Turbulent heat transfer enhancement in a heat exchanger using helically corrugated tube

The augmentation of convective heat transfer in a single-phase turbulent flow by using helically corrugated tubes has been experimentally investigated. Effects of pitch-to-diameter ratio (P/D_H = 0.18, 0.22 and 0.27) and rib-height to diameter ratio (e/D_H = 0.02, 0.04 and 0.06) of helically corrugated tubes on the heat transfer enhancement, isothermal friction and thermal performance factor in a concentric tube heat exchanger are examined. The experiments were conducted over a wide range of turbulent fluid flow of Reynolds number from 5500 to 60,000 by employing water as the test fluid. Experimental results show that the heat transfer and thermal performance of the corrugated tube are considerably increased compared to those of the smooth tube. The mean increase in heat transfer rate is between 123% and 232% at the test range, depending on the rib height/pitch ratios and Reynolds number while the maximum thermal performance is found to be about 2.3 for using the corrugated tube with P/D_H = 0.27 and e/D_H = 0.06 at low Reynolds number. Also, the pressure loss result reveals that the average friction factor of the corrugated tube is in a range between 1.46 and 1.93 times over the smooth tube. In addition, correlations of the Nusselt number, friction factor and thermal performance factor in terms of pitch ratio (P/D_H), rib-height ratio (e/D_H), Reynolds number (Re), and Prandtl number (Pr) for the corrugated tube are determined, based on the curve fitting of the experimental data.     

Pressure drop and thermal characteristics of CuO-base oil nanofluid laminar flow in flattened tubes under constant heat flux

An experimental investigation has been carried out to study the heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of nanofluid flow inside horizontal flattened tubes under constant heat flux. The nanofluid is prepared by dispersion of CuO nanoparticle in base oil and stabilized by means of an ultrasonic device. Nanofluids with different particle weight concentrations of 0.2%, 0.5%, 1% and 2% are used. Copper tubes of 11.5 mm I.D. are flattened into oblong shapes and used as test sections. The nanofluid flowing inside the tube is heated by an electrical heating coil wrapped around it. Required data are acquired for laminar and hydrodynamically fully developed flow inside round and flattened tubes.The effect of different parameters such as flow Reynolds number, flattened tube internal height and nanofluid particle concentration on heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop of the flow is studied. Observations show that the heat transfer performance is improved as the tube profile is flattened. Flattening the tube profile resulted in pressure drop increasing. In addition, the heat transfer coefficient as well as pressure drop is increased by using nanofluid instead of base fluid. Furthermore, the performance evaluation of the two enhanced heat transfer techniques studied in this investigation shows that applying flattened tubes instead of the round tube is a more effective way to enhance the convective heat transfer coefficient compared to the second method which is using nanofluids instead of the base liquid.     

On the evaluation of a finned annular tube in convective heat transfer performance in the presence of Ag/oil nanofluid for a constant thermal flux rate boundary condition

In the present empirical work, the effectiveness of a finned annular tube in the presence of Ag/oil nanofluid is investigated. An annular tube with axial fins was considered as the test case. Suspended Ag nanoparticles in different volume concentrations of 0.011%, 0.044%, and 0.176% were examined in this work. The setup was designed in a way to be sure that the flow is hydrodynamically fully developed along the tube. This experiment has been done in a laminar flow regime in which Reynolds number was less than 160 for all the studied cases. The finned annular tube was wrapped with a coil that satisfied the condition of a constant thermal flux rate of 204 W on the outer boundary. Based on the acquired data, the convective heat transfer coefficient was obtained for all the nanofluid cases and compared to the base fluid. It was observed that the convective heat transfer coefficient substantially rises by increasing the nanoparticles. Which for the best case (volume concentration of 0.171% and Reynolds number of about 160), this factor was about a 33% enhancement compared to the base fluid.     

Heat transfer enhancement by using CuO/water nanofluid in corrugated tube equipped with twisted tape

Heat transfer enhancement by using CuO/water nanofluid in corrugated tube equipped with twisted tape is presented. The investigated ranges are (1) three different CuO concentrations: 0.3, 0.5 and 0.7% by volume (2) three different twist ratios of twisted tape: y/w = 2.7, 3.6 and 5.3 (3) two different arrangements of twisted direction of twisted tape relative to spiral direction of corrugated tube: parallel and counter arrangements, and (4) Reynolds number from 6200 to 24000. The results achieved from the use of the nanofluid and twisted tape, are compared with those obtained from the uses of nanofluid alone and twisted tape alone. The experimental results reveal that at similar operating conditions, heat transfer rate, friction factor as well as thermal performance factor associated with the simultaneous application of CuO/water nanofluid and twisted tape are higher than those associated with the individual techniques. Evidently, heat transfer rate increases with increasing CuO/water nanofluid concentration and decreasing twist ratio. In addition, the twisted tape coupled with corrugated tube in counter pattern offer higher heat transfer performances than the ones in parallel pattern. Over the range studied, the maximum thermal performance factor 1.57 is found with the use of CuO/water nanofluid at concentration of 0.7% by volume in corrugated tube together with twisted tape at twist ratio (y/w) of 2.7 (in counter arrangement), for Reynolds number of 6200 where heat transfer rate and friction factor increase to 2.67 times and 5.76 times of those in the plain corrugated tube.     

The latent heat recovery from boiler exhaust flue gas using shell and corrugated tube heat exchanger: A numerical study

The excessively increasing environmental concerns along with reducing fossil fuel resources introduce the trend of increasing the efficiency of boiler via implementing waste heat recovery. In the present study, the potential of latent heat recovery is investigated in the middle‐size boiler exhaust flue gas using the shell and corrugated tube heat exchanger. The main purpose of the present study is efficiency growth in flue gases using latent heat recovery of the steam energy. The heat recovery analysis is evaluated by a validated computational fluid dynamics model by a commercial software. For this study, the effect of different tube arrangements, number of tubes, and flow direction in the shell on heat transfer and pressure drop were investigated. The results showed that in‐line arrangement of the tubes in the shell presents better thermal performance and also high pressure drop among the other arrangements. As a result, by considering the thermal performance and pressure drop, radial arrangement shows higher performance. According to the obtained results from Section 2 of the present study, by considering the radial arrangement of tubes in the shell, as the number of tube rises, the thermal performance declines.     

Analysis of coiled-tube heat exchangers to improve heat transfer rate with spirally corrugated wall

Steady heat transfer enhancement has been studied in helically coiled-tube heat exchangers. The outer side of the wall of the heat exchanger contains a helical corrugation which makes a helical rib on the inner side of the tube wall to induce additional swirling motion of fluid particles. Numerical calculations have been carried out to examine different geometrical parameters and the impact of flow and thermal boundary conditions for the heat transfer rate in laminar and transitional flow regimes. Calculated results have been compared to existing empirical formulas and experimental tests to investigate the validity of the numerical results in case of common helical tube heat exchanger and additionally results of the numerical computation of corrugated straight tubes for laminar and transition flow have been validated with experimental tests available in the literature. Comparison of the flow and temperature fields in case of common helical tube and the coil with spirally corrugated wall configuration are discussed. Heat exchanger coils with helically corrugated wall configuration show 80–100% increase for the inner side heat transfer rate due to the additionally developed swirling motion while the relative pressure drop is 10–600% larger compared to the common helically coiled heat exchangers. New empirical correlation has been proposed for the fully developed inner side heat transfer prediction in case of helically corrugated wall configuration.     

Characterization of internal thermohydraulic flow and heat transfer improvement in a three-dimensional circular corrugated tube surfaces based on numerical simulation and design of experiment

To meet the requirements of development in heat exchangers design, the effect of different tubes geometrical parameters on its flow field analysis and thermal heat transfer performance are investigated in the current research work. The hydraulic thermal fluid coupling with computational simulations is applied. The numerical results are solving used flow transport and heat transfer equations, then these results are validated with available experimental data. The behavior of hydraulic and thermal flow in the corrugated tube is discussed with different geometrical parameters' position and shape. Turbulent flow in the tube is calculated in three-dimensional numerical simulations with optimization of a multiobjective algorithm are analyzed. The influences of various design parameters, for instance, the number of corrugated rings around the tube, distance between each corrugated ring, the diameter of the ring, and pitch of ring are investigated firstly in the flow field and then optimized by using the design of experiment (DOE). The influence of flow structural modifications such as static pressure, dynamic pressure, and pressure drop is taken into consideration as analyzed performance parameters. The DOE method is investigated based on implements and variances the L16 orthogonal arrays are chosen as the experimental strategy. Furthermore, the optimization results found that the maximum value of pressure difference was for corrugated diameter. The numerical method using DOE has enhanced heat transfer rate as compared to the smooth pipe. Moreover, the minimum T_out is for Case 11 (296.49°C) and the maximum T_out is for (303.10°C) hence the value of Nu number for both cases is 32.9 and 42, respectively. That means using this type of passive device can improve the heat transfer in the pipe. The outcomes illustrate that the performance evaluation factor (PEF) ratio of the corrugated pipe with different geometrical configurations is changed and increased as the corrugated pipe geometrically changed and the value of PEF is more than 1.3.     

新型横纹螺旋盘管强化传热的数值模拟

为了增强螺旋盘管的传热性能,对现有的普通螺旋盘管进行优化设计,提出一种管壁向内凸起形成环肋的异型管,称为横纹螺旋盘管。通过数值模拟方法对横纹螺旋盘管和普通盘管内部流动和传热过程进行模拟。应用场协同原理对其速度场和温度场的协同作用进行分析。实验数据与仿真结果的误差在5%以内,验证了数值模拟方法的正确性。在不同Re(雷诺数)条件下,计算两种盘管的Nu(努塞尔数),进而与Gnielinski(格尼林斯基)修正公式计算结果进行比较,误差在10%以内。结果表明:环肋结构通过工质旋转流动破坏边界层厚度,改善了管内速度场与温度场的协同程度,从而实现了强化传热。在较高的Re范围内,横纹螺旋盘管的Nu为普通盘管的1.29~1.43倍。因此,横纹螺旋盘管具有更好的传热性能,为异型螺旋盘管的研究及工程应用提供一定的理论依据。     

波节管纵向逆流换热性能的三维数值模拟研究

本文基于k-ε模型,针对波节管高效换热元件中纵向逆流换热的传热特性和阻力特性进行三维数值模拟研究。传热工质在管程和壳程分别为氦气和氮气,管束采用三角形布置。本文首先分析了不同波距及雷诺数下对换热量影响。为了体现高效换热元件比光管的优越性,随后分析了不同波距及雷诺数对Q/Q0(波节管与光管的换热量比)与Δp/Δp0(波节管与光管的压力降比)。最后得出结论,波距L的增加使高效换热元件的传热性能和阻力性能有所降低,但提高了其综合传热性能。雷诺数的增加会大幅提高换热量,但同时综合传热效率也大幅降低。     

Enhancement of heat transfer using CuO/water nanofluid and twisted tape with alternate axis

Heat transfer, friction and thermal performance characteristics of CuO/water nanofluid have been experimentally investigated. The nanofluid was employed in a circular tube equipped with modified twisted tape with alternate axis (TA). The concentration of nanofluid was varied from 0.3 to 0.7% by volume while the twisted ratio (y/W) of TA was kept constant at 3. The experiments were performed in laminar regime (Reynolds number spanned 830 ≤ Re ≤ 1990). The uses of nanofluid together with typical twisted tape (TT), TA alone and TT alone were also examined. To evaluate heat transfer enhancement and the increase of friction factor, the Nusselt number and friction factor of the base fluid in the plain tube were employed as reference data. The obtained results reveal that Nusselt number increases with increasing Reynolds number and nanofluid concentration. By the individual uses of TA and TT, Nusselt numbers increase up to 12.8 and 7.2 times of the plain tube, respectively. The simultaneous use of nanofluid and TA improves Nusselt number up to 13.8 times of the plain tube. Over the range investigated, the maximum thermal performance factor of 5.53 is found with the simultaneous employment of the CuO/water nanofluid at 0.7% volume and the TA at Reynolds number of 1990. In addition, the empirical correlations for heat transfer coefficient, friction factor and thermal performance factor are also developed and reported.     

Investigation of thermohydraulic performance of triple concentric-tube heat exchanger with CuO/water nanofluid: Numerical approach

In this study, numerical investigation of CuO/water nanofluids in a triple concentric-tube heat exchanger has been carried out using a commercial CFD software. The primary objective of this study is to conduct a heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of water-based CuO nanofluids under turbulent flow regime. Reynolds number for the nanofluid has also been considered in the range of 2500 to 10,000 with a nanoparticle volume concentration of 0% to 3%. The effects of flow rate, volume concentration of nanoparticles, and flow arrangement on heat transfer performance of nanofluid have been studied for four flow arrangements. The comparison of the performance with and without nanofluid has been done. It was found that thermal performance and overall effectiveness increased with the increase in Reynolds number and volume concentration of nanoparticles in all the four flow arrangements for the considered range of operating parameters.     

Single-phase heat transfer of CuO/water nanofluids in micro-fin tube equipped with dual twisted-tapes

The combined effects of nanofluids, dual twisted-tapes (DTs) and a micro-fin tube (MF) on the heat transfer rate, friction factor and thermal performance factor characteristics have been investigated. Nanofluids consisting of CuO and water at CuO concentrations between 0.3% and 1.0% by volume, were utilized as working fluids in the MF equipped with DTs, for Reynolds number between 5650 and 17,000. The experiments using the MF alone as well as the MF equipped with a single twisted tape (ST), were also conducted for comparison. The experimental results revealed that the heat transfer rate increased with increasing nanofluid concentration. At similar operating conditions, the micro-fin tube equipped with dual twisted-tapes (MF-DTs) consistently gave superior thermal performance factor to the one equipped with a single twisted-tape (MF-ST) as well as the micro-fin tube alone (MF). For all cases, thermal performance factors were apparently above unity. This indicates the beneficial effect for the energy saving by the uses of the combined techniques.     

Thermal performance augmentation using water based Al2O3-gamma nanofluid in a horizontal shell and tube heat exchanger under forced circulation

Shell and tube heat exchanger is one of the most prevalent heat exchangers with a wide variety of industrial applications, i.e., power plants, chemical processes, marine industries, HVAC systems, cooling of hydraulic fluid and engine oil in heavy duty diesel engines and the like specifically where a need to heat or cool a large fluid volume exist and also higher-pressure use. In the present study, the effect of using Al₂O₃-water nanofluid on thermal performance of a commercial shell and tube heat exchanger with segmental baffles is assessed experimentally. For this purpose, Al₂O₃-gamma nanoparticles with 15 nm mean diameter (99.5% purity) and Sodium Dodecyl Benzene Sulphonate (SDBS) as surfactant are used to make aqueous Al₂O₃ nanofluid at three various volume fractions of nanoparticles (φ = 0.03, 0.14 and 0.3%). Indeed, in this paper the effect of some parameters of hot working fluid such as Reynolds number and volume concentration of nanoparticles on heat transfer characteristics, friction factor and thermal performance factor of a shell and tube heat exchanger under laminar flow regime is investigated. The results indicate a substantial increment in Nusselt number as well as the overall heat transfer coefficient of heat exchanger by enhancement of Reynolds number and it can be seen that, at a certain Reynolds number, heat transfer characteristics of heat exchanger increase as the nanoparticles volume concentration increases. Outcomes of the heat transfer evaluation demonstrate that applying nanofluids instead of base fluid lead to increment of Nusselt number up to 9.7, 20.9 and 29.8% at 0.03, 0.14 and 0.3 vol%, respectively. Likewise it is seen that at mentioned nanoparticles volume fractions, overall heat transfer coefficient of heat exchanger enhances around 5.4, 10.3 and 19.1%, respectively. In term of pressure drop, a little penalty is found by using nanofluid in the test section. Eventually a thermal performance assessment on the heat exchanger was conducted. According to the analysis results, utilizing nanofluid at minimum and maximum nanoparticles volume fractions (φ = 0.03 and 0.3%) results in average augmentation of around 6.5% and 18.9% in thermal performance factor (η) of the heat exchanger compared to the base liquid, respectively.     

Experimental and numerical study of forced convection heat transfer in different internally ribbed tubes configuration using TiO2 nanofluid

TiO₂/water nanofluid is used together with a ribbed tube for heat transfer augmentation. This paper presents an experimental and numerical investigation to study the influence of the ribs' pitch distance and ribbed tube configuration on heat transfer using TiO ₂ nanofluid in a turbulent regime with Reynolds numbers of 5000‐40 000. Meanwhile, the fluid properties are assumed to be constant with temperature under uniform heat flux. The average nanoparticle size is 50 nm and volume fractions of 0% to 1% are adopted. The study is accomplished by using the finite volume method, and its objective involves finding a low friction factor and high heat transfer enhancement in the presence of TiO ₂/water nanofluids. In comparison with the plain tube, a helical ribbed tube provides higher performance evaluation criteria (about 2.0%), while circumferentially ribbed tube provides 1.9% and longitudinal ribbed tube provides 1.88%. The helical ribbed tubes with a 5.89 mm pitch distance gave higher turbulent kinetic energy due to a stronger swirl intensity, resulting in a thinner thermal boundary layer and a higher Nusselt number with uniform distribution. The nonlinear models of friction factor and Nusselt number have been predicted with a maximum deviation of ±3% and ±2%, respectively.     

An empirical study on heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of CuO–base oil nanofluid flow in a horizontal helically coiled tube under constant heat flux

An experimental investigation has been carried out to study the heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of nanofluid flow inside horizontal helical tube under constant heat flux. The nanofluid is prepared by dispersion of CuO nanoparticle in base oil and stabilized by means of an ultrasonic device. Nanofluids with different particle weight concentrations of 0.5%, 1% and 2% are used. The effect of different parameters such as flow Reynolds number, fluid temperature and nanofluid particle concentration on heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop of the flow are studied. Observations show that by using the helically coiled tube instead of the straight one, the heat transfer performance is improved. Also, the curvature of the tube will result in the pressure drop enhancement. In addition, the heat transfer coefficient as well as pressure drop is increased by using nanofluid instead of base fluid. Furthermore, the performance evaluation of the two enhanced heat transfer techniques studied in this investigation shows that applying helical tube instead of the straight tube is a more effective way to enhance the convective heat transfer coefficient compared to the second method which is using nanofluids instead of the pure liquid.     

在第二类吸收式热泵中对螺旋槽管的换热性能研究

为了提高在以溴化锂为工质的第二类吸收式热泵吸收器的性能,在第二类吸收式热泵吸收器内对不锈钢螺旋槽管,即不锈钢光滑管的传热传质性能进行了实验研究.发现螺旋槽管的传热传质性能约为光滑管3倍,螺旋槽管内热媒工质-水的流体阻力系数是光滑管的17～20倍;应用于第二类吸收式热泵中间大大降低换热面积,促进热泵的高效紧凑化.     

Effects of geometrical parameters on the flow and heat transfer characteristics in trapezoidal-corrugated channel using nanofluid

In this article, laminar forced convection heat transfer of copper–water nanofluid in trapezoidal-corrugated channel has been numerically investigated. The two-dimensional governing continuity, momentum and energy equations in body-fitted coordinates are discretized using finite volume approach and solved iteratively using SIMPLE technique. In this study, the Reynolds number and nanoparticle volume fractions are in the ranges of 100–700 and 0–5%, respectively. The effect of geometrical parameters such as the amplitude and wavelength of the corrugated channel, nanoparticle volume fraction and Reynolds number on the velocity vectors, temperature contours, pressure drop and average Nusselt number have been presented and analyzed. The results show that the average Nusselt number enhances with increase in nanoparticles volume fraction and with the amplitude of corrugated channel but this enhancement accompanied by increases in pressure drop. In addition, as the wavelength of corrugated channel decreases, the average Nusselt number increases and the pressure drop decreases.     

Numerical study of an exhaust heat recovery system using corrugated tube heat exchanger with twisted tape inserts

The purpose of this work is to investigate gas to liquid heat transfer performance of concentric tube heat exchanger with twisted tape inserted corrugated tube and to evaluate its impact on engine performance and economics through heat recovery from the exhaust of a heavy duty diesel generator (120 ekW rated load). This type of heat exchanger is expected to be inexpensive to install and effective in heat transfer and to have minimal effect on exhaust emissions of diesel engines. This type of heat exchanger has been investigated for liquid to liquid heat transfer at low Reynolds number by few investigators, but not for gas to liquid heat transfer. In this paper, a detail of heat transfer performance is investigated through simulations using computer software. The software is first justified by comparing the simulation results with the developed renowned correlations. Simulations are then conducted for concentric tube heat exchanger with different twisted tape configuration for optimal design. The results show that the enhancement in the rate of heat transfer in annularly corrugated tube heat exchanger with twisted tape is about 235.3% and 67.26% when compared with the plain tube and annularly corrugated tube heat exchangers without twisted tapes respectively. Based on optimal results, for a 120 ekW diesel generator, the application of corrugated tube with twisted tape concentric tube heat exchanger can save 2250 gal of fuel, $11,330 of fuel cost annually and expected payback of 1 month. In addition, saving in heating fuel also reduces in CO₂ emission by 23 metric tons a year.     

Thermal and hydraulic characteristics of nanofluid flow in a helically coiled tube heat exchanger

The effects of using different geometrical parameters with the combination of nanofluid on heat transfer and fluid flow characteristics in a helically coiled tube heat exchanger (HCTHE) are numerically investigated. A CuO nanoparticle with a diameter of 25 nm dispersed in water with a particle concentration of 4% was used as the working fluid. The three dimensional governing equations (continuity, momentum and energy) along with the boundary conditions are solved using the finite volume method (FVM). The mass flow rate of water in the annulus was kept constant and the nanofluid flow rate in the inner tube was varied. The effect of flow configuration (parallel and counter) was also examined in this study. The performance of the HCTHE was evaluated in terms of Nusselt number, heat transfer rate, pressure drop, effectiveness and performance index. The results reveal that certain geometrical parameters such as the helix radius and inner tube diameter do affect the performance of the HCTHE under laminar flow conditions. It is also found that counter-flow configuration produced better results as compared to parallel-flow configuration.     

Estimation of heat transfer coefficient and friction factor in the transition flow with low volume concentration of Al2O3 nanofluid flowing in a circular tube and with twisted tape insert

Experiments to evaluate heat transfer coefficient and friction factor for flow in a tube and with twisted tape inserts in the transition range of flow with Al₂O₃ nanofluid are conducted. The results showed considerable enhancement of convective heat transfer with Al₂O₃ nanofluids compared to flow with water. It is observed that the equation of Gleninski applicable in transitional flow range for single-phase fluids showed considerable deviation when compared with values obtained with nanofluid. The heat transfer coefficient of nanofluid flowing in a tube with 0.1% volume concentration is 23.7% higher when compared with water at number of 9000. Heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop with nanofluid has been experimentally determined with tapes of different twist ratios and found to deviate with values obtained from equations developed for single-phase flow. A regression equation is developed to estimate the Nusselt number valid for both water and nanofluid flowing in the transition flow Reynolds number range in circular plain tube and with tape inserts. The maximum friction factor with twisted tape at 0.1% nanofluid volume concentration is 1.21 times that of water flowing in a plain tube.