A pillow plate is manufactured by welding two metal sheets together in a predefined pattern and then inflating the internal channels. The pillow-shaped surface provides structural strength, efficient heat transfer, and reliable operation for difficult process media.
A wide channel heat exchanger is designed with larger flow passages than conventional plate heat exchangers. Conventional plate heat exchangers commonly use channel gaps of approximately 2-4 mm, while wide channel designs generally provide 6 mm or greater.
This larger passage helps reduce blockage risk and improves reliability when handling fluids containing suspended solids, fibrous materials, crystals, fouling contaminants, or high-viscosity media.
Multiple pillow plates are stacked together to form two independent flow channels between plates: one for the hot side and one for the cold side.
The flow channel has a large cross-sectional area with no sharp corners. Smooth surfaces or gentle corrugations help the medium pass through with less fouling.
Hot and cold fluids flow through adjacent wide channels in counter-current or parallel-flow configuration, exchanging heat through the metal plates.
The welded pillow structure forms strong pressure-resistant channels while keeping the unit compact, cleanable, and suitable for continuous industrial duty.
The smooth plate surface and low-friction flow path promote a self-cleaning effect caused by turbulent flow.
Suitable for sludge, pulp, lime slurry, cement slurry, fruit juice, wastewater, fibrous liquids, crystal-containing streams, and high-viscosity media.
Demountable designs allow mechanical or chemical cleaning. Some configurations also support online flushing or backwashing.
No rubber gaskets or adhesives are required, reducing leakage risk and improving long-term reliability.
| Type | Suitable Media | Clogging Resistance | Maintenance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conventional Plate Heat Exchanger | Clean liquids | Poor | Moderate |
| Shell-and-Tube Heat Exchanger | Various services, including high pressure and high temperature | Good | Difficult to clean |
| Spiral Plate Heat Exchanger | Particle-laden or high-viscosity fluids | Fair | Non-removable and difficult to clean |
| Pillow Plate Wide Channel Heat Exchanger | Solids-containing, fiber-laden and high-viscosity fluids | Good | Demountable design with easy cleaning |
The wide-channel pillow plate design is especially suitable for processes where conventional narrow-channel equipment is prone to fouling, blockage, leakage, or frequent cleaning.
Low pressure drop, high-volume flow handling, and reliable operation for glycol-water mixtures, nanofluids, dielectric fluids, and indirect cooling loops.
Wide channels reduce blockage from crystal deposition. Smooth surfaces minimize adhesion and support stable long-term operation.
Suitable for contaminated low-grade heat sources such as boiler blowdown, flue gas scrubbing liquids, chemical waste streams, and metallurgical cooling water.
Pillow jackets provide uniform heating or cooling, accurate tank wall temperature control, pressure resistance, and full-surface heat transfer coverage.
Applied to starch slurry, stillage, plant-based beverages, sugar syrup, fruit juice, edible oil refining, and other viscous or fouling media.
Fully welded pillow plates support leak-tight service for ammonia refrigeration, thermal oil duties, and high-temperature heat exchange.
The wide-channel design greatly reduces flow resistance and pumping power. With a high heat transfer area-to-volume ratio and pillow plate-induced turbulence, the system can recover more available heat while occupying less installation space.
Customized heat exchanger base material assemblies are available upon request. Share your medium, viscosity, solids content, temperature, pressure, flow rate, and cleaning requirements, and our team will help select the suitable wide channel pillow plate configuration.