Heat-transfer enhancement in fin-and-tube heat exchanger with improved fin design

This work presents information of an experimental design on the elements of the fin-and-tube heat exchanger. In this study, three different fins (plate fin, wavy fin, and compounded fin) were investigated in a wind tunnel. The heat transfer coefficient, the pressure drop of the air side, the Colburn factor (j), and fanning friction factor (f) against air velocity (1–3 m/s) and Reynolds number (600–2000) have been discussed. In order to shed light on the fluid flow phenomena, flow visualization was also realized to observe the detailed fluid flow characteristics. The results of the wavy fin to the flat fin show that the pressure drop, heat transfer coefficient, f factor and j factor increase about 10.9–31.9%, 11.8–24.0%, 2.2–27.5% and 0.5–2.7%, respectively. In addition, the results of the compounded fin compared to the flat fin show that the pressure drop, heat transfer coefficient, f factor and j factor increase about 33.5–63.1%, 27.0–45.5%, 6.9–71.1% and 9.4–13.2%, respectively. In summary, this study strongly suggests the use of the compounded fin constructed for heat exchanger.     

Fin Pattern Effects on Air-Side Heat Transfer and Friction Characteristics of Fin-and-Tube Heat Exchangers with Large Number of Large-Diameter Tube Rows

Air-side heat transfer and friction characteristics of nine kinds of fin-and-tube heat exchangers, with a large number of tube rows (6, 9, and 12, respectively) and large diameter of tubes (18 mm), are experimentally investigated. The test samples consist of three types of fin configurations: plain fin, slit fin, and fin with delta-wing longitudinal vortex generators. The working fluid in the tube is steam. Results show that when the number of tube is larger than 6, the heat transfer and friction performance for three kinds of fins is independent of the number of tube rows, and slit fin provides higher heat transfer and pressure drop than the other two fins. The heat transfer and friction factor correlations for all the heat exchangers were acquired with Reynolds numbers ranging from 4000 to 10000. The air-side performance of heat exchangers with plain fin, slit fin, and longitudinal vortex-generator fin were evaluated under three sets of criteria, and the results showed that the heat exchanger with slit fin has better performance than that with vortex-generator fin, especially at high Reynolds numbers.     

Flow visualization of wave-type vortex generators having inline fin-tube arrangement

This study presents visual observation of enlarged fin-and-tube heat exchangers with and without the presence of vortex generators. Three samples of fin-and-tube heat exchanger having inline arrangements are examined, including one plain fin and two wave-type vortex generators. For plain fin geometry at Re=500, the horseshoe vortex generated by the tube row is not so pronounced, and a very large secondary flow circulation is seen between the first and second row. This flow re-circulation phenomenon is almost disappeared with the presence of proposed vortex generators. The presence of vortex generators significantly increase the vortrical motions of the horseshoe vortices hitting on the tubes. A much better mixing characteristics is seen by introducing the vortex generators. The frictional penalty of the proposed vortex generators are about 25-55% higher than that of the plain fin geometry. The penalty of pressure drops of the proposed vortex generators relative to plain fin geometry is relatively insensitive to change of Reynolds number.     

Airside characteristics of heat,mass transfer and pressure drop for heat exchangers of tube-in hydrophilic coating wavy fin under dehumidifying conditions

The airside heat, mass and momentum transfer characteristics of seven wavy fin-and-tube heat exchangers with hydrophilic coating under dehumidifying conditions were experimented. The test inlet air dry bulb temperatures were 20, 27 and 35 ^oC, the inlet relative humidity were 50%, 60%, 70% and 80%, and the air velocity were 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 3.0 and 4.0 m s^?1. The test results indicate that both the Colburn j_m factor and the Colburn j_h factor decrease with the increase of fin pitch, and this phenomenon becomes more and more pronounced as Reynolds number decreases. The friction factor is very sensitive to the change of fin pitch, and the friction factor shows a cross-over phenomenon as fin pitch changes. The Colburn j_h factor decreases and the Colburn j_m factor increases when the number of tube rows increases, while the friction performance is insensitive to the change of the number of tube rows. The effects of inlet relative humidity on the heat transfer and friction performance can be omitted, but the Colburn j_m factor decreases with the increase of the inlet relative humidity. The predictive ability of the available state-of-the-art heat transfer and pressure drop correlations was evaluated with the experiment data of the present study. The new heat, mass and momentum transfer correlations were proposed to describe the present test results according to the multiple linear regression technique. The mean deviations of the proposed j_h, j_m and f correlations are 6.3%, 8.9% and 7.9%, respectively. Comparing to published data reduction method, the process line on psychrometric chart of fin-and-tube heat exchanger for partially wet conditions and more accurate overall heat transfer coefficient equation are put forward in this paper.     

Numerical study on air-side performance of an integrated fin and micro-channel heat exchanger

A new type of aluminum heat exchanger with integrated fin and micro-channel has been proposed. The air-side heat transfer and flow characteristics of the integrated fin and micro-channel heat exchanger are systematically analyzed by a 3D numerical simulation. The effect of flow depth, fin height, fin pitch and fin thickness at different Reynolds number is evaluated by calculating Colburn factor j and Fanning friction factor f. A parametric study method is used to analyze the fin designed parameters affecting the performance of the heat exchanger. The results show that the contribution ratio of the fin geometries in descending order is flow depth, fin pitch, fin height and fin thickness. The air-side performance of the integrated fin and micro-channel heat exchanger is compared with that of the multi-louver fin micro-channel heat exchanger and the wavy fin micro-channel heat exchanger.     

An investigation of the performance of compact heat exchanger for latent heat recovery from exhaust flue gases

An experimental and theoretical investigation of the utilization of finned tube compact heat exchanger for a heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) to recover both sensible and latent heat is presented in this paper. The heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of the fin-and-tube heat exchanger are theoretically studied. A correlation of the combined convection–condensation heat transfer is derived by using the heat and mass transfer analogy models. The experimental results have shown that the Colburn factor (j) and the friction factor (f) for humid air, simulating the exhaust of HRSG, are larger than those for dry air. It has been also found that the f factor difference between humid air and dry air decreases as the air side Reynolds number increases and both the f factor and the j factor for humid air increase with the increase of water vapour concentration. A scheme for the design of compact heat exchanger for HRSGs is presented.     

Analysis of heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics in an offset strip fin heat exchanger

A steady-state three-dimensional numerical model was used to study the heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of an offset strip fin heat exchanger. Water was the heat transfer medium, and the Reynolds number Re_dh ranged from 10 to 3500. Variations in the Fanning friction factor f and the Colburn heat transfer factor j relative to Re_dh were observed. General correlations for the f and j factors were derived, and these could be used to analyze fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics of offset strip fins in the laminar, transition, and turbulent regions. Finally, three performance criteria (j/f, j/f^1/3, and JF) were adopted, and the best performance criteria for the cases Pr = 7 and Pr = 50 were chosen to be JF and j/f^1/3, respectively.     

开缝布置方式对开缝翅片管换热器 传热与阻力特性的影响

为了获得开缝布置方式对开缝翅片管换热器传热与阻力特性的影响规律,对5种不同翅片管换热器进行了数值模拟研究,并进行了模化试验验证。结果表明：增加开缝会提高翅片管换热器的传热性能,但阻力也随之增加;与开缝位置相比,开缝数量对开缝翅片管换热器传热与阻力特性的影响更大;在Re=4800~7500日时,开缝翅片管换热器综合流动传热性能 随着Re数的增大而增大;在5种翅片中,开缝翅片的综合流动传热性能高于普通平直翅片;数值模拟与试验结果偏差较小,采用数值模拟方法能够比较准确地分析开缝翅片管换热器的传热与阻力特性。     

Numerical study of flow patterns of compact plate-fin heat exchangers and generation of design data for offset and wavy fins

Thermo-hydraulic design of compact heat exchangers (CHEs) is strongly dependent upon the predicted/measured dimensionless performance (Colburn factor j and Fanning friction factor f vs. Reynolds number Re) of heat transfer surfaces. Also, air (gas) flow maldistribution in the headers, caused by the orientation of inlet and outlet nozzles in the heat exchanger, affects the exchanger performance. Three typical compact plate-fin heat exchangers have been analyzed using Fluent software for quantification of flow maldistribution effects with ideal and real cases. The headers have modified by providing suitable baffle plates for improvement in flow distribution. Three offset strip fin and 16 wavy fin geometries used in the compact plate-fin heat exchangers have also been analyzed numerically. The j and f vs. Re design data are generated using CFD analysis only for turbulent flow region. For the validation of the numerical analysis conducted in the present study, a rectangular fin geometry having same dimensions as that of the wavy fin has been analyzed. The results of the wavy fin have been compared with the analytical results of a rectangular fin and found good agreement. Similarly, the numerical results of offset strip fin are compared with the correlations available in the open literature and found good agreement with most of the earlier findings.     

Numerical investigation of thermal enhancement of plate fin type heat exchanger with creases and holes in construction machinery

The present study aims to develop a new shape of plate fin heat exchanger by applying ceases and holes on the plate fin which is used in the construction machinery under the poor environment where the dust content is high and much extraneous materials are generated. In the present study, the louver fin heat exchanger, the plate fin heat exchanger and the heat exchanger of the shape newly proposed in this study were analyzed comparatively using three-dimensional numerical simulation. The fully developed airflow in the unit cell of heat exchangers considered was modeled with k–ω turbulence model using steady incompressible Reynolds-Averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) equations. The calculated pressure drop and heat transfer capacity for the louver fin heat exchanger, the plate fin heat exchanger and the heat exchanger of the shape newly proposed in this study were assessed in terms of the Fanning friction factor (f factor) and Colburn j-factor (j factor) while the overall performance was estimated using the volume and area goodness factors.     

Optimization of heat exchangers with vortex-generator fin by Taguchi method

A comparative study of effects of attack angle, length of vortex generator, height of vortex generator, fin material, fin thickness, fin pitch and tube pitch on fin performance of vortex-generator fin-and-tube heat exchanger is conducted by numerical method. The parameters of vortex-generator fin-and-tube heat exchangers are optimized by the Taguchi method. Eighteen kinds of models are made by compounding levels on each factor, and the heat transfer and flow characteristics of each model are analyzed. The results show that these six factors (fin pitch, longitudinal tube pitch, transverse tube pitch, length of vortex generator, height of vortex generator, and attack angle of vortex generator) have great influences on the JF-factor. The fin material and fin thickness have trifling effects on the JF-factor. The two optimal conditions (A1B3C3D2E1F2G1H3 and A2B2C2D3E1F2G1H3) are acquired, and the reproducibility of the results is verified by two analytical results.     

Three-dimensional performance analysis of plain fin tube heat exchangers in transitional regime

Three-dimensional CFD simulations are carried out to investigate heat transfer and fluid flow characteristics of a four-row plain fin-and-tube heat exchanger using the Commercial Computational Fluid Dynamics Code ANSYS CFX 12.0. Heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of the heat exchanger are investigated for Reynolds numbers ranging from 400 to 2000. Fluid flow and heat transfer are simulated and results compared using both laminar and turbulent flow models (k-ω) with steady and incompressible fluid flow. Model validation is carried out by comparing the simulated case friction factor (f) and Colburn factor (j) with the experimental data of Wang et al. [1]. Reasonable agreement is found between the simulations and experimental data. In this study the effect of geometrical parameters such as fin pitch, longitudinal pitch and transverse pitch of tube spacing are studied. Results are presented in the form of friction factor (f) and Colburn factor (j). For both laminar and transitional flow conditions heat transfer and friction factor decrease with the increase of longitudinal and transverse pitches of tube spacing whereas they increase with fin pitches for both in-line and staggered configurations. Efficiency index increases with the increase of longitudinal and transverse pitches of tube spacing but decreases with increase of fin pitches. For a particular Reynolds number, the efficiency index is higher in in-line arrangement than the staggered case.     

Heat transfer and pressure drop correlations for the wavy fin and flat tube heat exchangers

A total of 11 cross-flow heat exchangers having wavy fin and flat tube were studied experimentally. A series of tests were conducted for air side Reynolds number in the range of 800–6500 with different fin pitches, fin lengths and fin heights, at a constant tube-side water flow rate of 2.5 m³/h. The air side thermal performance data were analyzed using the effectiveness-NTU method. The characteristics of heat transfer and pressure drop for different geometry parameters were reported in terms of Colburn j-factor and Fanning friction factor f, as a function of Re. The effects of fin pitch, fin height and fin length on the performance of heat transfer and pressure drop were examined. The general correlations for j and f factors were derived by multiple linear regression analysis and F test of significance. The correlations for j and f factors can predict 95% of the experimental data within ±10%.     

On the heat transfer characteristics of heat sinks: Influence of fin spacing at low Reynolds number region

This study examines the thermal–hydraulic performance of heat sinks having plate, slit, and louver fin patterns. Comparison of the associated heat transfer performance and the effect of fin spacing are made. The results indicate that the enhanced fin patterns like louver or slit fin operated at a higher frontal velocity and at a larger fin spacing is more beneficial than that of plain fin geometry. The heat transfer performance of louver fin is usually better than that of slit fin but accompanies with higher pressure drops. However, it is found that the pressure drops for slit fin is comparable to the louver fin geometry when the fin spacing is reduced to 0.8 mm. This is associated with the appreciable rise of entrance/exit loss (form drag) caused by the slit fin geometry. The test results also reveal a significant drop of heat transfer performance at a low Reynolds number and at a small fin spacing, or the so-called “maximum” phenomenon of Colburn j factor. This is applicable to all the tested geometries. By a careful examination of the test results, it is concluded that this phenomenon is related to the developing/fully developed flow characteristics. In fact, the maximum point occurred roughly at x⁺ = 0.1 where fully developed and developing flow is separated.     

Flow visualization of annular and delta winlet vortex generators in fin-and-tube heat exchanger application

This study presents flow visualization and frictional results of enlarged fin-and-tube heat exchangers with and without the presence of vortex generators. Two types of vortex generators and a plain fin geometry were examined in this study. For plain fin geometry at Re=500, the horseshoe vortex generated by the tube row is not so pronounced, and the horseshoe vortex separates into two streams as it flows across the second row and consequently loses its vortical strength. This phenomenon may supports the “maximum phenomenon” in low Reynolds number region reported by previous studies. With the presence of annular vortex generator, the presence of a pair of longitudinal vortices formed behind the tube is seen. The strength of the counter-rotating vortices increases with the annular height and the strength of the longitudinal vortices is so strong that may swirl with the horseshoe vortices and other flow stream. For the same winlet height, the delta winlet shows more intensely vortical motion and flow unsteadiness than those of annular winlet. This eventually leads to a better mixing phenomenon. However, it is interesting to know that the corresponding pressure drops of the delta winlet are lower than those of annular winlet. Compared to the plain fin geometry, the penalty of additional pressure drops of the proposed vortex generators is relatively insensitive to change of Reynolds number.     

Optimization design of slotted fin by numerical simulation coupled with genetic algorithm

Using a novel method that couples genetic algorithm (GA) with numerical simulation, the geometric configuration for a two-dimensional slotted fin has been optimized in this paper. The objective of optimization is to maximize the heat transfer capacity of slotted fin, and minimize the pressure drop penalty of fluid flow through the fin. The key of this method is the fitness function of GA, which were (j/j₀)/(f/f₀) and j/j₀. In this complex multiparameter problem, the numerical simulation is a crucial step to calculate the Colburn factor j and friction factor f. The results showed that for two-dimensional slotted fin considered, the j factor is increased by 229.22%, the f factor is increased by 196.30%, and the j/f ratio was increased by 11.11% at Re = 500 based on optimal integrated performance (j/j₀)/(f/f₀); the j factor is increased by 479.08% at Re = 500 based on optimal heat exchange capacity j/j₀. The feasibility of optimal designs was verified by the field synergy principle.     

Correlations for wet surface ratio of fin-and-tube heat exchangers

Correlations are proposed for the wet surface ratio of a fin-and-tube heat exchanger with plain and wavy fin geometry under dehumidifying conditions. The ‘Finite Circular Fin Method’ (FCFM) is used for data reduction. It is found that the percentage of wet surface area increases with increasing fin spacing or number of tube rows and decreasing Reynolds number. Despite the addition of tube rows or reduced fin spacing the effective surface area is increased, and its influence on a partially wet surface is apparently the opposite. This is because adding tube rows will provide a more effective temperature drop in air flow than adding fins, Moreover, the heat and mass transfer characteristics of j_h and j_m increase with an increase in the area of wet surface. Correlations for prediction of the percentage of wet surface area are proposed. These correlations can describe 83.81% of the area of wet surface to within ±10%.     

Air-side thermal hydraulic performance of offset strip fin aluminum heat exchangers

Experimental studies on the air-side heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics for 16 types offset strip fins and flat tube heat exchangers were performed. Parameters including fin space s, fin height h, fin thickness t, fin length l and flow length d, a series of tests were conducted in region of air-side Reynolds number 500–7500, at a constant tube-side water flow rate of 2.5 m³/h. The air-side thermal performance data were analyzed using the effectiveness-NTU method. The heat transfer coefficients and pressure drop data with different fin space s, fin height h, and fin length l were reported in terms of frontal air velocity. The general correlations for Colburn j-factor and Fanning fraction f-factor were derived by regression analysis and F significance test. The correlations for j and f factors can predict 95% and 90% of the experimental data within  ± 10%. And the average deviations of predictive data for the j and f factors are 0.2% and 1.2%, mean deviations are 4.2% and 5.3%.     

Study on continuous cooling process coupled with ortho-para hydrogen conversion in plate-fin heat exchanger filled with catalyst

A mathematical model of the plate-fin heat exchanger filled with catalyst (CFPFHX) is established to investigate the continuous cooling process coupled with ortho-para hydrogen conversion at 42–70 K. The flow and heat transfer performance and the efficiency of ortho-para hydrogen conversion in the CFPFHX are quantitatively evaluated, and the effects of the structural parameters on the flow and heat transfer coupled with ortho-para hydrogen conversion are analyzed. The results show that the Elovich model is the best existing kinetic models of ortho-para hydrogen conversion with an average relative deviation of 1.8%. The Colburn heat transfer factor (j factor) of the hot side of the CFPFHX is 4.3 times that of the plate-fin heat exchanger (PFHX), and the thermal enhancement factor (TEF) of the hot side is 37.7% of that of the PFHX. Meanwhile, for the CFPFHX, the j factor and the TEF of the hot side under different structural parameters are always about 8–10 times and 68%–93% of that of the cold side respectively. Therefore, the CFPFHX can ensure the flow and heat transfer performance and realize the ortho-para hydrogen continuous conversion. And a fin with the larger flow area (high fin height, wide fin spacing and small fin thickness) has a better flow and heat transfer performance and ortho-para hydrogen conversion. The outlet para-hydrogen ratio y^out_p-H2 and the mass space velocity v_m in the CFPFHX have an approximate linear trend. When mass space velocity v_m ≤ 0.6589 kg/(m³·s), the outlet para-hydrogen ratio y^out_p-H2 can meet the requirement at 42–70 K. Above all, the mechanism of flow and heat transfer coupled with ortho-para hydrogen conversion is revealed for the first time in this study, which can provide a theoretical guidance for the application of the integrated technology in large scale hydrogen liquefaction process.