Enhancement of Heat Transfer for Plate Fin Heat Exchangers Considering the Effects of Fin Arrangements

In the present study, the potential of rectangular fins with different fin types of inner zigzag-flat-outer zigzag (B-type) and outer zigzag-flat-outer zigzag (C-type) and with different fin angles of 30° and 90° for 2 mm fin height and 10 mm offset from the horizontal direction for heat transfer enhancement with the use of a conjugated heat transfer approach and for pressure drop in a plate fin heat exchanger is numerically evaluated. The rectangular fins are located on a flat plate channel (A-type). The numerical computations are performed by solving a steady, three-dimensional Navier–Stokes equation and an energy equation by using FLUENT software program. Air is taken as working fluid. The study is carried out at Reynolds number of 400 and inlet temperatures, velocities of cold and hot air are fixed as 300 K, 600 K and 1.338 m.s^?1, 0.69 m.s^?1, respectively. This study presents new fin geometries which have not been researched in the literature for plate fin heat exchangers. The results show that while the heat transfer is increased by about 10% at the exit of a channel with the fin type of C, it is increased up to 8% for the fin angle of 90° when compared to a channel with A-type under the counter flow. The heat transfer enhancements for different values of Reynolds number and for varying fin heights, fin intervals and also temperature distributions of fluids are investigated for parallel and counter flow.     

Experimental study on heat transfer augmentation in a double pipe heat exchanger utilizing jet vortex flow

This paper examines experimentally the effect of jet vortex technology on enhancing the heat transfer rate within a double pipe heat exchanger by supplying the heat exchanger with water at different vortex strengths. A vortex generator with special inclined holes with different inlet angles was designed, manufactured, and integrated within the heat exchanger. In this study, four levels of Reynolds number for hot water in the annulus (Re_h) were used, namely, 10,000; 14,500; 18,030; and 19,600. Similarly, four levels of Reynolds number for cold water in the inner tube (Re_c) were used, namely, 12,000; 17,500; 22,500; and 29,000. As for the inlet flow angle (θ), four different levels were selected, namely, 0°, 30°, 45°, and 60°. The temperature along the heat exchanger was measured utilizing 34 thermocouples installed along the heat exchanger. It was found that increasing the inlet flow angle (θ) and/or the Reynolds number results in an increase in the local Nusselt number, the overall heat transfer coefficient, and the ratio of friction factor. It is revealed that the percentage increase in the average Nusselt number due to swirl flow compared to axial flow was 10%, 40%, and 82% for an inlet flow angle of 30°, 45°, and 60°, respectively.     

Numerical Analysis of Baffle Cut on Shell Side Heat Exchanger Performance with Inclined Baffles

In this work, an attempt has been made to decrease the pressure drop and to increase the heat transfer rate in a shell and tube heat exchanger (STHX) by tilting the baffle angle and by varying the baffle cut. The process of solving the simulation includes modeling, meshing, and analyzing the geometry of the STHX by using Pro-E, hypermesh, and computational fluid dynamics package of ANSYS Fluent, respectively. The objective of this study is to find a suitable baffle inclination and baffle cut for the efficient performance of the STHX. The baffle inclinations of 25°, 30°, 35°, and 40° were considered for three different baffle cuts of 25%, 30%, and 35% of shell inside diameter and the results were compared with segmental baffle of inclination angle 0°. The shell side flow with different inclination angles and baffle cuts results in a significant variation in heat transfer rate and pressure drop in the STHX. The results provide a clear idea that the heat transfer rate is maximum in inclined baffle heat exchanger compared to that of segmental baffle heat exchanger. Further it is found that the STHX with the configuration of 35º baffle inclination angle and baffle cut of 30% of shell inside diameter provides higher heat transfer rate with minimum pressure drop compared to all other configurations.     

Heat Transfer Measurements,Flow Pattern Maps,and Flow Visualization for Non-Boiling Two-Phase Flow in Horizontal and Slightly Inclined Pipe

Local heat transfer coefficients and flow parameters were measured for air-water flow in a pipe in the horizontal and slightly upward inclined (2°, 5°, and 7°) positions. The test section was a 27.9 mm stainless steel pipe with a length to diameter ratio of 100. For this systematic experimental study, a total of 758 data points were taken for horizontal and slightly upward inclined (2°, 5°, and 7°) positions by carefully coordinating the liquid and gas superficial Reynolds number combinations. These superficial Reynolds numbers were duplicated for each inclination angle. The heat transfer data points were collected under a uniform wall heat flux boundary condition ranging from about 1,800–10,900 W/m². The superficial Reynolds numbers ranged from about 740 to 26,000 for water and about 560 to 48,000 for air. A comparison of heat transfer data and flow visualization revealed that the heat transfer results were significantly dependent on the superficial liquid and gas Reynolds numbers, inclination angle, and flow pattern. The experimental data indicated that even in a slightly upward inclined pipe, there is a significant effect on the two-phase heat transfer of air-water flow. Flow pattern maps and flow visualization results for different inclination angles are also presented and discussed.     

内展翅片换热器应用在压缩空气系统中的节能效益分析

文中通过实验数据分析以及实际工程案例,就内展翅片换热器在压缩空气系统的相同工况下,采用光管换热器和外翅片换热器的换热效果及阻力特性进行了比较,结果表明,内展翅片换热器不仅具有较好的强化传热效果,而且单位压降损耗低,节能效果显著。     

Heat transfer coefficients under dry- and wet-surface conditions for a spirally coiled finned tube heat exchanger

In the present study, the average tube-side and air-side heat transfer coefficients in a spirally coiled finned tube heat exchanger under dry- and wet-surface conditions are experimentally investigated. The test section is a spiral-coil heat exchanger, which consists of six layers of concentric spirally coiled tube. Each tube is fabricated by bending a 9.6-mm outside diameter straight copper tube into a spiral coil of four turns. Aluminium fins with thickness 0.6 mm and outside diameter 28.4 mm are placed helically around the tube. The chilled water and the hot air are used as working fluids. The test runs are done at the air and water mass flow rates ranging between 0.02 and 0.2 kg/s and between 0.04 and 0.25 kg/s, respectively. The inlet-air and -water temperatures are between 35 and 60 °C and between 10 and 35 °C, respectively. The effects of the inlet conditions of both working fluids flowing through the heat exchanger on the heat transfer coefficients are discussed. New correlations based on the data gathered during this work for predicting the tube-side and air-side heat transfer coefficients for the spirally coiled finned tube heat exchanger are proposed.     

Single-Phase Flow Pressure Drop Analysis in a Plate Heat Exchanger

Pressure drop characteristics of a gasketed commercial plate heat exchanger configured for single-phase water-to-water flow application are presented. Isothermal pressure drop data are provided for two symmetric 30°/30°, 60°/60° and a nonsymmetric 30°/60° (mixed) chevron plate configuration in the plate heat exchanger. Reynolds number was varied from 500 to 2,500. The experimental data are found to be a strong function of chevron angle and Reynolds number. Experimental results show that mixed plate configuration can be a choice in optimizing the plate heat exchanger design for improved performance. Based on experimental data, correlations are presented for estimation of friction factor.     

Biofouling Control with Ultrasound

The flow field in shell-and-tube heat exchangers with helical baffles was measured using laser Doppler anemometry (LDA). The influence on the velocity distribution, impulsive velocity by helix inclination angle, and flow rate was investigated. The influence on heat exchanging capability and flow resistance on velocity distribution was also investigated. The dimensions of the heat exchanger shell used in these experiments were 200 2 6 2 3,000 mm (inner diameter 2 wall thickness 2 length). The heat exchanger was made of organic glass and the tube bundle consisted of 52 tubes with external diameter of 15 mm. Six different inclination angles were designed in double-helix style: 30°, 35°, 40°, 42°, 45°, and 50°. The working flow medium under normal temperature was service water. Generally, the linear velocity and impulsive velocity will increase with decreasing helix inclination angle, which promotes the heat exchanging capability. With flow volume increasing, the velocity distribution along the diameter increases on average. The pressure drop increases with decreasing helix inclination angle. For all of the helix inclination angles tested, the minimum pressure loss took place at a certain Reynolds number; and at different helix inclination angles, the Reynolds number at which the minimum pressure loss occurs is different. In general, it was concluded that the optimum helix inclination angle depends on the Reynolds number of the working fluid on the shell side of heat exchanger.     

椭圆翅片管空冷器流动传热特性的研究

用稳态的恒壁温法对3个椭圆翅片管空冷器和1个圆翅片管空冷器的传热和阻力特性进行了研究,得到空冷器空气侧的传热与阻力性能,在相同的迎风面流速下,椭圆翅片管比圆翅片管空气侧换热系数约大3－7倍;在相同的换热系数下,椭圆翅片管比圆翅片管的压降低。     

Numerical simulation on the performance of trisection helical baffle heat exchangers with small baffle incline angles

ABSTRACT

Numerical simulation was conducted on oil–water heat transfer in five circumferential overlap trisection helical baffle shell–and–tube heat exchangers (cothSTHXs) with 16 tubes and incline angles of 12°, 16°, 20°, 24°, and 28° and a segmental baffle heat exchanger of the identical tube layout for comparison under laminar flow calculation conditions. The local images represent shell-side flow patterns, and heat transfer properties are presented showing the detailed “secondary vortex flow” and “shortcut leakage flow” patterns to explain the different characteristics of the six schemes. The simulation curves of the heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop are compared with those of the experimental ones, with satisfactory agreement. The average values of the shell-side heat transfer coefficient and the comprehensive index h_o/Δp_o of the 12° helical scheme are respectively 47% and 51% higher than those of the segmental baffle scheme with about the same pressure drop.     

Experimental Study on Air Cooling Via a Multiport Mesochannel Cross-Flow Heat Exchanger

The air-side heat transfer and flow characteristics of cross-flow multiport slab mesochannel heat exchanger are investigated experimentally in this article. The multiport slab mesochannel heat exchanger consists of 15 finned aluminum slabs; each slab contains 68 flow channels of 1 mm circular diameter. The cold deionized water at a constant mass flow rate was forced to flow through the mesochannels, whereas the hot air at different velocities was allowed to pass through the finned passages of the heat exchanger core in cross-flow orientation. The heat transfer and fluid flow key parameters were examined in the region of the air-side Reynolds number in the range of 972–2758, with a constant water-side Reynolds number of 135. The effect of air-side Reynolds number on air-side Nusselt number was examined and a general correlation of Nusselt number with Reynolds number was obtained. The Nusselt number value was found to be higher in comparison with other research works for the corresponding Reynolds number range. The multiport mesochannel flat slab geometry has offered uniform temperature distribution into the core. This uniform temperature distribution leads to higher heat transfer over stand-alone inline flow tube bank.     

Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow Analysis for Plate-Fin and Oval Tube Heat Exchangers With Vortex Generators

This article investigates the effectiveness of embedded vortex generators in enhancing the heat transfer performance of a plate-fin heat exchanger with a four-row staggered oval tube bundle. Two different types of vortex generator are considered, namely annular and inclined block. Numerical simulations are performed to analyze the effects of the three-dimensional turbulence induced by the vortex generators on the heat transfer and fluid flow characteristics of the heat exchanger. The results indicate that compared to a plate-fin heat exchanger with circular tubes, the use of oval tube fins and vortex generators increases the heat transfer rate by 3 to 16% and reduces the pressure drop by 17 to 35% for inlet velocities in the range of 1 to 8 m/s. Furthermore, the vortex generators make possible an average area reduction ratio of 14 to 18%. Overall, the results show that the inclined block shape vortex generators yield the greatest improvement in the heat transfer performance at medium to high inlet velocities.     

Effect of Twin Delta-Winged Twisted-Tape on Thermal Performance of Heat Exchanger Tube

This work aims at studying the effect of twin delta-winged twisted-tape insertion on heat transfer, pressure drop, and thermal performance characteristics of a heat exchanger tube. All twisted tapes used in this work were made of aluminum sheets twisted at a single twist ratio of 3.0. The twin delta wings were formed by extrusion of the tape at the center area at every twist length interval. For comparison, three different arrangements of the twin delta wings were: (1) the wing tips pointing upstream of the flow (TTW-up, twin delta-winged twisted tape in counterflow arrangement), (2) the wing tips pointing downstream of the flow (TTW-down, twin delta-winged twisted tape in co-flow arrangement), and (3) the wing tips pointing opposite direction (TTW-o, opposite winged twisted tape). The wing declination was arranged at an angle of 15° with respect to the tape surface. Effects of three different wing-tip angles of 20°, 40°, and 60° for a constant wing base were examined. The experiments were conducted using water as the test fluid in a uniform-heat-flux tube for Reynolds number between 5000 and 15,000. The results demonstrate that the TTW-up consistently provides greater heat transfer rate, friction factor, and thermal performance factor than the TTW-down and the TTW-o, at a similar condition. In addition, the heat transfer rate increases as the wing-tip angle decreases. Over the range investigated, the TTW-up with wing-tip angle of 20° gives the highest thermal performance factor of 1.26 along with a Nusselt number and friction factor of 2.57 and 8.55 times those of the plain tube.     

Numerical Investigation of the Air-Side Thermal Hydraulic Performance of a Louvered-Fin and Flat-Tube Heat Exchanger at Low Reynolds Numbers

In this study, the air-side heat transfer and fluid flow characteristics of a louvered-fin and flat-tube type heat exchanger used in the household refrigerators were investigated numerically. Louver angles of 20°, 24°, 28°, and 32° and fin pitches of 1.50, 2.00, and 2.50 mm were tested. To represent domestic refrigeration systems, the simulations were conducted for low Reynolds numbers, between 223 and 573. The results were evaluated using the volume goodness factor for the air side. The best performance was obtained with louver angle of 20° and fin pitch of 1.50 mm at Reynolds number of 229 over the investigated cases. It was demonstrated that the Colburn j-factor, friction factor, Stanton number, and volume goodness factor did not change linearly with respect to the parameters considered.     

Flow and Heat Transfer Characteristics of Two‐Phase Fluid in Inclined Pipes on a Rotation Platform

A rotating platform was used to create dynamic load, and the mixture air–water two‐phase flow and boiling steam–water two‐phase flow were obtained in an inclined test pipe. By changing the parameters, such as inclination of the test pipe, rotational speed, inlet temperature, flow rate, and so on, the experiments for two‐phase flow in the pipe at inclination of 0°, 45°, and 66° were conducted, respectively. The effects of acceleration and inclination on their flow and heat transfer characteristics were investigated. The two‐phase flow patterns in inclined pipes under rotation conditions were caught with a video camera. The images show that the impact mixed flow and churn flow were found in this research. The results show that the acceleration and pipe inclination significantly influence the flow characteristic and heat transfer of the two‐phase pipe flow. As the directions of the dynamic load and the gravity are opposite to the flow direction, the greater the dynamic load and inclination, the higher the pressure drop and the heat emission, and the lower the flow rate, the void fraction, and the fluid temperature. Therefore, the dynamic load and gravity will improve the flow resistance, enhance heat emission and reduce the heat gained by the fluid.     

垂直环管内旋流换热与流动的数值模拟研究

基于垂直环管内旋流对流动边界层的扰动机理,采用数值模拟的方法研究了叶片角度、雷诺数以及进口水温对管内换热以及流动特性的影响,揭示了重力对环管内旋流流动的内在影响机制。结果表明：与水平环管相比,垂直环管的综合换热性能变化平缓,主要受到重力对压降的影响;与雷诺数相比,叶片角度对流场以及温度场的影响最显著;在雷诺数小于15 000,叶片角度为30°时管内的换热性能最佳。     

Asymmetrical Non-Uniform Heat Flux Distributions For Laminar Flow Heat Transfer With Mixed Convection In a Horizontal Circular Tube

Non-symmetric heat flux distributions in terms of gravity in solar collector tubes influence buoyancy-driven secondary flow which has an impact on the associated heat transfer and pressure drop performance. In this study the influence of the asymmetry angle (0°, 20°, 30° and 40°) with regard to gravity for non-uniform heat flux boundaries in a horizontal circular tube was investigated numerically. A stainless steel tube with an inner diameter of 62.68 mm, a wall thickness of 5.16 mm, and a length of 10 m was considered for water inlet temperatures ranging from 290 K to 360 K and inlet Reynolds numbers ranging from 130 to 2000. Conjugate heat transfer was modelled for different sinusoidal type outer surface heat flux distributions with a base-level incident heat flux intensity of 7.1 kW/m². It was found that average internal heat transfer coefficients increased with the circumferential span of the heat flux distribution. Average internal and axial local heat transfer coefficients and overall friction factors were at their highest for symmetrical heat flux cases (gravity at 0º) and lower for asymmetric cases. The internal heat transfer coefficients also increased with the inlet fluid temperature and decreased with an increase in the external heat loss transfer coefficient. Friction factors decreased with an increase in fluid inlet temperature or an increase in the external heat loss transfer coefficients of the tube model.     

Air-side heat transfer and friction characteristics of biofouled evaporator under wet conditions

The effects of biofouling on air-side heat transfer and friction characteristics under wet conditions of three biofouled finned tube heat exchangers and one clean finned tube heat exchanger were investigated experimentally. Experimental results indicate that the biofouled fin efficiency of the evaporator decreases by 15.5% compared with the clean evaporator under the condition of the biofouled area ratio of 60% at the inlet air velocity of 2.0 m/s; The ranges of friction fouling factor and heat transfer fouling factor are 19.8%–43.1% and −15.6%−13.1%, respectively; a small quantity of biofouled particles can enhance heat transfer at low Reynolds number, and the enhancement effect decreases with the increase of Reynolds number.     

3-D Numerical study on the correlation between variable inclined fin angles and thermal behavior in plate fin-tube heat exchanger

In this study, the heat transfer enhancement and pressure drop values of seven different fin angles with plain fin-tube heat exchangers were investigated. The numerical simulation of the fin-tube heat exchanger was performed by using a three dimensional (3-D) numerical computation technique. Therefore, a CFD computer code, the FLUENT was used to solve the equation for the heat transfer and pressure drop analyses in the fin-tube heat exchanger. The model drawing was created and meshed by using GAMBIT software. The heat transfer and pressure drop values of the vertical fin angle (θ = 0°) were provided to compare with variable inclined fin angles (θ = 5°, 10°, 15°, 20°, 25°, 30°). The heat transfer values were normalized to compare all cases. For inclined fin angle θ = 30°, which is the optimum angle, the maximum heat transfer enhancement per segment was obtained 1.42 W (the normalized value 105.24%), the maximum loss power associated with pressure drop per segment was only 0.54 mW.     

Comparative Study of Convective Heat Transfer Performance of Steam and Air Flow in Rib Roughened Channels

A comparative experimental study of heat transfer characteristics of steam and air flow in rectangular channels roughened with parallel ribs was conducted by using an infrared camera. Effects of Reynolds numbers and rib angles on the steam and air convective heat transfer have been obtained and compared with each other for the Reynolds number from about 4,000 to 15,000. For all the ribbed channels the rib pitch to height ratio(p/e) is 10, and the rib height to the channel hydraulic diameter ratio is 0.078, while the rib angles are varied from 90° to 45°.Based on experimental results, it can be found that, even though the heat transfer distributions of steam and air flow in the ribbed channels are similar to each other, the steam flow can obtain higher convective heat transfer enhancement capability, and the heat transfer enhancement of both the steam and air becomes greater with the rib angle deceasing from 90° to 45°. At Reynolds number of about 12,000, the area-averaged Nusselt numbers of the steam flow is about 13.9%, 14.2%, 19.9% and 23.9% higher than those of the air flow for the rib angles of 90°,75°, 60° and 45° respectively. With the experimental results the correlations for Nusselt number in terms of Reynolds number and rib angle for the steam and air flow in the ribbed channels were developed respectively.