Plate heat exchangers for Heating & district heating
In heating and district heating systems, plate heat exchangers separate the primary from the secondary circuit and transfer high outputs in a small footprint.
Platecore supplies the right design and the suitable material for heating & district heating - engineered for the medium, output and operating conditions of your system.
Suitable designs
Network separation and substations
In district heating and heating networks, the plate heat exchanger separates circuits with different pressure, temperature or water quality: between primary and secondary network in substations, at the handover to commercial, neighbourhood and industrial networks, and wherever the network operator requires hydraulic separation in its technical connection conditions.
Gasketed units are the rule here: they can be opened and cleaned, and the plate pack can be extended as heat demand grows. A low primary return temperature relieves the network and is part of the connection conditions at many utilities.
Feed-in from CHP and waste heat
In the opposite direction, a plate heat exchanger feeds heat into the network: from the cooling water circuit of a combined heat and power plant, from industrial waste heat or from process cooling. The separation protects the engine or process circuit from the pressure and water quality of the network.
What belongs in the enquiry
Connected load, supply and return temperatures on both sides, permissible pressure drops, the pressure rating of the network and, where available, the network operator's technical connection conditions. Water and water-glycol can be selected in the online calculator; it computes the energy balance live, and our engineering team confirms design and plate count before the quote.
How duty, temperatures and pressure drop drive the selection is explained in our sizing guide.
Which design suits substations and network handovers?
Gasketed plate heat exchangers are standard in substations and at network handovers, as they can be rated for PN 16 and PN 25, are easy to clean, and remain dismantlable for periodic inspection.
What temperatures and pressures are typical in district heating networks?
District heating networks typically operate with primary flow temperatures of 80 - 130 °C and pressures up to PN 16. Modern low-temperature networks can run with 60 - 70 °C supply temperatures.
Which requirements apply to the network connection?
Decisive are the technical connection conditions of the respective network operator. They set pressure rating and temperatures, among other things, and often a maximum return temperature; we size the unit to these requirements.
How is the plate heat exchanger sized for a substation?
Decisive parameters are heat demand (kW), primary and secondary temperatures, flow rates, and permissible pressure drops. The online calculator checks the energy balance live; our engineering team determines design, material, gasket and plate count before the quote.
Request a sizing
Describe your application in the configurator - you will receive an individual quote within about 1 - 3 business days.
Online sizing