Parametric and design optimization investigation of a wavy fin and tube air heat exchanger using the T-G technique

The focus of this paper is to optimize the air-side performance of a wavy fin and tube heat exchanger at different design parameters on an individual target response using the Taguchi method. However, a statistical concept, gray relational analysis, is also studied for combined optimization, considering all target responses at a time. Based on the heat exchanger requirement, parametric study for the air-side is regarded as a more significant heat transfer and lower frictional factor. Experimental correlations were available and used for the 27 orthogonal runs. Investigation revealed the highest 47.06% fin pitch, 37.24% fin pitch, 25.46% air velocity, and 23.9% fin thickness contribution ratio for the target response of friction factor (TPF), heat transfer coefficient, and Colburn factor, respectively, with the application of the Taguchi method in a heat exchanger. GRG gives an optimum set of design parameters, A3B3C2D1E3F2G1, for wavy fin and tube of fin pitch of 6 mm, tube row number of 6, waffle height 1.8 mm, fin thickness 0.12 mm, and air velocity 5 m/s. Also, longitudinal tube pitch is 27.5 mm, and transverse tube pitch of 24.8 mm, at which TPF is maximum while the friction factor is minimal. The Colburn factor is the most significant, minor friction factor, and the heat transfer coefficient and TPF are the most considerable in GRG. Hence, an improved heat transfer performance design of a wavy fin and tube heat exchanger is achieved using the above techniques.     

Air side performance at low Reynolds number of cross-flow heat exchanger using crimped spiral fins

A total of 23 cross-flow heat exchangers having crimped spiral configurations is studied. The effect of tube diameter, fin spacing, transverse tube pitch, and tube arrangements are examined. For the inline arrangement, the pressure drop increases with the rise of tube diameter but the associated heat transfer coefficient decreases with it. The increase of fin height also gives rise to considerable increase of pressure drop and decrease of heat transfer coefficients for the inline arrangement. However, for the staggered arrangement, the effect of the fin height on the pressure drop is much smaller than that of the inline arrangement due to the major contribution to the total pressure drops from the blockage of the airflow from staggered arrangement. Effect of the fin spacing on the air side performance is strongly related to the transverse tube pitch for both inline and staggered arrangements. Correlations of the present crimped spiral fins in both staggered and inline arrangements are developed. The proposed correlations give fairly good predictive ability against the present test data.     

百叶窗翅片结构对空气侧流动换热影响的研究进展

百叶窗翅片作为换热器主要翅片形式之一,其结构对空气侧流动换热特性有着重要影响。本文总结了近年来国内外在百叶窗翅片结构对空气侧流动换热影响方面的研究,包括翅片间距、翅片高度、翅片厚度、翅片深度、百叶窗间距及开窗角度对空气侧换热系数、压降、流动效率、传热因子和摩擦因子的影响。研究表明:传热因子随开窗角度和翅片深度的增加而增大,随翅片间距的增加而减小;摩擦因子随开窗角度的增大而增大,随百叶窗间距的增大而减小;其中,开窗角度与翅片深度分别是影响空气侧流动和换热的最主要因素。最后,在百叶窗结构的基础上,提出了对翅片表面进行处理以及使用新型翅片结构等途径来进一步强化空气侧流动换热的建议。     

Air-side performance of herringbone wavy fin-and-tube heat exchangers under dehumidifying condition – Data with larger diameter tube

This study examines the airside performance of the herringbone wavy fin-and-tube heat exchangers in dehumidifying condition having a larger diameter tube (D_c = 16.59 mm) with the tube row ranging from 2 to 12. Test results are compared to that of dry conditions and plain fin geometry. Upon the influence of surface condition (dry or wet) on the heat transfer performance, the heat transfer performance in dehumidifying condition normally exceeds that in dry condition, and is more pronounced with the rise of tube row or reduction of fin pitch. By contrast, it is found that the heat transfer coefficient for plain fin geometry in dehumidifying condition is slightly lower than that in dry condition. The pressure drops in wet condition is much higher than that in dry condition. However, the difference in pressure drop amid dry and dehumidifying condition for wavy fin configuration is less profound as that of plain fin geometry.     

Experimental study on heat and mass transfer characteristics of louvered fin-tube heat exchangers under wet condition

An experimental study was conducted to investigate the effect of a tube row, a fin pitch and an inlet humidity on air-side heat and mass transfer performance of louvered fin-tube heat exchangers under wet condition. Experimental conditions were varied by three fin pitches, two rows, and two inlet relative humidities. From the experimental results, it was found that the heat transfer performance decreased and the friction increased with the decrease of a fin pitch, for 2 row heat exchanger. The effect of a fin pitch on heat transfer performance was negligible with 3 row heat exchanger. The change in a relative humidity was not affected heat transfer and friction. However, the mass transfer performance was slightly decreased with the increase of a relative humidity and with the decrease of a fin pitch. The mass transfer performance decreased with the decrease of a fin pitch. The mass transfer performance of the louvered fin-and-tube heat exchanger was different according to the number of a tube row.     

Effect of inclination on the air-side performance of a brazed aluminum heat exchanger under dry and wet conditions

This study presents the effect of an inclination angle from the vertical position on the air-side thermal hydraulic performance for a multi-louvered fin and flat tube heat exchanger. For a heat exchanger with a louver angle of 27°, fin pitch of 1.4 mm and flow depth of 20 mm, a series of tests for dry and wet surface conditions were conducted for the air-side Reynolds numbers of 100–300. The inclination angles from the vertical position were 0°, ±30°, ±45°, and ±60° clockwise. The heat transfer performance for both dry and wet conditions was neither influenced significantly by the inclination angle (−60°<θ<60°), nor by the presence or absence of an upstream duct, while the pressure drops increased consistently with the inclination angle. The heat transfer coefficients and the pressure drops for the wet conditions revealed the importance of the role of condensate drainage.     

Experimental investigation of heat transfer and pressure drop in serrated-fin tube bundles with staggered tube layouts

An experimental investigation of the heat transfer and pressure drop performance of ten finned tube bundles using serrated fins is presented. All tube bundles had staggered layouts, and the influence on varying tube bundle layout, tube and fin parameters are presented. The heat transfer coefficient experienced a maximum when the flow areas in the transversal and diagonal planes were equal. An increase in the fin pitch increased the heat transfer coefficient; the same was observed with an increase in fin height. The pressure drop coefficient showed no influence of the tube bundle layout for small pitch ratios, but dropped significantly for higher ratios. Increasing fin pitch reduced the pressure drop, whereas varying fin height had insignificant effect. None of the literature correlations were able to reproduce the experiments for the entire range of tested conditions. A set of correlations were developed, reproducing the experimental data to within ±5% at a confidence interval of 95%.     

Transversal tube pitch effects on local heat transfer characteristics of the flat tube bank fin mounted vortex generators and their sensitivity to nonuniform temperature of the fin

The tube bank fin is commonly used to increase the area of the heat transfer surface with a small heat transfer coefficient of a heat exchanger. If vortex generators (VGs) are punched on the fin surface, the heat transfer performance of the fin can be improved. This paper focused on the effect of transversal tube pitch on the local heat transfer performance of the three-row flat tube bank fin mounted with VGs. On the fin surface, constructing the flow channel but without mounted VGs, the transversal tube pitch was greater, and the span averaged Nusselt number downstream was larger because fewer interactions of vortices would be generated from different VGs located upstream. When the area goodness factor was used as the criteria on the condition of one tube unit of heat exchanger for commonly used fin materials and fin thickness, the transversal tube pitch has considerable effect on the heat transfer enhancement of VGs. Large transversal tube pitch is more sensitive to fin material than to fin thickness.     

Effect of Waffle Height on the Air-Side Performance of Wavy Fin-and-Tube Heat Exchangers under Dehumidifying Conditions

An experimental study was carried out to examine the effect of the waffle height on air-side performance of typical fin-and-tube heat exchangers under dehumidifying conditions. The waffle heights examined in the present study are 1.18 and 1.58 mm, respectively. A total of 12 samples of heat exchangers, including eight having wavy fin and four having plain fin configurations were tested. The test results indicated that the effect of waffle height on the heat transfer enhancement ratio, compared to the plain-fin counterpart, is pronounced only for smaller fin pitch and larger waffle height, while its effect on the pressure drop is very pronounced throughout the test range, and is almost two times higher than in dry conditions.     

Numerical study on air-side performance of an integrated fin and micro-channel heat exchanger

A new type of aluminum heat exchanger with integrated fin and micro-channel has been proposed. The air-side heat transfer and flow characteristics of the integrated fin and micro-channel heat exchanger are systematically analyzed by a 3D numerical simulation. The effect of flow depth, fin height, fin pitch and fin thickness at different Reynolds number is evaluated by calculating Colburn factor j and Fanning friction factor f. A parametric study method is used to analyze the fin designed parameters affecting the performance of the heat exchanger. The results show that the contribution ratio of the fin geometries in descending order is flow depth, fin pitch, fin height and fin thickness. The air-side performance of the integrated fin and micro-channel heat exchanger is compared with that of the multi-louver fin micro-channel heat exchanger and the wavy fin micro-channel heat exchanger.     

Parametric study and multiple correlations on air-side heat transfer and friction characteristics of fin-and-tube heat exchangers with large number of large-diameter tube rows

In the present study, for industrial applications of large inter-coolers employed in multi-stage compressor systems the air-side laminar heat transfer and fluid flow characteristics of plain fin-and-tube heat exchangers with large number of tube rows and large diameter of the tubes are investigated numerically through three-dimensional simulations based on the SIMPLE algorithm in Cartesian coordinates. The effects of parameters such as Reynolds number, the number of tube rows, tube diameter, tube pitches and fin pitch are examined, and the variations of heat transfer due to variations of fin materials are also observed. It is found that the heat transfer and fluid flow approach fully developed conditions when the number of tube rows is greater than six, and the tube diameter as well as the fin pitch have much more significant effects than the tube pitch, and the heat transfer of high-conductivity material is larger than that of low-conductivity material especially in the high Reynolds number regime. Due to the fact that the existing correlations are not valid for large tube diameters and number of tube rows, the heat transfer and flow friction of the presented heat exchangers are correlated in the multiple forms. The correlation is so obtained that it can be used for further studies such as performance prediction or geometrical optimization.     

Transversal tube pitch effects on local heat transfer characteristics of the flat tube bank fin mounted vortex generators and their sensitivity to nonuniform temperature of the fin

The tube bank fin is commonly used to increase the area of the heat transfer surface with a small heat transfer coefficient of a heat exchanger. If vortex generators (VGs) are punched on the fin surface, the heat transfer performance of the fin can be improved. This paper focused on the effect of transversal tube pitch on the local heat transfer performance of the three-row flat tube bank fin mounted with VGs. On the fin surface, constructing the flow channel but without mounted VGs, the transversal tube pitch was greater, and the span averaged Nusselt number downstream was larger because fewer interactions of vortices would be generated from different VGs located upstream. When the area goodness factor was used as the criteria on the condition of one tube unit of heat exchanger for commonly used fin materials and fin thickness, the transversal tube pitch has considerable effect on the heat transfer enhancement of VGs. Large transversal tube pitch is more sensitive to fin material than to fin thickness.     

Prediction and Measurement of Apparent Heat Transfer Coefficient by Condensation in Finned-Tube Heat Exchangers

The apparent heat transfer coefficient by condensation in finned-tube heat exchangers is determined experimentally and numerically in this paper. The film method is used to predict the partial or total condensation of the water vapor contained in the humid air over the smooth or finned tube-heat recuperators. Based on this method, a computer code is developed here. The mathematical formulation is validated by our experimental results, using tube bundles in staggered and aligned arrangements. The determination of the fin portion, which functions in wet regime, is carried out by the prediction of thermal field over a circular fin. The condensation of the water vapor contained in the humid air is done preferentially with the last rows of the heat exchanger. The heat flux is predicted in a range of 20% and 5% in wet and dry regimes, respectively. The apparent heat transfer coefficient by condensation can exceed 10 times the value of the air-side heat transfer coefficient in dry regime.     

Numerical investigation of fluid flow and heat transfer over louvered fins in compact heat exchanger

Numerical investigation of fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics over louvered fins and flat tube in compact heat exchangers is presented in this study. Three-dimensional simulations of single and double row tubes with louvered fins have been conducted. Simulations are performed for different geometries with varying louver pitch, louver angle, fin pitch and tube pitch and for different Reynolds number. Conjugate heat transfer and conduction through the fins are considered. The air-side performance of heat exchanger is evaluated by calculating Stanton number and friction factor. The results are compared with experiment and a good agreement is observed. The local Nusselt number variation along the top surface of the louver is calculated and effects of geometrical parameters on the average heat transfer coefficient is computed. Design curves are obtained which can used to predict the heat transfer and the pressure drop for a given louver geometry.     

Finite circular fin method for heat and mass transfer characteristics for plain fin-and-tube heat exchangers under fully and partially wet surface conditions

This study proposes a new method, namely the “finite circular fin method” (FCFM), to analyze the performance of fin-and-tube heat exchangers having plain fin configuration under dehumidifying conditions. The analysis is done by dividing the heat exchanger into many tiny segments (number of tube rows × number of tube passes per row × number of fins). The tiny segments are distinguished into three types: the fully dry, partially wet or fully wet surface conditions. The proposed method is capable of handling fully and partially wet surfaces. From the test results, it is found that the sensible heat transfer performance and the mass transfer performance are insensitive to changes of fin pitch. The influence of inlet relative humidity on the sensible heat transfer performance is small, and is almost negligible when the number of tube rows is above four. For one and two row configurations, considerable increase of mass transfer performance is encountered when partially wet condition takes place. The sensible heat transfer coefficient is about the same for those in fully wet and partially wet conditions provided that the number of tube row is equal or greater than four. Correlations applicable for both fully wet and partially wet conditions are proposed to describe the heat and mass performance for the present plain fin configuration.     

螺旋翅片管束换热过程的熵产分析

对不同翅片间距Sf、管束横向节距St和管束纵向节距Sl的9组螺旋翅片管束的换热和流动过程进行了试验研究.分析了换热过程的熵产,研究了雷诺数(RP)、翅片间距、管束横向节距和管束纵向节距对管束换热熵产数NsH、流动熵产数NsF和总熵产数Ns的影响.结果表明:对不同布置方式的管束,随着Re的增加,NsH迅速减小,NsF逐渐增加,Ns先减小后增加;翅片间距对NsH影响较小,在高Re下,翅片间距增大时,NsF和Ns均明显降低;横向节距对NsH几乎没影响,但随着横向节距的增加,NsF和Ns均明显降低;管束纵向节距对NsH、NsF和Ns的影响都很小.     

房室间隔缺损介入治疗失败后外科手术治疗的回顾性分析

目的探讨房室间隔缺损介入治疗失败后外科手术的原因及效果,以提高手术成功率。方法选择２０００年１月至２００７年１２月接受经导管介入治疗房间隔缺损（ASD）和室间隔缺损（VSD）失败后,需行外科手术的１３例病例进行回顾性分析。外科手术指征为封堵器脱落７例、Ⅲ°房室传导阻滞（AVB）３例、瓣膜关闭不全２例（其中１例同时合并Ⅲ°AVB）、残余漏１例、封堵失败１例。手术均在体外循环下进行,取出封堵器,修复心内畸形,术后入ICU监护。结果ASD介入治疗患者中,手术探查ASD直径平均３１mm,较术前诊断的平均２６mm增大,两者相比差异有统计学意义（P＜０．０５）。ASD部位为中央型３例,下腔型６例,与术前诊断符合率为４１．７％,不符合率为５８．３％（P＞０．０５）。３例Ⅲ°AVB者术后均恢复窦性心律。心内畸形修复完善,无手术死亡。结论及时采取外科手术治疗介入封堵失败后并发症,效果良好,安全可靠,可避免治疗失败及术后并发症。     

Three-dimensional performance analysis of plain fin tube heat exchangers in transitional regime

Three-dimensional CFD simulations are carried out to investigate heat transfer and fluid flow characteristics of a four-row plain fin-and-tube heat exchanger using the Commercial Computational Fluid Dynamics Code ANSYS CFX 12.0. Heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of the heat exchanger are investigated for Reynolds numbers ranging from 400 to 2000. Fluid flow and heat transfer are simulated and results compared using both laminar and turbulent flow models (k-ω) with steady and incompressible fluid flow. Model validation is carried out by comparing the simulated case friction factor (f) and Colburn factor (j) with the experimental data of Wang et al. [1]. Reasonable agreement is found between the simulations and experimental data. In this study the effect of geometrical parameters such as fin pitch, longitudinal pitch and transverse pitch of tube spacing are studied. Results are presented in the form of friction factor (f) and Colburn factor (j). For both laminar and transitional flow conditions heat transfer and friction factor decrease with the increase of longitudinal and transverse pitches of tube spacing whereas they increase with fin pitches for both in-line and staggered configurations. Efficiency index increases with the increase of longitudinal and transverse pitches of tube spacing but decreases with increase of fin pitches. For a particular Reynolds number, the efficiency index is higher in in-line arrangement than the staggered case.     

Optimization of heat exchangers with vortex-generator fin by Taguchi method

A comparative study of effects of attack angle, length of vortex generator, height of vortex generator, fin material, fin thickness, fin pitch and tube pitch on fin performance of vortex-generator fin-and-tube heat exchanger is conducted by numerical method. The parameters of vortex-generator fin-and-tube heat exchangers are optimized by the Taguchi method. Eighteen kinds of models are made by compounding levels on each factor, and the heat transfer and flow characteristics of each model are analyzed. The results show that these six factors (fin pitch, longitudinal tube pitch, transverse tube pitch, length of vortex generator, height of vortex generator, and attack angle of vortex generator) have great influences on the JF-factor. The fin material and fin thickness have trifling effects on the JF-factor. The two optimal conditions (A1B3C3D2E1F2G1H3 and A2B2C2D3E1F2G1H3) are acquired, and the reproducibility of the results is verified by two analytical results.     

Condensation of R-113 on Pin-Fin Tubes: Effect of Circumferential Pin Thickness and Spacing

New experimental data are reported for condensation of R-113 at near atmospheric pressure and low velocity on five three-dimensional pin-fin tubes. The only geometric parameters varied were circumferential spacing and thickness, since these have been shown to have a strong effect on condensate retention on pin-fin tubes. Heat transfer enhancement was found to be strongly dependent on the active-area enhancement, i.e., on the parts of the tube and pin surface not covered by condensate retained by surface tension. For all the tubes, vapor-side heat transfer enhancements were found to be approximately 2.5 times the corresponding active-area enhancements, and this finding was in line with earlier data for R-113. An increase in the vapor-side heat transfer enhancement is noticed with the decreasing values of pin spacing. The best performing pin-fin tube gave a heat transfer enhancement about 14% higher than the “equivalent” two-dimensional integral-fin tube (i.e., with the same fin root diameter, longitudinal fin spacing, and thickness and fin height).