When the oil temperature of a hydraulic station remains continuously above 55°C and domestic hot water needs to be prepared from industrial waste heat, design and selection engineers often face a comparison among gasketed plate, shell-and-tube, and welded plate heat exchangers. The YBJ-35 welded plate heat exchanger uses a plate pack vacuum-brazed into an integrated unit, with no gaskets or frame, providing a compact solution for heat exchange between clean or lightly fouling liquids and gases.
Gasketed plate heat exchangers rely on rubber gaskets for sealing, and their allowable temperature is usually limited by the gasket material, while space must also be reserved for plate removal. Shell-and-tube heat exchangers withstand high pressure but have a smaller heat transfer area per unit volume. In the YBJ-35, welding replaces gaskets between plates, the design pressure can reach 3.0 MPa, the design temperature ranges from -40°C to 200°C, and the heat transfer area per unit is 0.5–35 m². For the same heat exchange duty, its overall dimensions are about one-third those of a shell-and-tube unit, and no space needs to be reserved for tube bundle withdrawal. Compared with gasketed plate heat exchangers, it does not depend on gasket replacement and reduces leakage points caused by gasket aging.
During selection, the medium name, concentration, and temperature range must be provided in order to verify plate material and flow channel suitability. It is suitable for hydraulic oil cooling, domestic hot water preparation, and process fluid heat recovery. The plates are commonly made of 304 or 316L stainless steel, and the port orientation and diameter can be adjusted according to the piping layout.
