In my plant, there are two small spiral heat exchangers which function as a shutdown cooler. I'm not sure what is the capacity and specifications of it. I have no experience using or operating them. But, I'm interested to learn about them.
Spiral heat exchanger differs a lot from plate heat exchanger (PHE). There are also pros and cons using spiral heat exchanger compared to PHE. From my limited experience, a spiral heat exchanger require less maintenance. There is no plates and no internal gaskets. To clean the internal part, a "cleaning in place" (CIP) is carried out using caustic solution up 60-75oC. The spiral heat exchanger is totally stainless steal solid and it is very heavy. One problem that can make a spiral heat exchanger useless (or very expansive to repair) is when the internal wall crack or leak. When this happen, the fluids entering the spiral heat exchanger will mixed and hence affect the production quality (reject!!!).
Spiral Heat Exchangers exhibit ideal heat transfer and fluid handling characteristics for a wide range of applications.
Takes up only one sixth of the space
Means lower costs for buildings, pumps valves and piping
Uses 75% less pumping energy
Provides higher K- value and a close temperature approach
Ensures continual self-cleaning effect for maximum operating efficiency
Nowadays, there are very few companies selling spiral heat exchanger compared to PHE.
For further references on this type of heat exchanger, check out
Alfa laval and
Heseco.