Heat and mass transfer characteristics of organic sorbent coated on heat transfer surface of a heat exchanger

This paper describes heat and mass transfer characteristics of organic sorbent coated on heat transfer surface of a fin-tube heat exchanger. The experiments in which the moist air was passed into the heat exchanger coated with sorption material were conducted under various conditions of air flow rate (0.5–1.0 m/s) and the temperature of brine (14–20°C) that was the heat transfer fluid to cool the air flow in the dehumidifying process. It is found that the sorption rate of vapor is affected by the air flow rate and the brine temperature. Meanwhile, the attempt of clarifying the sorption mechanism is also conducted. Finally the average mass transfer coefficient of the organic sorbent coated on heat transfer surface of a fin-tube heat exchanger is non-dimensionalzed as a function of Reynolds number and non-dimensional temperature, and it is found that the effect of non-dimensional temperature on them is larger than Reynolds number .     

Effect of viscous dissipation on the mixed convection heat transfer from an exponentially stretching surface

The mixed convection flow and heat transfer from an exponentially stretching vertical surface in a quiescent fluid is analyzed using similarity solution technique. Wall temperature and stretching velocity are assumed to have specific exponential function forms. The influence of buoyancy along with viscous dissipation on the convective transport in the boundary layer region is analyzed in both aiding and opposing flow situations. The flow is governed by the mixed convection parameter Gr/Re². The velocity and temperature inside the boundary layer are observed to be influenced by the parameters like Prandtl number Pr, Gebhart number Gb. Significant changes are observed in non-dimensional skin friction and heat transfer coefficients due to viscous dissipation in the medium. The flow and temperature distributions inside the boundary layer are analyzed and the results for non-dimensional skin friction and heat transfer coefficients are discussed through computer generated plots.     

Influence of magnetic field and thermal radiation by natural convection past vertical cone subjected to variable surface heat flux

A numerical study is performed to examine the heat transfer characteristics of natural convection past a vertical cone under the combined effects of magnetic field and thermal radiation.The surface of the cone is subjected to a variable surface heat flux.The fluid considered is a gray,absorbing-emitting radiation but a non-scattering medium.With approximate transformations,the boundary layer equations governing the flow are reduced to non-dimensional equations valid in the free convection regime.The dimensionless governing equations are solved by an implicit finite difference method of Crank-Nicolson type which is fast convergent,accurate,and unconditionally stable.Numerical results are obtained and presented for velocity,temperature,local and average wall shear stress,and local and average Nusselt number in air and water.The present results are compared with the previous published work and are found to be in excellent agreement.     

An analytical treatment for combined heat transfer by radiation,convection and conduction within a heat insulating wall structure

An analytical procedure has been proposed to attack a highly conjugate thermal problem associated with radiation, convection and conduction within a heat insulating wall structure. Firstly, an analytical solution is derived for fully-developed mixed convective flow through parallel plates. Secondly, the resulting expressions for convection are coupled with radiation and conduction equations to form a set of heat balance equations for each heat transfer surface. Illustrative calculations are conducted to estimate heat transfer rates through a heat insulating roof structure with an aluminum partition with high reflectivity, subject to solar radiation in summer. The effect of an aluminum partition on the heat insulation is elucidated.     

Finite-difference solution of unsteady natural convection flow past a nonisothermal vertical cone under the influence of a magnetic field and thermal radiation

An analysis is performed to study the heat transfer characteristics of natural convection over a vertical cone under the combined effects of a magnetic field and thermal radiation. The cone surface is subjected to a variable surface temperature. The fluid considered is a gray absorbing/emitting, but non-scattering medium. The boundary layer equations governing the flow are reduced to non-dimensional equations using non-dimensional quantities valid in the free-convection regime. The resulting non-dimensional governing equations are solved by an implicit finite-difference method of the Crank-Nicolson type, which is rapidly convergent and unconditionally stable. Numerical results are obtained for velocity, temperature, local and average skin friction, and local and average Nusselt numbers for various values of parameters occurring in the problem and are presented in the graphical form. Excellent agreement of the results obtained with available data is demonstrated.     

Experimental investigation to study flow and heat transfer characteristics over a NACA0018 aerofoil for different height ratios

Experiments are carried out to study flow and heat transfer characteristics over NACA0018 aerofoil when the body approaches the wall of a wind tunnel. Investigations have been done to study the effect of wall proximity due to flow separation around the body at Reynolds number 2.5 × 10⁵, different height ratios and various angles of attack. The static pressure distribution has been measured on upper and lower surfaces of the aerofoil. The results have been presented in the form of pressure coefficient, drag coefficient for different height ratios. Pressure coefficient values are decreased and then increased on the lower surface of the aerofoil and decreased on the upper surface of the aerofoil at all angles of attack. The negative pressure coefficient and drag coefficient decreases as the body approaches the upper wall of wind tunnel. The maximum value of drag coefficient has been observed at an angle of attack 30° for the aerofoil at all height ratios. The Heat transfer experiments have been carried out under constant heat flux condition. Heat transfer coefficients are determined from the measured wall temperature and ambient temperature and presented in the form of Nusselt number. The variation of local as well as average Nusselt number has been shown with non dimensional distance for different angles of attack and for various height ratios. The local as well as average Nusselt number decreases as the height ratio decreases for all non-dimensional distance and angles of attack respectively. Maximum value of average Nusselt number has been observed at an angle of attack 40°.     

Parametric studies and correlations for combined conduction-mixed convection–radiation from a non-identically and discretely heated vertical plate

The present paper reports the parametric studies and correlations for the problem of combined conduction-mixed convection–radiation from a non-identically and discretely heated vertical plate. Three discrete heat sources of non-identical heights but with identical volumetric rate of heat generation are assumed to be flush-mounted in a thin vertical plate. The longest and the shortest heaters are provided at the leading and trailing edges of the plate, while the remaining heater is located centrally. The governing fluid flow and heat transfer equations are considered in their full strength without the boundary layer approximations and are solved using the finite volume method. A computer code is written to solve the problem and various parametric studies have been performed. The relative roles of free convection, forced convection and radiation in various fluid flow and heat transfer results have been elucidated. In conclusion, based on a large set of data generated from the code, correlations for maximum non-dimensional plate temperature, average non-dimensional plate temperature and mean friction coefficient have been evolved.     

A numerical simulation of combined radiation and natural convection heat transfer in a square enclosure heated by a centric circular cylinder

A numerical simulation of combined natural convection and radiation in a square enclosure heated by a centric circular cylinder and filled with absorbing-emitting medium is presented. The ideal gas law and the discrete ordinates method are used to model the density changes due to temperature differences and the radiation heat transfer correspondingly. The influence of Rayleigh number, optical thickness and temperature difference on flow and temperature fields along with the natural convection, radiation and total Nusselt number at the source surfaces is studied. The results reveal that the radiation heat transfer as well as the optical thickness of the fluid has a distinct effect on the fluid flow phenomena, especially at high Rayleigh number. The heat transfer and so the Nusselt number decreases with increase in optical thickness, while increases greatly with increase in temperature difference. The variation in radiation heat transfer with optical thickness and temperature difference is much more obvious as comparison with convection heat transfer.     

Unsteady entrance heat transfer in laminar pipe flows with convection from the ambient

The characteristics of unsteady entrance heat transfer in the combined entrance heat transfer region of laminar pipe flows resulting from time-varying inlet temperature are numerically investigated. Three non-dimensional parameters,Nu ₀, a^*, andf are identified in the study. Also, their effects on the non-dimensional duct wall temperature, fluid bulk temperature, and duct wall heat flux are discussed in great detail. Comparisons are made with the zero thermal capacity wall solution.     

Natural convection and radiation heat transfer of an externally-finned tube vertically placed in a chamber

A three-dimensional numerical study was made to investigate effects of fin angle, fin surface emissivity, and tube wall temperature on heat transfer enhancement for a longitudinal externally-finned tube placed vertically in a small chamber. The numerical model was first validated through comparison with experimental measurements and the appropriateness of general boundary conditions was examined. The numerical results show that the mean Nusselt number increases with Rayleigh number for all the fin angles investigated. The maximum heat transfer rate per mass occurs when the fin angle is about 60° for fin surface emissivity between 0.7 and 0.8 and 55° when the surface emissivity increases to 0.9. With increasing tube wall temperature, both the natural convection and radiation heat transfer are enhanced, but the fraction of radiation heat transfer decreases in the temperature range studied. Radiation fraction increases with increasing fin surface emissivity. Both convection and radiation heat transfer modes are important.     

Effect of the axial scraping velocity on enhanced heat exchangers

The flow pattern within an enhanced tubular heat exchanger equipped with a reciprocating scraping device is experimentally analysed. The insert device, specially designed to avoid fouling and to enhance heat transfer, has also been used to produce ice slurry. It consists of several circular perforated scraping discs mounted on a coaxial shaft. The whole is moved alternatively along the axial direction by a hydraulic cylinder.The phase-averaged velocity fields of the turbulent flow have been obtained with PIV technique for both scraping semi-cycles. Special attention has been paid to the effect of the non-dimensional scraping velocity and the Reynolds number in the flow field. CFD simulations provide support for the identification of the flow patterns and the parameter assessment extension.The results show how the scraping parameters affect the turbulence level produced in the flow and therefore the desired heat transfer enhancement.     

Radiation effect on forced convective flow and heat transfer over a porous plate in a porous medium

Heat transfer analysis has been presented for the boundary layer forced convective flow of an incompressible fluid past a plate embedded in a porous medium. The similarity solutions for the problem are obtained and the reduced nonlinear ordinary differential equations are solved numerically. In case of porous plate, fluid velocity increases for increasing values of suction parameter whereas due to injection, fluid velocity is noticed to decrease. The non-dimensional temperature increases with the increasing values of injection parameter. A novel result of this investigation is that the flow separation occurred due to suction/injection may be controlled by increasing the permeability parameter of the medium. The effect of thermal radiation on temperature field is also analyzed.     

Variable viscosity and slip velocity effects on the flow and heat transfer of a power-law fluid over a non-linearly stretching surface with heat flux and thermal radiation

The flow and heat transfer of a non-Newtonian power-law fluid over a non-linearly stretching surface has been studied numerically under conditions of constant heat flux and thermal radiation and evaluated for the effect of wall slip. The governing partial differential equations are transformed into a set of coupled non-linear ordinary differential equations which are using appropriate boundary conditions for various physical parameters. The remaining set of ordinary differential equations is solved numerically by fourth-order Runge–Kutta method using the shooting technique. The effects of the viscosity, the slip velocity, the radiation parameter, power-law index, and the Prandtl number on the flow and temperature profiles are presented. Moreover, the local skin friction and Nusselt numbers are presented. Comparison of numerical results is made with the earlier published results under limiting cases.     

Effects of radiation and heat source on MHD flow of a viscoelastic liquid and heat transfer over a stretching sheet

We study the MHD flow and also heat transfer in a viscoelastic liquid over a stretching sheet in the presence of radiation. The stretching of the sheet is assumed to be proportional to the distance from the slit. Two different temperature conditions are studied, namely (i) the sheet with prescribed surface temperature (PST) and (ii) the sheet with prescribed wall heat flux (PHF). The basic boundary layer equations for momentum and heat transfer, which are non-linear partial differential equations, are converted into non-linear ordinary differential equations by means of similarity transformation. The resulting non-linear momentum differential equation is solved exactly. The energy equation in the presence of viscous dissipation (or frictional heating), internal heat generation or absorption, and radiation is a differential equation with variable coefficients, which is transformed to a confluent hypergeometric differential equation using a new variable and using the Rosseland approximation for the radiation. The governing differential equations are solved analytically and the effects of various parameters on velocity profiles, skin friction coefficient, temperature profile and wall heat transfer are presented graphically. The results have possible technological applications in liquid-based systems involving stretchable materials.     

Mixed convection row on vertical surface

Mixed convective heat transfer on a vertical surface has been investigated for uniform free stream velocity and for several values of Prandtl number. An exact similarity solution is obtained for the case of a wall temperature that is inversely proportional to the distance from the leading edge. The non-dimensional temperature distribution suggests that over large η the boundary layer temperature is less than the free stream temperature.     

An engineering procedure for air side performance evaluation of flat tube heat exchangers with louvered fins

An accurate evaluation of possible air side heat transfer surface geometries is a prerequisite for optimal heat exchanger design. Aiming for practical engineering applicability a simplified and transparent analytical procedure for the assessment of louvered fin and flat tube heat exchanger geometries and the calculation of fin parameters that enable maximal performance for given boundary conditions has been developed. The proposed method comprises determining fins temperature profiles and effective heat transfer temperature difference, introduction of a relative heat transfer surface area, as well as the utilization of recent experimentally obtained heat transfer correlations confirmed for the observed range of boundary conditions. The proposed methodology is validated through comparison with experimental and numerical results of other authors.     

Simulation studies on multi-mode heat transfer from an open cavity with a flush-mounted discrete heat source

Prominent results of a simulation study on conjugate convection with surface radiation from an open cavity with a traversable flush mounted discrete heat source in the left wall are presented in this paper. The open cavity is considered to be of fixed height but with varying spacing between the legs. The position of the heat source is varied along the left leg of the cavity. The governing equations for temperature distribution along the cavity are obtained by making energy balance between heat generated, conducted, convected and radiated. Radiation terms are tackled using radiosity-irradiation formulation, while the view factors, therein, are evaluated using the crossed-string method of Hottel. The resulting non-linear partial differential equations are converted into algebraic form using finite difference formulation and are subsequently solved by Gauss–Seidel iterative technique. An optimum grid system comprising 111 grids along the legs of the cavity, with 30 grids in the heat source and 31 grids across the cavity has been used. The effects of various parameters, such as surface emissivity, convection heat transfer coefficient, aspect ratio and thermal conductivity on the important results, including local temperature distribution along the cavity, peak temperature in the left and right legs of the cavity and relative contributions of convection and radiation to heat dissipation in the cavity, are studied in great detail.     

Natural convection with surface radiation from a planar heat generating element mounted freely in a vertical channel

Experiments and numerical simulations have been conducted to study the conjugate heat transfer by natural convection and surface radiation from a planar heat generating element placed centrally between two adiabatic vertical plates. The relevant problem dependent parameters considered in this study are modified Rayleigh number, channel aspect ratio, stream-wise location of the heat generating element, and surface emissivities of the heat generating element and the adiabatic side plates. Experiments are conducted for different values of modified Rayleigh number ranging from 3.2 × 10⁵ to 1.6 × 10⁷ and surface emissivities 0.05, 0.55, 0.75 and 0.85. The interdependence between the heat transfer mechanism and the flow field under the influence of surface radiation on natural convection is explored and discussed. Experimental correlations for total and convective Nusselt number, and dimensionless temperature in terms of relevant parameters have been developed. The mathematical model governing the problem has been numerically solved using a commercial computational fluid dynamics package FLUENT 6.3 and the numerical predictions substantiate the experimental observations.     

Numerical solution of the conjugate heat transfer between forced counterflowing streams

In this paper we study numerically the steady-state conjugate heat transfer process between two counterflowing forced streams separated by a wall with finite thermal conductivity. Using the Lighthill approximation, the energy equations for both fluids can be written as an integral relationship between the temperature and the temperature gradient at both interfaces. The energy equation for the solid given by the Laplace equation is solved numerically using the above mentioned boundary conditions together with those coming from the adiabatic edges. Three non-dimensional parameters appear in the problem, α, β and ?, α corresponds to the ratio of the ability of the plate to carry heat in the streamwise direction to the ability of the fluid to carry out of the plate, β ist the relationship between the thermal boundary layer thicknesses of both fluids and ? corresponds to the aspect ratio of the plate. The distribution of the temperature of the plate as well the overall heat transfer rates have been numerically obtained. The influence of the longitudinal heat conduction through the wall is very important on the overall heat transfer rates. The maximum average Nusselt number occurs for a finite value of α, depending strongly on β and ?.     

Surface energy effect on boiling heat transfer

Boiling is a complex phenomenon and depends upon many factors like liquid properties, liquid pressure and temperature, temperature of the heating surface, orientation of the heating surface, surface chemistry, etc. Study of the effect of surface energy, one such factor, on boiling heat transfer is carried out and presented here. Data for various fluids viz. water, different types of alcohols and for various surfaces has been collected from the open literature and analysed with regard of effect of surface energy. The results of the investigations along with the recommendations have been presented in this paper. The investigations have shown that the increase in surface energy has resulted in increase in the heat transfer coefficient for distilled water, while the increase in surface energy has resulted in decrease in the heat transfer coefficient for alcohols. There is scarcity of relevant data available for further investigation and in this regard, need for benchmark data has been raised. Also need for establishment of a standard for comparison and analysis of different experimental results has been put forth.The paper is dedicated in honor of Sir Isaac Newton, a genius scientist whose greatness is beyond words. But, he was much more than that. He was an animal lover, a man of peace, a man of character, a man of holiness, purity...! A saint! Light!! Love!!!