases, components create an output file specifically tailored for input to database software. All components are designed to connect easily with many applications.
HTRI Xchanger Suite is CAPE-OPEN–compliant. You can insert an air cooler, a heat recovery bundle, a shell-and-tube, or a plate-and-frame heat exchanger into any process simulator that supports the CAPE-OPEN 1.0 standard, giving you instant access to HTRI’s technology while running the simulation.
All fluid property input panels have property grid input options that can interface with process simulator programs. Because Xchanger Suite is an automation server, other applications such as Microsoft Excel can call the exchanger modules (e.g., Xist) directly. Xace, Xist, and Xphe also have a DLL interface that can call these modules.
Xist operates directly with process simulators such as HYSYS®, PRO/II, UniSim® Design, Petro-SIM, and VMGSim, as well as with Aspen Plus through CAPE-OPEN. Xchanger Suite also links to VMGThermo™ (included with Xchanger Suite), PPDS™, HYSYS, PRO/II, UniSim Design, and REFPROP for generation of physical properties and heat release curves. Further, Xchanger Suite can open HYSYS, UniSim Design, Petro-SIM, and PRO/II simulation files and load the heat exchangers for detailed analysis.
Through our contract services, HTRI can assist members in developing special interfaces to our software.
Testing
To ensure the highest quality product, each new component and all modifications to existing components undergo extensive testing against
- applicable HTRI research data
- cases designed to test all options and basic correlations and to ensure reasonable extrapolation
- cases with reported limitations
- all cases sent in as part of customer service inquiries
Our test sets are very large. For example, the test set for Xist contains more than 11500 cases, and the test set for Xace contains more than 6500 cases.
Physical Properties
Xchanger Suite components offer several options for input of fluid physical properties.
- VMGThermo property generator
Xchanger Suite includes the comprehensive property generator package VMGThermo developed by Virtual Materials Group, Inc. With more than thirty different models and direct support for more than 5000 components, VMGThermo easily handles all physical property and heat release curve generation options. - Property grid input
You can specify mixture properties at 30 temperatures and 12 pressures. - Automatic fluid code
Supplying internally stored physical properties for more than 100 fluids, this data bank can be expanded to meet individual needs. - Integration of IAPWS 1997 steam properties
For HTRI’s water component, the IAPWS 1997 steam correlations generate physical property and heat release information. - Automatic estimation for common hydrocarbon groups
- Component properties at two temperatures
- Direct interface to a user-supplied database such as DIPPR®
- HTRI Property Generator
- Assay definition using VMGThermo for generation of pseudo-components from distillation curves
Xchanger Suite contains direct interfaces to several commercial physical property/flash packages. From the suite, you can call the packages directly, generating flashes and physical properties for use in Xace, Xfh, Xhpe, Xist, Xjpe, Xphe, and Xspe. Built-in interfaces using the property generator include CAPE-OPEN Thermo, VMGThermo, PPDS, REFPROP, PRO/II, UniSim Design, Petro-SIM, and HYSYS.
Program Messages
The components can display messages that describe errors in the input data and calculation inconsistencies.
Each component has a three-level message system identifying
- problems that stop the calculations
- warning messages that alert users to potential problems with cases
- informative messages that make suggestions regarding the design
Customized Input Files
To meet your special requirements, you can customize input files containing exact specifications for
- low-finned tubes
- high-finned tubes
- plates for plate-and-frame exchangers
- pure component physical properties
- tube materials
- nozzle diameters
- air-cooler component weights
- output report language
You can also customize any input item by modifying the default file.
The Predefined Data option, available for all Xchanger Suite components, lets you place the geometry for your company standards for exchanger design or a standard line of exchangers into a data input file. Whenever you open a case, Predefined Data appears on the Input menu, allowing you to select the exact geometry of your unit easily.
Special Features
- Microsoft Windows interface that supports Multiple Document Interface (MDI), which means that you can work on more than one case at a time
- Required data fields highlighted with red borders in the GUI
- Spreadsheet-style output reports that use Windows fonts and embedded graphics
- Automation server (OLE) and DLL interfaces that allow other Windows programs, such as Microsoft Excel, to call components
- 2D scaled exchanger drawing with AutoCAD export capability
- 3D scaled exchanger rendering
- Physical property profile plots for input data validation
- Output results profile plotting using 2D and 3D plots
- Automatic and user-specified design modes
- Single input/output file containing all input, incremental calculation details, output, and graphics
- Reports that may be directly exported to Microsoft Excel
System Requirements
You must have the following equipment to run the components successfully:
- 32-bit Intel® Pentium® or compatible processor
- 128 MB memory (RAM) for Microsoft Windows 2000/XP; 512 MB for Microsoft Windows Vista
- available hard disk space: 455 MB for the entire suite
Individual component requirements (consult HTRI for specific combinations):
Xace, 280 MB
Xfh, 300 MB
Xhpe, 290 MB
Xist, 290 MB
Xjpe, 290 MB
Xphe, 250 MB
Xspe, 240 MB
Xtlo, 175 MB
Xvib, 180 MB
- SVGA (800 × 600 resolution) graphics adapter
- pointing device (e.g., mouse, touchpad)
- Microsoft Windows 2000 or later operating system
- CD-ROM drive (for program installation)
HTRI recommends a 1 GHz or faster Pentium IV with 512 MB RAM, Windows XP operating system, and an XGA graphics adapter (1024 × 768 resolution).