Predicting the capacity of a heat exchanger by a thermal network method

In this paper a thermal network method using the effective specific heat model of a refrigerant with phase change is proposed for predicting the capacity of a plate‐fin and tube‐type heat exchanger. The effective specific heat model can attain an accurate result of a condenser's heat exchanging capacity when it has a small number of elements. By comparing calculated results with those of an experiment, it is found that the error in the condenser's calculated capacity is less than 1% when the range of subcool temperature is from 15 to 22 K at the outlet of refrigerant flow. © 2002 Scripta Technica, Heat Trans Asian Res, 31(2): 128–140, 2002; DOI 10.1002/htj.10021     

Prediction of heat exchanger capacity by thermal network method (Influence of thermal conduction in fins on capacity of a condenser)

This paper describes the influence of heat flow from high‐temperature refrigerant to low‐temperature refrigerant through fins by thermal conduction. To estimate that influence, we applied a thermal network method that can consider refrigerant quality distribution in the heat exchanger. At the same time, for verifying the estimation, an experiment was performed with a two‐row, two‐pass heat exchanger. Prediction shows that the heat transfer capacity of a condenser is reduced by 3% for a simple two‐row, two‐pass heat exchanger by heat conduction in fins. Comparison of experimental results and predicted results proves that the prediction error was within 1% for condenser capacity. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heat Trans Asian Res, 37(2): 101–114, 2008; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/htj.20184     

The heat transfer and pressure loss characteristics of a heat exchanger for recovering latent heat (the heat transfer and pressure loss characteristics of the heat exchanger with wing fin)

In recent years the requirement for reduction of energy consumption has been increasing to solve the problems of global warming and the shortage of petroleum resources. A latent heat recovery type heat exchanger is one of the effective methods of improving thermal efficiency by recovering latent heat. This paper described the heat transfer and pressure loss characteristics of a latent heat recovery type heat exchanger having a wing fin (fin pitch: 4 mm, fin length: 65 mm). These were clarified by measuring the exchange heat quantity, the pressure loss of heat exchanger, and the heat transfer coefficient between outer fin surface and gas. The effects of condensate behavior in the fins on heat transfer and pressure loss characteristics were clarified. Furthermore, the equations for predicting the heat transfer coefficient and pressure loss which are necessary in the design of the heat exchanger were proposed. ©2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heat Trans Asian Res, 36(4): 215–229, 2007; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/htj.20154     

Performance of passive heat removal by an air‐cooling panel from a high‐temperature gas‐cooled reactor

An experiment was performed to simulate an air‐cooling panel system for passive decay heat removal from a high‐temperature gas‐cooled reactor to investigate the performance of decay heat removal and the temperature distributions of components of the system. The experimental apparatus consisted of a pressure vessel 1 m wide and 3 m high. Nineteen simulated standpipes containing heaters with a maximum heating rate of 100 kW simulated residual heat of the core, and the cooling panels surrounded the pressure vessel. An analytical code (THANPACST2) was applied to the experimental data to investigate the validity of the analytical method and the model proposed. Under the conditions of helium gas at a pressure of 0.64 MPa and temperature of 514 °C in the pressure vessel, the predicted temperature distribution in the pressure vessel was estimated and was within ?10 to +50 °C as compared to the experimental data. The analysis indicated that the heat transferred to the cooling panel was 15.4% less than the experimental value. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heat Trans Asian Res, 31(8): 665–677, 2002; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/htj.10061     

Heat transfer and pressure loss characteristics of a heat exchanger for recovering latent heat (effects of straight fin length and fin pitch on the heat transfer and pressure loss characteristics)

In recent years, the requirement for the reduction of energy consumption has been increasing to solve the problems of global warming and the shortage of petroleum resources. A latent heat recovery type heat exchanger is one of the effective methods for improving thermal efficiency by recovering latent heat. This paper describes the heat transfer and pressure loss characteristics of a latent heat recovery type heat exchanger having straight fins (fin length: 65 mm or 100 mm, fin pitch: 2.5 mm or 4 mm). These were clarified by measuring the exchange heat quantity, the pressure loss of the heat exchanger, and the heat transfer coefficient between the outer fin surface and gas. The effects of fin length and fin pitch on heat transfer and pressure loss characteristics were clarified. Furthermore, equations for predicting the heat transfer coefficient and pressure loss which are necessary for heat exchanger design were proposed. ©2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heat Trans Asian Res, 36(4): 230– 247, 2007; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/htj.20153 Copyright © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Theoretical and experimental investigation of a heat pipe heat exchanger for energy recovery of exhaust air

Heat pipes and two-phase thermosyphon systems are passive heat transfer systems that employ a two-phase cycle of a working fluid within a completely sealed system. Consequently, heat exchangers based on heat pipes have low thermal resistance and high effective thermal conductivity, which can reach up to the order of (10⁵ W/(m K)). In energy recovery systems where the two streams should be unmixed, such as air-conditioning systems of biological laboratories and operating rooms in hospitals, heat pipe heat exchangers (HPHEs) are recommended. In this study, an experimental and theoretical study was carried out on the thermal performance of an air-to-air HPHE filled with two refrigerants as working fluids, R22 and R407c. The heat pipe heat exchanger used was composed of two rows of copper heat pipes in a staggered manner, with 11 pipes per row. Tests were conducted at different airflow rates of 0.14, 0.18, and 0.22 m³/h, evaporator inlet-air temperatures of 40, 44, and 50°C, filling ratios of 45%, 70%, and 100%, and ratios of heat capacity rate of the evaporator to condenser sections (C_e/C_c) of 1 and 1.5. For HPHE's steady-state operation, a mathematical model for heat-transfer performance was set and solved using MATLAB. Results illustrated that the heat transfer rate was in direct proportion with the evaporator inlet-air temperature and flow rate. The highest HPHE's effectiveness was obtained at a 100% filling ratio and (C_e/C_c) of 1.5. The predicted and experimental values of condenser outlet-air temperature were in good agreement, with a maximum difference of 3%. HPHE's effectiveness was found to increase with the increase in evaporator inlet-air temperature and number of transfer units (NTU) and with the decrease in airflow rate, up to 33% and 20% for refrigerants R22 and R407c, respectively. Refrigerant R22 was the superior of the two refrigerants investigated.     

Effect of maximum and minimum heat capacity rate on entropy generation in a heat exchanger

This paper presents a theoretical analysis of a heat exchanger with a negligible fluid flow pressure drop to determine whether it is better to operate the heat exchanger with the minimum or maximum heat capacity rate of the hot fluid from entropy generation point of view. Entropy generation numbers are derived for both cases, and the results show that they are identical, when the heat exchanger is running at a heat capacity ratio of 0.5 with heat exchanger effectiveness equaling 1. An entropy generation number ratio is defined for the first time, which has a maximum value at ε = 1/(1+R) for any inlet temperature ratio. When R equals 0.1, 0.5 and 0.9, the entropy generation number ratio receives a maximum value at an effectiveness equaling 0.91, 0.67 and 0.526, respectively. When R=0.9, the entropy generation number ratio is the same for all inlet temperature ratios at ε=0.8. The results show that the entropy generation number ratio is far from 1 depending on the inlet temperature ratio of the cold and hot fluid. The results are valid for parallel‐flow and counterflow heat exchangers. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Transient numerical model for a coaxial borehole heat exchanger with the effect of borehole heat capacity

This paper proposed a transient numerical model for a coaxial borehole heat exchanger, which considered the impact of borehole specific heat capacity. The fluid vertical temperature distribution inside the coaxial borehole heat exchanger (BHE) had been predicted based on MATLAB and compared with other transient models. Validated by measured data from a thermal response test, the built model agreed better than other models, especially in short times, with a relative error of 3.63% in 2 hours. Then, the quantitative influences of borehole specific heat capacity and other parameters on thermal performance of borehole heat exchangers were specified.     

Performance assessment of heat pumps using HFC125/HCs mixtures

The analysis of heat pump cycles with and without an internal heat exchanger (IHE) is carried out in the paper, in which HFC125/HCs binary mixtures are used as the alternative refrigerants. And the cycle performance under different operation conditions is also compared. The results show that when the mass fraction of HFC125 ranges from 10 to 20%, the coefficient of performance (COP) for HFC125/HC290 (M1) mixtures is 0.92 and 1.01% lower than that of HCFC22 and HFC134a, respectively. For HFC125/HC600 (M2) and HFC125/HC600a (M3) mixtures, the COPs are higher than those of HCFC22 at the mass fraction of HFC125 between 0 and 74.1%, 0 and 66.5% in the mixtures, respectively, and compared with HFC134a, the COPs and volumetric heating capacities are higher when the mass fraction of HFC125 is between 38.6 and 73.3%, and 30.8 and 66%, respectively. For HFC125/HC1270 (M4) mixtures, the COPs are always lower than those of HCFC22 and HFC134a. It is also found that the IHE has a slight effect on the COPs with varying the mass fraction of HFC125 in the binary mixtures. The results obtained can provide some useful guidelines for the choice of alternative refrigerants. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A simple method for predicting the performance of a heat exchanger mounted in an air conditioner (1st report,proposed reduced‐mesh analysis modeling method)

To analyze the performance of a heat exchanger (HEX) used in air conditioners within a realistic time frame, a simple method—based on a reduced‐mesh calculation model—was developed. The pressure loss caused by the HEX is given by a momentum source term, and the heat‐transfer performance of the HEX is approximated by using a wall function as the boundary condition. The analytical results from this simple analysis model (under a fin‐pitch range of 1.0 to 1.6 mm) were compared with experimental measurements of pressure loss and heat‐transfer performance. This comparison showed that the pressure loss from the simple analysis model agrees with the experimentally measured loss (within 3% error) and that the heating capacity determined by the simple model agrees with the experimentally measured one (within a 1% error). © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heat Trans Asian Res, 33(1): 12–23, 2004; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/htj.10130     

A computationally efficient hybrid time step methodology for simulation of ground heat exchangers

Ground heat exchanger design tools have become increasingly important for the sizing of energy-efficient heating and cooling systems. Most such heat exchanger design tools incorporate a simulation that uses both long and short timesteps (a “hybrid timestep” procedure). Current tools typically expect engineers to exercise judgment to determine the magnitude and duration of the shorter timestep. This paper proposes an accurate and efficient methodology for developing this hybrid timestep formulation, which is validated against hourly simulations for a set of three building types. Overall, the method performs well for design purposes, with the error in ground heat exchanger sizing averaging less than 1% and always less than 8%.     

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。     

回收热泵压缩机散热的技术方案分析

介绍回收热泵压缩机散热的4种技术方案:利用待加热的低温气体吹过压缩机表面,利用待加热的低温液体流过压缩机表面的换热器,利用低温热泵工质液体喷入压缩机内部的工作部件表面,利用特定性质的热泵工质降低压缩过程中热泵工质的温度。对各方案的实施方法进行了分析与探讨。     

Thermodynamic analysis of an LNG fuelled combined cycle power plant with waste heat recovery and utilization system

This paper has proposed an improved liquefied natural gas (LNG) fuelled combined cycle power plant with a waste heat recovery and utilization system. The proposed combined cycle, which provides power outputs and thermal energy, consists of the gas/steam combined cycle, the subsystem utilizing the latent heat of spent steam from the steam turbine to vaporize LNG, the subsystem that recovers both the sensible heat and the latent heat of water vapour in the exhaust gas from the heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) by installing a condensing heat exchanger, and the HRSG waste heat utilization subsystem. The conventional combined cycle and the proposed combined cycle are modelled, considering mass, energy and exergy balances for every component and both energy and exergy analyses are conducted. Parametric analyses are performed for the proposed combined cycle to evaluate the effects of several factors, such as the gas turbine inlet temperature (TIT), the condenser pressure, the pinch point temperature difference of the condensing heat exchanger and the fuel gas heating temperature on the performance of the proposed combined cycle through simulation calculations. The results show that the net electrical efficiency and the exergy efficiency of the proposed combined cycle can be increased by 1.6 and 2.84% than those of the conventional combined cycle, respectively. The heat recovery per kg of flue gas is equal to 86.27 kJ s^?1. One MW of electric power for operating sea water pumps can be saved. The net electrical efficiency and the heat recovery ratio increase as the condenser pressure decreases. The higher heat recovery from the HRSG exit flue gas is achieved at higher gas TIT and at lower pinch point temperature of the condensing heat exchanger. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

径向热管换热器壳程压降数值模拟及参数优化

通过对径向热管换热器壳程压力场的数值模拟,分析入口烟气速度对换热器压降的影响规律,并对换热器结构参数进行优化。结果表明:换热器迎风侧压力高于背风侧压力,沿烟气流动方向压力逐渐降低且呈线性分布;换热器压降随入口烟气速度的增加而增加,且其增加速率也相应增大。通过改变换热器结构参数,对换热器壳程压降进行分析研究,得到其结构优化参数:翅片高度小于26.5mm,翅片间距大于6.5mm,热管横向间距108～111mm,纵向间距120～125mm。     

Cooling load density characteristics of an endoreversible variable‐temperature heat reservoir air refrigerator

The performance optimization of an endoreversible air refrigerator with variable‐temperature heat reservoirs is carried out by taking the cooling load density, i.e. the ratio of cooling load density to the maximum specific volume in the cycle, as the optimization objective in this paper. The analytical relations of cooling load, cooling load density and coefficient of performance are derived with the heat resistance losses in the hot‐ and cold‐side heat exchangers. The maximum cooling load density optimization is performed by searching the optimum pressure ratio of the compressor, the optimum distribution of heat conductance of the hot‐ and cold‐side heat exchangers for the fixed total heat exchanger inventory, and the heat capacity rate matching between the working fluid and the heat reservoirs. The influences of some design parameters, including the heat capacitance rate of the working fluid, the inlet temperature ratio of heat reservoirs and the total heat exchanger inventory on the maximum cooling load density, the optimum heat conductance distribution, the optimum pressure ratio and the heat capacity rate matching between the working fluid and the heat reservoirs are provided by numerical examples. The refrigeration plant design with optimization leads to a smaller size including the compressor, expander and the hot‐ and cold‐side heat exchangers. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Evaporation performance of a new plate‐type heat exchanger with winding tubes on plate surfaces (estimation of performance of the heat exchanger)

A method for evaluating and predicting the performance of a newly developed plate‐type heat exchanger as an evaporator for water‐refrigerant systems such as chillers has been developed. The main component of the developed heat exchanger consists of plates packed together in a casing with winding tubes connected to both sides of the plates. Refrigerant flows inside the tubes, and water flows in the space between the plates. A herringbone‐like pattern is formed in this space by the cross sections of the winding tubes. The newly developed method estimates evaporation performance of the developed heat exchanger using new empirical correlations. There are correlations for heat transfer and pressure drop in winding‐tube banks on the water side, and correlation for the pressure drop on the refrigerant side. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heat Trans Asian Res, 33(4): 245–257, 2004; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/htj.20009     

An experimental investigation of exergy loss reduction in corrugated plate heat exchanger

Exergy loss measures ineffectiveness of a heat exchanger. Hence, it was experimentally found in a three-channel 1-1 pass plate heat exchanger (PHE). Air was made to flow in the central channel to get heated by water in the outer channels under conditions of counter and parallel flows. The plates had sinusoidal wavy surfaces having corrugation angle of 30°. Reynolds numbers were in the range of 650-2600 for air and 400-1650 for water. Bulk temperature of air was in the range from 46 °C to 63 °C and that of water in the range 70-75 °C. To avoid entropy generation paradox, two methods have been proposed. In the first method exergy loss is scaled on product of heat capacity rate of cold fluid and its inlet temperature, and in the other on maximum heat transfer rate. The second method helps in arriving at the conclusions more precisely. The experimental results have been compared with the results available in the literature for corrugated water-water PHE. The exergy loss in the sinusoidal PHE is found less than that in the rectangular wavy PHE for given flow conditions and may be attributed to less turbulence and better solid-fluid contact.     

Enhancement of shell side forced convective heat transfer in the shell tube‐type heat exchanger using thin plate‐type supports

The shell side heat transfer and pressure drop in counterflowing water were experimentally investigated on the basis of the overall heat transfer coefficient. The investigation was intended to identify ways to get higher performance for the cooler in a BWR nuclear power plant. The following three conclusions were reached in the study. (1) Predicted performance of the heat exchanger, using the overall heat transfer coefficient based on the outside area of the tube K_o, indicated an enhancement by 92% compared with the measured performance of the conventional segmental baffle‐type heat exchanger. (2) The tube side pressure drop ΔP_t=20 kPa and the shell side pressure drop ΔP_s=70 kPa were obtained, and were within the allowable value ΔP_a=80 kPa. The shell side pressure drop of the low‐pressure drop spacer could be decreased by 20% as compared with that of the standard spacer. (3) The enhancement constant of the shell side heat transfer using the low‐pressure drop spacer was about 1.2 times as large as that of the standard spacer, regardless of the pumping power. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heat Trans Asian Res, 32(5): 455–471, 2003; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/htj.10097     

Investigation into the performance of a micro gravitational heat pipe and a micro gravitational heat pipe with artery

The performance of a normal micro gravitational heat pipe was investigated using the analytical and numerical models previously developed. An innovative structure of the heat pipe, i.e. the micro gravitational heat pipe with artery, was then proposed in an attempt to overcome some of the drawbacks of the normal pipe. The thermal behaviour of the new type of heat pipe was simulated, and this was compared with that of a normal micro heat pipe. A performance estimation of both pipes was carried out based on the simulation results. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.