An experimental study in determining the local heat transfer coefficients for the plate finned-tube heat exchangers

A three-dimensional inverse problem in determining the local heat transfer coefficients for the plate finned-tube heat exchangers utilizing the steepest descent method (SDM) and a general purpose commercial code CFX4.4 is applied successfully in the present study based on the measured temperature distributions on fin surface by infrared thermography.Two different tube arrangements (i.e. in-line and staggered) with different fin pitch and air velocity are considered and the corresponding local heat transfer coefficients are to be determined. Results show that some interesting phenomena of the local heat transfer coefficients for the finned surface are found in the work and the averaged heat transfer coefficient of the staggered configuration is about 8–13% higher than that of the in-line configuration.     

Numerical and experimental investigations of heat transfer performance of rectangular coil heat exchangers

Both numerical and experimental investigations were conducted to understand convective heat transfer from a single round pipe coiled in rectangular pattern. The studied heat exchangers are composed with inner and outer coils so that the exterior flow is very similar to flow within tube-bundles. The inner and outer coils of the heat exchangers are in turn composed of bends and straight portions. Calculations and experiments were done for two cases with different outside flow arrangements. The results showed the effects of geometric arrangement with better heat transfer for the case 1 of staggered arrangement due mainly to its more tortuous flow characteristics and better mixing of the exterior fluid. The numerical and experimental results qualitatively agree well with each other. The numerical and experimental results showed that coiling a pipe so that an exterior fluid flows over or in tube bundle can help to induce the turbulence without increasing the velocity.     

Experimental study of convective heat transfer on a finned rotating cylinder

In this study, the local convective heat transfer from a rotating finned cylinder to the surrounding air was evaluated using an infrared thermographic experimental set up. Solving the inverse conduction heat transfer problem allows the local convective heat transfer coefficient to be identified. We used the specification function method, along with spatio-temporal regularization, to develop a model of local convective heat transfer in order to take lateral conduction and 2D geometry into account. This model was tested using rotational Reynolds numbers (based on the cylinder diameter and the peripheral speed) between 4300 and 17 900. The local heat transfer on the fin surface was analyzed to determine the influence of the rotational Reynolds number and the influence of the height and spacing of the fins. In this paper, we propose an efficiency definition that allows the optimal geometrical configuration of the finned cylinder to be identified for the given operating conditions.     

Experimental study of the convective heat transfer from in-line and staggered configurations of two wall-mounted cubes

The paper reports on the experimental investigation of the effects of the relative obstacle position on the convective heat transfer from a configuration of two wall-mounted cubes located in a fully developed turbulent channel flow. Both in-line and staggered arrangements were studied for various streamwise (S_x/H) and spanwise (S_z/H) distances. Distributions of the local heat transfer coefficient (h) were obtained from infrared thermography and local convective heat flux analyses. Laser Doppler anemometry measurements and flow visualisations were performed to document the flow and turbulence fields around the cubes. The results showed a large variation in the distribution of the local convective heat transfer for the various in-line and staggered configurations studied. While the in-line arrangements were featured by symmetric flow pattern and heat transfer distributions, the staggered arrangements showed distinct asymmetric pattern for certain combinations of S_x/H and S_z/H. Flow reattachment caused typically a monotonic decay of the convective heat transfer. On the other hand, flow separation caused distinct heat transfer extrema at the cube faces. In addition, the effect of vortex shedding on the convective heat transfer of the downstream cube was studied with a fast-responding heat flux sensor. Despite distinct variation in the distribution of the time-averaged heat transfer coefficient, the cube-averaged heat transfer coefficients appeared to be independent of the relative placement of the two cubes.     

ANN modeling of compact heat exchangers

This paper focuses on the heat transfer analysis of compact heat exchangers through artificial neural network (ANN). The ANN analysis includes heat transfer coefficient, pressure drop and Nusselt number in the compact heat exchangers by using available experimental results in a case study. In this study, data sets are established in 15 different test channel configurations. A feed‐forward back‐propagation algorithm is used in the learning process and testing the network. The learning process is applied to correlate the heat transfer analysis for different ratios of rib spacing and height, various Reynolds numbers, different inlet–outlet temperatures, heat transfer areas and hydraulic diameters. Various hidden numbers of the network are trained for the best prediction of the heat transfer analysis. Heat transfer coefficient, pressure drop and Nusselt number values are predicted by the network algorithm. The results are then compared with the experimental results of the case. The trained ANN results perform well in predicting the heat transfer coefficient, pressure drop and Nusselt number with an average absolute mean relative error of less than 6% compared with the experimental results for staggered cylindrical ribbed and staggered triangular ribbed of test channels in the case study. The ANN approach is found to be a suitable method for heat transfer analysis in compact heat exchangers. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Performance optimization of a solar driven heat engine with finite-rate heat transfer

An optimal performance analysis for an equivalent Carnot-like cycle heat engine of a parabolic-trough direct-steam-generation solar driven Rankine cycle power plant at maximum power and maximum power density conditions is performed. Simultaneous radiation-convection and only radiation heat transfer mechanisms from solar concentrating collector, which is the high temperature thermal reservoir, are considered separately. Heat rejection to the low temperature thermal reservoir is assumed to be convection dominated. Irreversibilities are taken into account through the finite-rate heat transfer between the fixed temperature thermal reservoirs and the internally reversible heat engine. Comparisons proved that the performance of a solar driven Carnot-like heat engine at maximum power density conditions, which receives thermal energy by either radiation-convection or only radiation heat transfer mechanism and rejects its unavailable portion to surroundings by convective heat transfer through heat exchangers, has the characteristics of (1) a solar driven Carnot heat engine at maximum power conditions, having radiation heat transfer at high and convective heat transfer at low temperature heat exchangers respectively, as the allocation parameter takes small values, and of (2) a Carnot heat engine at maximum power density conditions, having convective heat transfer at both heat exchangers, as the allocation parameter takes large values. Comprehensive discussions on the effect of heat transfer mechanisms are provided.     

A three-dimensional inverse problem in imaging the local heat transfer coefficients for plate finned-tube heat exchangers

A three-dimensional inverse heat conduction problem in imaging the local heat transfer coefficients for plate finned-tube heat exchangers utilizing the steepest descent method and a general purpose commercial code CFX4.4 is applied successfully in the present study based on the simulated measured temperature distributions on fin surface by infrared thermography.It is assumed that no prior information is available on the functional form of the unknown local heat transfer coefficients in the present study. Thus, it can be classified as function estimation for the inverse calculations.Two different heat transfer coefficients for in-line tube arrangements with different measurement errors are to be estimated. Results show that the present algorithm can obtain the reliable estimated heat transfer coefficients.     

Flow control with electrode bank arrangements by electrohydrodynamics force for heat transfer enhancement in a porous medium

Active flow control with electrohydrodynamics (EHD) force in the channel flow has been numerically investigated for enhancing heat transfer. This study focuses on the effect of electrode bank arrangements and the number of electrodes on corona wind and fluid flow for heat transfer onto a porous medium. Aligned and staggered configurations of electrode banks are compared. The numerical results show that electric field intensity depends on electrical voltage and the number of electrodes. Shear flow is increased with larger numbers of electrodes and in the aligned configuration, resulting in the enhancement of vortex strength. The swirling flow from staggered configurations spread wider than that of aligned configurations, but the aligned configuration produced more turbulence. In addition, the temperature distribution in the channel flow is increased with increasing numbers of electrodes. With the effect of swirling flow, airflow above the porous sample surface is faster leads the heat to more transfer to the porous sample surface. This causes the temperature of porous medium to increase rapidly so the convective heat transfer coefficient on porous medium surface is increased. Finally, the modified case of the numerical results is validated against the experimental results. The experimental flow visualization is based on the incense smoke technique, in order to verify the accuracy of the swirling flow pattern subjected to the electric field. It is shown that the comparison results in both techniques are in good agreement.     

Numerical Investigation of Heat Transfer Performance of Rectangularly Coiled Pipes

A numerical simulation was conducted to investigate convective heat transfer from small and compact coiled pipes heat exchangers using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software Fluent V6. One fluid (air) moves over the coiled pipe while a second fluid (refrigerant R141B) at different temperature flows through the pipe. The studied heat exchanger is composed with bends and straight tubes. Calculations were done for two cases with different outside flow arrangements. The simulation results showed remarkable differences in the flow characteristics and heat transfer rate of different single tubes of the entire heat exchangers. The temperature distribution and heat transfer are mainly influenced by temperature gradient, backflow conditions, exterior flow velocity, and surface area. The results also show the effect of the bends on the flow in straight tubes and vice-versa.     

紧凑式两相换热器中管式换热元件沸腾传热实验研究

以烃类物质（丙烷和正戊烷）作为工质,进行了紧凑式换热器中带有加工配置表面的管式换热元件池沸腾实验研究。其中,单管实验温度工况为２５３Ｋ￣２９３Ｋ（饱和工质）。实验中所采用的换热元件为重入式结构加工配置表面的强化传热管和光管以及低助管。针对由４５根光管或带有加工配置表面的管子所构成的叉排管束进行了实验研究,实验工质为丙烷和正戊烷,实验温度分别为两种工质在２６３Ｋ和３０８Ｋ之间的饱和和温度。并将所得实     

Experimental study of impinging heat transfer along rib-roughened walls by using transient liquid crystal technique

The objective of this work is to examine the detailed heat transfer coefficient distributions over a ribbed surface under impingement of in-line and staggered jet arrays by using a liquid crystal thermograph technique. In-line and staggered jet arrays with different exit flow orientations were considered. Three jet-to-target spacing Z of 3, 6 and 9 with in-line and staggered jet arrays were considered at jet Reynolds numbers of Re = 1500, 3000 and 4500 with three different exit flow orientations. In addition, the effects of rib configuration on the heat transfer distributions were discussed in detail. Results show that the local heat transfer rates over the ribbed surface are characterized by obvious periodic-type variation of Nusselt number distributions. The downstream peaks are diminished for increasing cross flow effect. Compared to the results without ribs, the heat transfer over the ribbed surface may be enhanced or retarded. Whereas, among the test angled-rib arrangements, the best heat transfer performance is obtained with a surface with 45° angled ribs.     

Forced convection on grey cast iron plate-fins: Prediction of the heat transfer coefficient

The main goal of the present work is to evaluate the convective heat transfer coefficient at the surface of grey cast iron plate-fins. A hybrid numerical/experimental approach was adopted, i.e., temperature was measured at selected points at the fin surface and an inverse problem technique based on optimization was used to obtain the heat transfer coefficients. The direct heat transfer problem was solved numerically using the finite volume method, whilst the optimization problem was resolved based on particle swarm optimization (PSO). Firstly, the temperature dependence is investigated by comparing uniform, linear and parabolic equations for the heat transfer coefficient. The hybrid approach was validated through an energy balance applied to the finned surface. The parametric study was performed by assessing the influence of the fin spacing and flow velocity on the convective heat transfer coefficient: the results indicate that the convective coefficient is enhanced with increasing Reynolds number and fin spacing. Finally, the experimental results for the Nusselt number in the parametric study were condensed into a single new empirical correlation with good accuracy.     

Local convective boiling heat transfer and pressure drop of nanofluid in narrow rectangular channels

This paper reports an experimental study on convective boiling heat transfer of nanofluids and de-ionized water flowing in a multichannel. The test copper plate contains 50 parallel rectangular minichannels of hydraulic diameter 800 μm. Experiments were performed to characterize the local heat transfer coefficients and surface temperature using copper–water nanofluids with very small nanoparticles concentration. Axial distribution of local heat transfer is estimated using a non-intrusive method. Only responses of thermocouples located inside the wall are used to solve inverse heat conduction problem. It is shown that the distribution of the local heat flux, surface temperature, and local heat transfer coefficient is dependent on the axial location and nanoparticles concentration. The local heat transfer coefficients estimated inversely are close to those determined from the correlation of Kandlikar and Balasubramanian [An extension of the flow boiling correlation to transition, laminar and deep laminar flows in minichannels and microchannels, Heat Transfer Eng. 25 (3) (2004) 86–93.] for boiling water. It is shown that the local heat flux, local vapor quality, and local heat transfer coefficient increase with copper nanoparticles concentration. The surface temperature is high for de-ionized water and it decreases with copper nanoparticles concentration.     

Local heat transfer analysis for boiling of hydrocarbons in complex geometries: A new approach for heat transfer prediction in staggered tube bundle

This paper deals with heat transfer analysis for boiling flow in staggered tube bundle. A local analysis is performed to determine the heat transfer coefficient linked to local flow regimes by optical fibre. The first part of the paper is devoted to the literature survey of the main existing studies on the topic. We show that published heat transfer correlations deviate largely from each others and also from the experimental results that have been carried out. On these features, a new approach has been developed. It is based on the relationship between flow regimes and thermal characteristics. An experimental setup has been developed for the determination of the local heat transfer and the two-phase flow void fraction. A detailed analysis of the two-phase flow has been performed in a previous paper [1] in which two regimes were identified. In the present paper, focus is done on the heat transfer analysis in relation with the flow regime map. This new approach allows a better prediction of the heat transfer coefficient. For the bubbly flow, the heat transfer coefficient is well predicted by a classical correlation corresponding to nucleate boiling regime. For the dispersed flow, classical correlations for convective boiling are not adapted anymore for tube bundle. We evidenced that heat coefficient is mainly controlled by the vapour flow and a heat transfer law is derived using the vapour Reynolds number and vapour Prandlt number. These two heat transfer laws are used to evaluate heat transfer coefficient in the intermediate regime.     

Thermodynamic and thermophysical effects enabling high-forced convection heat transfer coefficients in supercritical fluids

Abstract

The strong variation of thermophysical properties of working fluids operating in the vicinity of the critical point makes this thermodynamic domain attractive to several energy applications. Therefore, herein a two-dimensional numerical method is used to investigate the effect of local thermophysical property variations on the local and overall thermal performance of internal convective heat transfer in a pipe in 324 operational conditions. Focusing on carbon dioxide and water as heat transfer fluids, an association of the variation of key thermophysical properties with thermohydraulic performance metrics is proposed, namely: (a) the local and (b) mean convective heat transfer coefficient and (c) the maximal temperature obtained at the tube wall. It is shown that there is an optimal combination of parameters such as mass flow rate, operating pressure, wall heat flux, and inlet temperature that, when properly selected, allow for a minimal maximal wall temperature. As expected, optimality is strongly associated with the Widom—or pseudo critical—line that extends from the critical point. Interestingly, however, contrary to what is observed in constant-property fluids, high heat transfer coefficient or minimal maximum temperature lead to different sets of optimal operating conditions. This difference is explained by how thermophysical properties vary locally along heat exchangers, which significantly affects overall heat transfer.     

Theoretical and experimental examination of air conditioner heat exchangers

Heat and mass transfer characteristics of finned-tube heat exchangers under dehumidifying and dry conditions are examined both theoretically and experimentally in the present study. Six types of heat exchangers were tested on an experimental facility. It was determined that there is less than 1 °C of outlet air temperature difference between computer program results and literature for water and R22 as a refrigerant. The outlet air specific humidity difference between them is less than 6.44% for water and 9% for R22. According to the experimental results, louvers on fin cause an increase of airside heat transfer coefficient of about 50% or 100%.     

Analysis of horizontal mantle heat exchangers in solar water heating systems

The characteristics of horizontal mantle heat exchangers are investigated for application in thermosyphon solar water heaters. An experimental model of a horizontal mantle heat exchanger was used to evaluate the flow patterns in the annular passageways and the heat transfer into the inner tank. Flow visualisation was used to investigate the flow structure, and the heat transfer was measured for isothermal inner tank conditions. A numerical model of the flow and heat transfer in the annular passageway was developed and used to evaluate the heat flux distribution over the surface of the inner tank. The numerical results indicate that configurations of mantle heat exchangers used in current solar water heater applications degrade thermal stratification in the inner tank. The effects of inlet flow rate, temperature and connecting port location are quantified.     

Local convective heat exchanges from a rotor facing a stator

The local convective heat transfer from a rotor with a 310 mm outer radius is studied experimentally at a distance of 3 mm from a coaxial crown-shaped stator with a 176 mm inner radius and a 284 mm outer radius. The experimental technique is based on the use of a thermally thick rotor heated from behind by infrared radiation. The local heat flux distribution from the rotor surface is identified by resolving the Laplace equation by finite difference method using the experimental temperature distribution as boundary conditions. The tests are carried out with the single rotor and the stator/rotor system for local rotational Reynolds numbers ranging from 2.0·10⁴ to 1.47·10⁶ and thus sweeping across the laminar, transition and turbulent flow regimes. The local and mean Nusselt numbers for the single disc are compared with those obtained experimentally for the stator/rotor system. The flow structure in the space between the rotor and the stator is analysed by Particule Image Velocimetry.     

Investigation of local heat transfer coefficients in plate heat exchangers with temperature oscillation IR thermography and CFD

A method for the measurement of local convective heat transfer coefficients from the outside of a heat-transferring wall has been developed. This method is contact-free and fluid independent, employing radiant heating by laser or halogen spotlights and an IR camera for surface temperature measurements; it allows for the rapid evaluation of the heat transfer coefficient distribution of sizable heat exchanger areas. The technique relies first on experimental data of the phase lag of the outer surface temperature response to periodic heating, and second on a simplified numerical model of the heat exchanger wall to compute the local heat transfer coefficients from the processed data. The IR temperature data processing includes an algorithm for temperature drift compensation, phase synchronization between the periodic heat flux and the measured temperatures, and Single Frequency Discrete Fourier Transformations. The ill-posed inverse heat conduction problem of deriving a surface map of heat transfer coefficients from the phase-lag data is solved with a complex number finite-difference method applied to the heat exchanger wall. The relation between the local and the mean heat transfer coefficients is illuminated, calculation procedures based on the thermal boundary conditions are given. The results from measurements on a plate heat exchanger are presented, along with measurements conducted on pipe flow for validation. The results show high-resolution surface maps of the heat transfer coefficients for a chevron-type plate for three turbulent Reynolds numbers, including a promising approach of visualizing the flow field of the entire plate. The area-integrated values agree well with literature data. CFD calculations with an SST and an EASM–RSM were carried out on a section of a PHE channel. A comparison with the measured data indicates the shortcomings of even advanced turbulence models for the prediction of heat transfer coefficients but confirms the advantages of EASM–RSM in complex flows.     

Conjugate heat transfer characterization in cooling channels

Cooling technology of gas turbine blades,primarily ensured via internal forced convection,is aimed towards withdrawing thermal energy from the airfoil.To promote heat exchange,the walls of internal cooling passages are lined with repeated geometrical flow disturbance elements and surface non-uniformities.Raising the heat transfer at the expense of increased pressure loss;the goal is to obtain the highest possible cooling effectiveness at the lowest possible pressure drop penalty.The cooling channel heat transfer problem involves convection in the fluid domain and conduction in the solid.This coupled behavior is known as conjugate heat transfer.This experimental study models the effects of conduction coupling on convective heat transfer by applying iso-heat-flux boundary condition at the external side of a scaled serpentine passage.Investigations involve local temperature measurements performed by Infrared Thermography over flat and ribbed slab configurations.Nusselt number distributions along the wetted surface are obtained by means of heat flux distributions,computed from an energy balance within the metal domain.For the flat plate experiments,the effect of conjugate boundary condition on heat transfer is estimated to be in the order of 3%.In the ribbed channel case,the normalized Nusselt number distributions are compared with the basic flow features.Contrasting the findings with other conjugate and convective iso-heat-flux literature,a high degree of overall correlation is evident.