1. General features

The two main heat exchangers in refrigeration machines and heat pumps are the evaporator and the condenser, but there may also be additional heat exchangers designed to improve cycles, such as sub-coolers or heat recovery desuperheaters.

The main types of exchanger used are :

• finned batteries ;

• minichannel exchangers ;

• immersed heat exchangers ;

• trickle exchangers ;

• multi-tube exchangers ;

• coaxial exchangers ;

• plate heat exchangers.

There are also other, more specific types, built to order, for particular applications such as rotary drum freezers, scraped surface exchangers for ice...