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Another type of heat exchanger is the plate heat exchanger.
One is composed of multiple, thin, slightly-separated plates
that have very large surface areas and fluid flow passages
for heat transfer. This stacked-plate arrangement can be more
effective, in a given space, than the shell and tube heat
exchanger. Advances in gasket and brazing technology have
made the plate-type heat exchanger increasingly practical.
In HVAC applications, large heat exchangers of this type are
called plate-and-frame; when used in open loops, these heat
exchangers are normally of the gasketed type to allow periodic
disassembly, cleaning, and inspection. There are many types
of permanently-bonded plate heat exchangers, such as dip-brazed
and vacuum-brazed plate varieties, and they are often specified
for closed-loop applications such as refrigeration. Plate
heat exchangers also differ in the types of plates that are
used, and in the configurations of those plates. Some plates
may be stamped with "chevron" or other patterns,
where others may have machined fins and/or grooves.
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