Scraped Surface Heat Exchangers

One type of heat exchanger, that finds considerable use in the food processing industry particularly for products of higher viscosity, consists of a jacketed cylinder with an internal cylinder concentric to the first and fitted with scraper blades, as illustrated in Fig. 6.3(c). The blades rotate, causing the fluid to flow through the annular space between the cylinders with the outer heat transfer surface constantly scraped. Coefficients of heat transfer vary with speeds of rotation but they are of the order of 900-4000 J m^-2 s^-1 °C^-1. These machines are used in the freezing of ice cream and in the cooling of fats during margarine manufacture.