Second-law performance of heat exchangers for waste heat recovery

Exergy change rate in an ideal gas flow or an incompressible flow can be divided into a thermal exergy change rate and a mechanical exergy loss rate. The mechanical exergy loss rates in the two flows were generalized using a pressure-drop factor. For heat exchangers using in waste heat recovery, the consumed mechanical exergy is usually more valuable than the recovered thermal exergy. A weighing factor was proposed to modify the pressure-drop factor. An exergy recovery index (η_II) was defined and it was expressed as a function of effectiveness (?), ratio of modified heat capacity rates (C^∗), hot stream-to-dead-state temperature ratio, cold stream-to-dead-state temperature ratio and modified overall pressure-drop factor. This η_II–? relation can be used to find the η_II value of a heat exchanger with any flow arrangement. The η_II−Ntu and η_II−Ntu_h relations of cross-flow heat exchanger with both fluids unmixed were established respectively. The former provides a minimum Ntu design principle and the latter provides a minimum Ntu_h design principle. A numerical example showed that, at a fixed heat capacity rate of the hot stream, the heat exchanger size yielded by the minimum Ntu_h principle is smaller than that yielded by the minimum Ntu principle.     

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.     

Boiling heat transfer and pressure drop of ammonia-lithium nitrate solution in a plate generator

This paper presents the thermal and pressure-drop experimental evaluation of a fusion plate heat exchanger (PHE) during boiling conditions of a solution of lithium nitrate in ammonia. The data are representative of the working conditions of generators in single-effect absorption chillers. The solution flow rate and outlet temperature were modified in the ranges of 0.041–0.083 kg/s and 78–95 °C, respectively. Correlations for single-phase-flow heat transfer are used to characterize the boiling heat transfer. The influences of the heat flux, mass flux and exit-vapour quality are analyzed. Boiling heat-transfer coefficients and correlations for the Nusselt number are obtained. Results are compared with Cooper’s and Ayub’s correlations for boiling heat transfer. Pressure drop in the solution side was also measured and one correlation was obtained to characterize the frictional pressure drop under boiling conditions.     

Development of gas-solid direct contact heat exchanger by use of axial flow cyclone

A heat exchanger between particulate or granular materials and gas is developed. It makes use of a swirling gas flow similar to the usual cyclone separators but the difference from them is that the swirl making gas is issued into the cyclone chamber with downward axial velocity component. After it turns the flow direction near the bottom of the chamber, the low temperature gas receives heat from high temperature particles supplied from above at the chamber's center. Through this configuration, a direct contact and quasi counter-flow heat exchange pattern is realized so that the effective recovery of heat carried by particles is achieved. A model heat exchanger was manufactured via several numerical experiments and its performances of heat exchange as well as particle recovery were examined. Attaching a small particle diffuser below the particle-feeding nozzle brought about a drastic improvement of the heat exchange performance without deteriorating the particle recovery efficiency. The outlet gas temperature much higher than the particle outlet temperature was finally obtained, which is never realized in the parallel flow heat exchanger.     

Performance study on plain fin filled with catalyst in a plate fin heat exchanger for hydrogen liquefaction

In order to develop the correlations of the fin performances of the catalyst filled plate fin heat exchanger (CFPFHE) for hydrogen liquefaction, a numerical model of the plain fin filled with catalyst at 30–80 K is established. The effects of temperature, the structural parameters of the fin and catalyst layer and the operating condition on the fin performances of the fin channel are analyzed and discussed. The results show that the temperature distribution patterns and fin performances at 30–40 K and above 40 K have obvious differences. The results above 40 K can be characterized by that at 70–80 K. The sensitivity analysis shows that the distributions of sensitivity at 70–80 K and 30–40 K are similar. The heat transfer and ortho-para hydrogen conversion performances are mainly affected by the structural parameters of the fin and the operating condition, while the flow performance is mainly affected by the structural parameters of the catalyst layer. The correlations of the flow and heat transfer performances at 70–80 K and 30–40 K are obtained by fitting the data points on the response surface with more than 97% of the fitting degrees and within ±15% of the deviations. Meanwhile, the correlations of the ortho-para hydrogen conversion performance show that the mass space velocities at 70–80 K and 30–40 K should be lower than 1.25 and 7.50 kg m^?3 s^?1 respectively to reach the standard of the ortho-para hydrogen conversion. The correlations of the fin performances can be used as the basis of optimization design of the CFPFHE.     

Numerical studies on flow and heat transfer in membrane helical-coil heat exchanger and membrane serpentine-tube heat exchanger

The flow and heat transfer characteristics of synthesis gas (syngas) in membrane helical-coil heat exchanger and membrane serpentine-tube heat exchanger under different operating pressures, inlet velocities and pitches are investigated numerically. The three-dimensional governing equations for mass, momentum and heat transfer are solved using a control volume finite difference method. The realizable k-ε model is adopted to simulate the turbulent flow and heat transfer in heat exchangers. There flows syngas in the channels consisting of the membrane helical coils or membrane serpentine tubes, where the operating pressure varies from 0.5 to 3.0 MPa. The numerically obtained heat transfer coefficients for heat exchangers are in good agreement with experimental values. The results show that the syngas tangential flow in the channel consisting of membrane helical coils is significant to the heat transfer enhancement to lead to the higher average heat transfer coefficient of membrane helical-coil heat exchanger compared to membrane serpentine-tube heat exchanger. The syngas tangential velocity in the membrane helical-coil heat exchanger increases along the axial direction, and it is independent of the gas pressure, increasing with the axial velocity and axial pitch rise and decreasing with the radial pitch rise.     

果蔬预冷冰浆式湿冷热湿交换器性能实验

针对果蔬预冷设备应用场合,提出并设计了一套以冰浆作为载冷介质的湿冷热湿交换器,并搭建单体性能测试台架,以出风温度和相对湿度为指标,通过改变填料类型(金属、纸质填料)、载冷介质种类(冰浆、冷水)和喷淋流量进行了性能实验研究。结果表明:实验工况下,金属填料的换热性能较纸质填料好;以冰浆作为载冷介质相比以冷水的情况,可以获得更低的出风温度,但出风相对湿度也有所降低;随着进风干球温度的降低,出风温度明显降低,而出风相对湿度变化并不明显;在一定范围内,提高载冷介质的喷淋流量,有利于湿冷热湿交换器出风温度的降低和出风相对湿度的升高;低浓度的冰浆可以在湿冷热湿交换器中稳定运行,且降温效果较冷水湿冷热湿交换器更加明显,虽然相对湿度略有下降但仍然可保持在90%左右,适用于果蔬预冷和保鲜。     

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.     

Modeling and numerical investigation of hydrogen nucleate flow boiling heat transfer

Liquid hydrogen flow boiling heat transfer in tubes is of great importance in the hydrogen applications such as superconductor cooling, hydrogen fueling. In the present study, a numerical model for hydrogen nucleate flow boiling based on the wall partition heat flux model is established. The key parameters in the model such as active nucleation site density, bubble departure diameter and frequency are carefully discussed and determined to facilitate the modeling and simulation of hydrogen flow boiling. Simulation results of the numerical model show reasonably well agreement with experimental data from different research groups in a wide operation condition range with the means absolute error (MAE) of 10.6% for saturated and 5.3% for subcooled flow boiling. Based on the model, wall heat flux components and void fraction distribution of hydrogen flow boiling are studied. Effects of mass flow rate and wall heat flux on the flow boiling heat transfer performance are investigated. It is found that in the hydrogen nucleate flow boiling, the predominated factor is the Boiling number, rather than the vapor quality. A new simple correlation is proposed for predicting hydrogen saturated nucleate flow boiling Nusselt number. The MAE between the correlation predicted and experimentally measured Nusselt number is 13.6% for circular tubes and 12.5% for rectangular tubes. The new correlation is applicable in the range of channel diameter 4–6.35 mm, Reynolds number 64000–660,000, saturation temperature 22–29 K, Boiling number 8.37 × 10^?5–2.33 × 10^?3.     

同轴径向热管换热器壳程流场数值模拟

基于多孔介质模型和分布阻力方法,引入Al-sanea和Taborek两种阻力关系式模拟同轴径向热管换热器壳程的流场。结果表明:换热器壳程静压沿烟气流动方向呈线性分布;随入口烟气速度的增加,换热器阻力损失增大、压降增大;且随入口烟气速度的增加,压降增加的速率增大。     

Non-adiabatic capillary tube flow with isobutane

This work reports the results of an experimental study on concentric capillary tube–suction line heat exchangers commonly used as expansion devices in household refrigerators and freezers. Heat exchanger performance (mass flow rate and suction line outlet temperature) with the hydrocarbon HC-600a was experimentally evaluated for a range of heat exchanger geometries and operating conditions. The tests were planned and performed following a statistically based methodology. Based on the resulting database empirical correlations were developed to predict the refrigerant mass flow rate and the suction line outlet temperature.     

Thermal characterization of a cross-flow heat exchanger with a new flow arrangement

The objective of the present paper is to thermally characterize a cross-flow heat exchanger featuring a new cross-flow arrangement, which may find application in contemporary refrigeration and automobile industries. The new flow arrangement is peculiar in the sense that it possesses two fluid circuits extending in the form of two tube rows, each with two tube lines. To assess the heat exchanger performance, it is compared against that for the standard two-pass counter-cross-flow arrangement. The two-part comparison is based on the thermal effectiveness and the heat exchanger efficiency for several combinations of the heat capacity rate ratio, C¹, and the number of transfer units, NTU. In addition, a third comparison is made in terms of the so-called “heat exchanger reversibility norm” (HERN) through the influence of various parameters such as the inlet temperature ratio, τ, and the heat capacity rate ratio, C¹, for several fixed NTU values. The proposed new flow arrangement delivers higher thermal effectiveness and higher heat exchanger efficiency, resulting in lesser entropy generation over a wide range of C¹ and NTU values. These metrics are quantified with respect to the arrangement widely used in refrigeration industry due to its high effectiveness, namely, the standard two-pass counter-cross-flow heat exchanger. The new flow arrangement seems to be a promising avenue in situations where cross-flow heat exchangers for single-phase fluid have to be used in refrigeration units.     

Melting of ice slurry in a tube‐in‐tube heat exchanger

One of the main components of a closed ice slurry system is the heat exchanger in which ice slurry absorbs heat resulting in the melting ice crystals. Design calculations of heat exchangers are mainly based on heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop data. But experiments presented in this paper show the effect of ice slurry mass flux on heat transfer rate and heat transfer coefficient during melting. For the experiments, ice slurry was made from 6.5% ethylene glycol–water solution, flowing through a 16.91mm internal diameter, 1500mm long horizontal copper tube. The ice slurry was heated by hot water circulated at the annulus gap of the heat exchanger. Experiments of the melting process were conducted with changing the ice slurry mass flux and the ice fraction from 800 to 3500kgm^?2s^?1 and 0 to 25%, respectively. During the experiment, it was found that the measured heat transfer rates increase with the mass flow rate and ice fraction; however, the effect of ice fraction appears not to be significant at high mass flow rate. At the region of low mass flow rates, a sharp increase in the heat transfer coefficient was observed when the ice fraction was more than a certain value. Experiments were also conducted to investigate the effect of hot water temperature on the heat transfer coefficient. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

汽车空调暖风系统平行流换热器换热性能研究

平行流换热器以其结构紧凑、换热效率高的特点已广泛应用于汽车空调中.简要介绍了汽车空调暖风系统平行流换热器结构,采用计算流体力学(CFD)数值模拟方法对平行流换热器的换热性能进行了分析,比较了空气侧风速和水流量对其换热量和流动阻力的影响.模拟结果表明:在增加相同百分比的情况下,增加空气侧风速比增加水流量对换热器换热量的影响大16%左右,但增加空气侧风速和水流量对换热器换热能力的影响均有限;随着风速的提高,换热量增加率逐渐减小,而空气侧阻力增加率越来越大;随着水流量增加,水侧压降增大非常明显;但两者增加对空气侧出口温度影响均不明显.     

Numerical model and effectiveness correlations for a run-around heat recovery system with combined counter and cross flow exchangers

A two-dimensional steady-state numerical model is developed to study the heat transfer in a run-around heat recovery system with two exchangers each with a combination of counter and cross (counter/cross) flow between parallel plates or membranes. A finite difference method is used to solve the steady-state equations of continuity, momentum and heat transfer. The simulated values for the effectiveness of each counter/cross flow heat exchanger and the overall run-around system are used to develop effectiveness correlations which agree within ±2% of the simulated effectiveness of individual heat exchangers and overall system. It is shown that the effectiveness of this new run-around heat exchanger (RAHE) falls between the effectiveness of similar run-around systems with either two cross-flow exchangers or two counter-flow exchangers. For a given total surface area of the exchangers, the highest overall sensible effectiveness is achieved with exchangers which have a small exchanger aspect ratio and relatively small solution flow inlet and outlet lengths.     

Pressure drop characteristics of R134a during flow boiling in a single rectangular micro-channel

The pressure-drop characteristics during flow boiling in a single rectangular micro-channel with hydraulic diameter of 0.68 mm are presented. In the present study, pressure drop was studied at heat flux range of 7.63–49.46 kW/m², mass flux range of 600–1400 kg/m² s, and saturation temperature of 23, 27 and 31 °C. Experimental results indicated that the total pressure was dominated by frictional pressure drop. The increase of mass flux also increased the frictional pressure gradient, whereas the increase of saturation temperature reduced the frictional pressure gradient. In addition, heat flux also had an insignificant effect on the frictional the pressure gradient. A new correlation was also proposed for effective design of micro-channel heat exchanger.     

Numerical study on the effects of design parameters on the heat transfer performance of coaxial deep borehole heat exchanger

Deep borehole heat exchanger (DBHE) is attracting attention intensively owing to much more geothermal extraction, higher efficiency for heat pumps, and lesser land demand compared with shallow borehole heat exchanger. DBHE is usually dipped into several thousand meters in the subsurface, having a complicated heat transfer with surrounding rock–soil. However, the heat transfer characteristics below surface under different conditions are rarely studied. In this study, a numerical model considering the comprehensive effects of geothermal gradients and heat loss from inner pipe was proposed. The model was validated with experimental data and Beier analytical solution. Based on the model, the effects of primary design parameters on the heat transfer performance below surface along the pipe were investigated. The results indicate that temperature at pipe bottom increases with inlet flow rate decreasing, while the heat load cannot be extracted fully to the surface because of the heat loss of inner pipe. When the inlet flow rates decrease from 41.39 to 4.52 m³/h, the heat loss ratio increases from 25.5% to 63.7%. It is an effective way of insulating inner pipe to reduce heat loss under low inlet flow rates. Increasing the velocity in inner pipe by lessening the inner pipe diameter can also decline the heat loss well. While by this way, the increasing pumping power resulting from the higher velocity in inner pipe has to be considered. This study is significant to effective optimization of DBHE and energy conservation of buildings.     

Numerical investigation of thermal and electrical management during hydrogen reversible solid-state storage using a novel heat exchanger based on thermoelectric modules

In order to reduce the costs generated by the hydrogen solid storage tank's accessories such as the heat exchanger, this work was carried out. It shows thermal and electrical investigations of transient hydrogen (H₂) solid storage in a tank filled with porous medium (LaNi₅) to activate a potential PEM automotive fuel cell. For this purpose, we use a novel heat exchanger with a heat sink combined with thermoelectric modules (TEMs). We realize a simulation that helps us verify if thermoelectric exchanger will be an alternative to the conventional ones. The main results are that a thermoelectric cooler and heater with 127 couples of semiconductors coupled with 19 fins heat sink could be used during the reversible hydrogen solid storage. Also, results show that we can avoid the water freezing at negative temperatures when using a conventional heat exchanger by using TEM during hydrogen absorption. Finally, during the endothermic desorption of the hydrogen, TEG use can avoid boiling water used in the heating system. Also, the hydrogen tank will be lighter and compact without fins and water tubes.     

混装板式换热器的流动阻力试验测试与分析

针对板式换热器无法保证换热面两侧流体的流动阻力完全相同,把板式换热器受涨侧和受压侧流动阻力合并为一个处理阻降来解决。通过实验对不同混装方式的板式换热器进行流动阻力测试,采用数据分析及公式拟合的方法,得出混装板式换热器流动阻力的主要影响因素是混合流道所占的比例,并利用线性拟合的方法,得到流动阻力的计算方法,从而确定板式换热器混装中流动阻力。     

Simulation study on the outlet flow dynamics of a hydride-based hydrogen storage canister for medical use

In recent years, hydrogen molecule as therapeutic antioxidant was found to be useful for the treatment of a number of diseases. To supply hydrogen safely and reliably in the hospital, a patent-pending system was proposed by the authors, including a canister filled with metal hydride, a gas mixing chamber and some other components. The outlet flow of the canister must be controlled within certain accuracy to assure the medical effect of the hydrogen intake, thus was investigated in this work. The mathematical model of hydrogen release process, which couples porous flow, heat and mass transfer was solved using a commercial software package COMSOL Multiphysics 3.5a. The outlet flow dynamics are tested in the cases of convective heating and electrical heating, and great differences are found. For the case of electrical heating that provides constant heat flux, the mass flow rate of H₂ showed little temporal variation after the initial transient. Moreover, under certain conditions a PI control strategy was successfully applied to regulate the valve openness for keeping a constant flow rate of H₂.