Analysis of the Plate Heat Exchanger Failure

Abstract— The present article describes the effect of the pressure on the operability of the plate exchanger of the SWEEP IC 5 x 20 type as well as the results of the numerical analysis of the stresses at three different loads. The exchanger was tested at the testing pressure defined by the manufacturer (2 MPa). Maximum stresses were observed at the places of soldered joints on individual exchanger plates and the stress was highly above the carrying capacity of the solder joint. With an increasing distance from the place where the boards were connected, stress exhibited a sharp increase. The testing was also focused on the stresses on the surface area (shroud) of the exchanger at the permissible operating pressure of 1.6 MPa defined by the manufacturer. An important observation was the stress identified at the measured real operating pressure of 0.7 MPa  ̶ destruction of the exchanger used by the operator.