Thermal performance of tubular heat exchanger with multiple twisted-tape inserts

The paper presents an experimental investigation on enhanced heat transfer and pressure loss characteristics by using single, double, triple, and quadruple twisted-tape inserts in a round tube having a uniform heat-fluxed wal . The investigation has been conducted in the heat exchanger tube inserted with various twisted-tape numbers for co-and counter-twist arrangements for the turbulent air flow, Reynolds number (Re) from 5300 to 24000. The typical single twisted-tape inserts at two twist ratios, y/w=4 and 5, are used as the base case, while the other multiple twisted-tape inserts are at y/w=4 only. The experimental results of heat transfer and pressure drop in terms of Nusselt number (Nu) and friction factor (f), respectively, reveal that Nu increases with the increment of Re and of twisted-tape number. The values of Nu for the inserted tube are in a range of 1.15–2.12 times that for the plain tube while f is 1.9–4.1 times. The thermal enhancement factor of the inserted tube under similar pumping power is evaluated and found to be above unity except for the single and the double co-twisted tapes. The quadruple counter-twisted tape insert provides the maximum thermal performance.     

Heat transfer augmentation in a circular tube with winglet vortex generators☆

The article presents the influence of winglet vortex generators (WVGs) placed in the core flow area on ther-mal performance enhancement of a tube heat exchanger. The experiment was carried out in a uniform wall heat-fluxed tube by varying turbulent alrflow for Reynolds number ranging from 5300 to 24000. In the pres-ent work, the WVGs with an attack angle of 30° were inserted into the test tube at four different winglet pitch ratios (RP=P/D) and three winglet-width or blockage ratios (RB=e/D). The experimental results at various RP and RB values were evaluated and compared with those for smooth tube and tubes with twist-ed tape or wire coil. The measurement reveals that the WVGs enhance considerably the heat transfer and friction loss above the plaln tube, wire coil and twisted tape. The Nusselt number and friction factor increase with the increment of RB and Re but with the decreasing RP. The average Nusselt numbers for the WVGs with various RB are in the range of 2.03–2.34 times above the plaln tube. The thermal performance for the WVGs is found to be much higher than that for the wire coil and twisted tape and is in a range of 1.35–1.59. Also, a numerical investigation is conducted to study the flow structure and heat transfer enhancement mecha-nisms in the winglet-inserted tube.     

Turbulent flow heat transfer and pressure loss in a double pipe heat exchanger with louvered strip inserts

In the present work, heat transfer and friction characteristics were experimentally investigated, employing louvered strips inserted in a concentric tube heat exchanger. The louvered strip was inserted into the tube to generate turbulent flow which helped to increase the heat transfer rate of the tube. The flow rate of the tube was in a range of Reynolds number between 6000 and 42,000. The turbulent flow devices were consisted of (1) the louvered strips with forward or backward arrangements, and (2) the louvered strip with various inclined angles (θ = 15°, 25° and 30°), inserted in the inner tube of the heat exchanger. In the experiment, hot water was flowed through the inner tube whereas cold water was flowed in the annulus. The experimental data obtained were compared with those from plain tubes of published data. Experimental results confirmed that the use of louvered strips leads to a higher heat transfer rate over the plain tube. The increases in average Nusselt number and friction loss for the inclined forward louvered strip were 284% and 413% while those for the backward louvered strip were 263% and 233% over the plain tube, respectively. In addition, the use of the louvered strip with backward arrangement leads to better overall enhancement ratio than that with forward arrangement around 9% to 24%.     

Thermal performance evaluation of heat exchangers fitted with twisted-ring turbulators

Heat transfer, friction factor and thermal performance characteristics in a tube equipped with twisted-rings (TRs) are experimentally investigated. The experiments were conducted using TRs with three different width ratios (W/D = 0.05, 0.1 and 0.15) and three pitch ratios of (p/D = 1, 1.5 and 2) for Reynolds numbers ranging from 6000 to 20,000 using air as a test fluid. The typical circular rings (CRs) were also tested for an assessment. The experimental results reveal that most TRs yield lower Nusselt numbers and friction factor than CRs, except at the largest width ratio (W/D = 0.15) and the smallest pitch ratio (p/D = 1.0). In addition, Nusselt number and friction factor increase as width ratio increases and pitch ratio decreases. However, a maximum thermal performance factor is associated by TRs with the smallest width ratio and pitch ratio. The empirical correlations of the heat transfer (Nu) and friction factor (f) are also included in this paper.     

Numerical heat transfer study of turbulent square-duct flow through inline V-shaped discrete ribs

A numerical work has been conducted to examine turbulent periodic flow and heat transfer characteristics in a three dimensional square-duct with inline 60° V-shaped discrete thin ribs placed on two opposite heated walls. The isothermal-flux condition is applied only to the upper and lower duct walls while the two sidewalls are insulated, similar to internal passage cooling of gas turbine blades. The computations are based on the finite volume method with the SIMPLE algorithm for handling the pressure–velocity coupling. Air is the working fluid with the flow rate in terms of Reynolds numbers ranging from 10,000 to 25,000. The numerical result is validated with available square-rib measured data and found to agree well with measurement. The computation reveals that the ribbed duct flow is fully developed periodic flow and heat transfer profiles at about x/D = 7–11 downstream of the inlet. Effects of different rib height to duct diameter ratios, BR, on thermal characteristics for a periodic ribbed duct flow are investigated. It is found that a pair of counter-rotating vortices (P-vortex) caused by the rib can induce impingement/attachment flows on the walls leading to greater increase in heat transfer over the test duct. In addition, the rise of BR values leads to the increase in heat transfer and friction loss. The maximum thermal performance is around 1.8 for the rib with BR = 0.0725 where the heat transfer rate is about 4.0 times above the smooth duct at lower Reynolds number.     

Experimental investigation of heat transfer and flow friction in a circular tube fitted with regularly spaced twisted tape elements

Experimental investigation of heat transfer and friction factor characteristics in a double pipe heat exchanger fitted with regularly spaced twisted tape elements, were studied. The inner and outer diameters of the inner tube are 50.6 and 25.8 mm, respectively and cold and hot water were used as working fluids in shell side and tube side. The twisted tapes were made of the stainless steel strip with thickness of 1 mm and the length of 1500 mm. They were inserted in the test tube section in two different cases: (1) full-length typical twisted tape at different twisted ratios (y = 6.0 and 8.0), and (2) twisted tape with various free space ratios (S = 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0). The results, obtained from the tube with twisted tape insert, were compared with those without twisted tape. The results show that the heat transfer coefficient increased with twist ratio (y). Whereas the increase in the free space ratio (S) would improve both the heat transfer coefficient and friction factor. The results from each case were correlated for Nusselt number and friction factor. Subsequently, the predicted Nusselt number and friction factor from the correlations were plotted to compare with the experimental data. It was found that Nusselt number was within ± 15% and ± 10% for friction factor.     

Numerical investigation of laminar heat transfer in a square channel with 45° inclined baffles

A numerical investigation of laminar periodic flow and heat transfer in a three-dimensional isothermal-wall square channel fitted with 45° inclined baffles on one channel wall is carried out in the present work. The finite volume method is introduced and the SIMPLE algorithm has been implemented for all computations. The fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics are presented for Reynolds numbers ranging from 100 to 1200. The 45° baffle mounted only on the lower channel wall has a height of b and an axial pitch length (L) equal to channel height (H). Effects of flow blockage ratios, BR = b/H = 0.1–0.5, on heat transfer and pressure loss in the square channel are examined and also compared with the typical case of the transverse baffle (or 90° baffle). It is found that apart from the rise of Reynolds number, the increase in the blockage ratio with the attack angle (α) of 45° results in considerable increases in the Nusselt number and friction factor values. The use of the 45° baffle can help to generate a streamwise main vortex flow throughout the channel leading to fast and chaotic mixing of flow between the core and the wall regions. In addition, the computational results reveal that the significant increase in heat transfer rate is due to impingement jets induced by a longitudinal vortex pair (P-vortex) of flow, appearing on the upper, lower and baffle trailing end side walls. The appearance of vortex-induced impingement flows created by the baffles leads to the maximum thermal enhancement factor of about 2.2 at BR = 0.4 and Re = 1200. The enhancement factor of the 45° baffle investigated is found to be higher than that of the 90° baffle for all Reynolds numbers and baffle heights.     

Heat transfer augmentation in a wedge-ribbed channel using winglet vortex generators

Experimental investigations have been carried out to study the effect of combined wedge ribs and winglet type vortex generators (WVGs) on heat transfer and friction loss behaviors for turbulent airflow through a constant heat flux channel. To create a reverse flow in the channel, two types of wedge (right-triangle) ribs are introduced: wedge ribs pointing downstream and pointing upstream. The arrangements of both rib types placed inside the opposite channel walls are in-line and staggered arrays. To generate longitudinal vortex flows through the tested section, two pairs of the WVGs with the attack angle of 60° are mounted on the test channel entrance. The test channel has an aspect ratio, AR = 10 and height, H = 30 mm with a rib height, e/H = 0.2 and rib pitch, P/H = 1.33. The flow rate in terms of Reynolds numbers is based on the inlet hydraulic diameter of the channel ranging from 5000 to 22,000. The presence of the combined ribs and the WVGs shows the significant increase in heat transfer rate and friction loss over the smooth channel. The Nusselt number and friction factor values obtained from combined the ribs and the WVGs are found to be much higher than those from the ribs/WVGs alone. In conjunction with the WVGs, the in-line wedge pointing downstream provides the highest increase in both the heat transfer rate and the friction factor while the staggered wedge pointing upstream yields the best thermal performance.     

Heat transfer enhancement in a tube using delta-winglet twisted tape inserts

Heat transfer, flow friction and thermal performance factor characteristics in a tube fitted with delta-winglet twisted tape, using water as working fluid are investigated experimentally. Influences of the oblique delta-winglet twisted tape (O-DWT) and straight delta-winglet twisted tape (S-DWT) arrangements are also described. The experiments are conducted using the tapes with three twist ratios (y/w = 3, 4 and 5) and three depth of wing cut ratios (DR = d/w = 0.11, 0.21 and 0.32) over a Reynolds number range of 3000–27,000 in a uniform wall heat flux tube. The obtained results show that mean Nusselt number and mean friction factor in the tube with the delta-winglet twisted tape increase with decreasing twisted ratio (y/w) and increasing depth of wing cut ratio (DR). It is also observed that the O-DWT is more effective turbulator giving higher heat transfer coefficient than the S-DWT. Over the range considered, Nusselt number, friction factor and thermal performance factor in a tube with the O-DWT are, respectively, 1.04–1.64, 1.09–1.95, and 1.05–1.13 times of those in the tube with typical twisted tape (TT). Empirical correlations for predicting Nusselt number and friction factor have been employed. The predicted data are within ±10% for Nusselt number and ±10% for friction factor.     

Drying characteristics of peppercorns in a rectangular fluidized-bed with triangular wavy walls

An experimental study on drying kinetics of peppercorns has been conducted in two different drying fluidized-bed configurations: rectangular fluidized-bed (RFB) and rectangular fluidized-bed with wavy walls (RFBW). In the RFBW, two opposite triangular wavy walls with three blockage ratios (e/H) are formed to produce vortex/swirl flows leading to stronger turbulence and longer residence time of the flow in the bed. For each bed, three inlet hot airs (T_in) at 60 °C, 80 °C and 100 °C and two superficial air velocity, U* of 1.2 and 2.0 (U* = U/U_mf) are introduced. The experimental results reveal that the air temperature and air velocity show significant effects on the drying rate of both beds, especially at T_in = 100 °C and U* = 2.0. The RFBW performs much better than the RFB due to shorter drying time. The average drying time of the RFBW with e/H = 0.3125, 0.3750 and 0.4375 is, respectively, around 29%, 36% and 43% less than that of the RFB. In addition, three mathematical drying models are offered for both the beds and the effect of the air temperature and velocity on the drying model constants was determined by fitting the experimental data using regression analysis techniques. The three models satisfactorily described the drying characteristics of peppercorns especially for the Henderson and Pabis model. The RFBW with e/H = 0.4375 is preferable in the study.