Effect of EHD on heat transfer enhancement during two-phase condensation of R-134a at high mass flux in a horizontal smooth tube

In this study, effect of electrohydrodynamic (EHD) on the condensation heat transfer enhancement and pressure drop of pure R-134a are experimentally investigated. The test section is a 2.5 m long counterflow double tube heat exchanger with refrigerant flowing in the inner tube and cooling water flowing in the annulus. The inner tube is made from smooth horizontal copper tubing of 9.52 mm outer diameter. The electrode is made from stainless steel wire of 1.47 mm diameter. The test runs are performed at average saturated temperatures ranging between 40 and 60°C, mass flux ranging between 200 and 600 kg/m² s, heat flux ranging between 10 and 20 kW/m² and applied voltage at 2.5 kV. For the presence of the electrode, the experimental results indicate that the maximum heat transfer enhancement ratio is around 30% while the maximum increase in pressure drop is about 25%.     

The effects of span position of winglet vortex generator on local heat/mass transfer over a three-row flat tube bank fin

The naphthalene sublimation method was used to study the effects of span position of vortex generators (VGs) on local heat transfer on three-row flat tube bank fin. A dimensionless factor of the larger the better characteristics, JF, is used to screen the optimum span position of VGs. In order to get JF, the local heat transfer coefficient obtained in experiments and numerical method are used to obtain the heat transferred from the fin. A new parameter, named as staggered ratio, is introduced to consider the interactions of vortices generated by partial or full periodically staggered arrangement of VGs. The present results reveal that: VGs should be mounted as near as possible to the tube wall; the vortices generated by the upstream VGs converge at wake region of flat tube; the interactions of vortices with counter rotating direction do not effect Nusselt number (Nu) greatly on fin surface mounted with VGs, but reduce Nu greatly on the other fin surface; the real staggered ratio should include the effect of flow convergence; with increasing real staggered ratio, these interactions are intensified, and heat transfer performance decreases; for average Nu and friction factor (f), the effects of interactions of vortices are not significant, f has slightly smaller value when real staggered ratio is about 0.6 than that when VGs are in no staggered arrangement. A cross section area of flow passage [m²] - A _mim minimum cross section area of flow passage [m²] - a width of flat tube [m] - b length of flat tube [m] - B _pT lateral pitch of flat tube: B _pT = S ₁/T _p - d _h hydraulic diameter of flow channel [m] - D _naph diffusion of naphthalene [m²/s] - f friction factor: f = pd _h/(Lu ² _max/2) - h mass transfer coefficient [m/s] - H height of winglet type vortex generators [m] - j Colburn factor [–] - JF a dimensionless ratio, defined in Eq. (23) [–] - L streamwise length of fin [m] - L _PVG longitudinal pitch of vortex generators divided by fin spacing: L _pVG = l _VG/T _p - l _VG pitch of in-line vortex generators [m] - m mass [kg] - m mass sublimation rate of naphthalene [kg/m²·s] - Nu Nusselt number: Nu = d _h/ - P pressure of naphthalene vapor [Pa] - p non-dimensional pitch of in-line vortex generators: p = l _VG/S ₂ - Pr Prandtl number [–] - Q heat transfer rate [W] - R universal gas constant [m²/s²·K] - Re Reynolds number: Re = ·u _max·d _h/ - S ₁ transversal pitch between flat tubes [m] - S ₂ longitudinal pitch between flat tubes [m] - Sc Schmidt number [–] - Sh Sherwood number [–]: Sh = hd _h/D _naph - Sr staggered ratio [–]: Sr = (2Hsin – C)/(2Hsin) - T _p fin spacing [m] - T temperature [K] - u _max maximum velocity [m/s] - u average velocity of air [m/s] - V volume flow rate of air [m³/s] - x,y,z coordinates [m] - z sublimation depth[m] - heat transfer coefficient [W/m²·K] - heat conductivity [W/m·K] - viscosity [kg/m²·s] - density [kg/m³] - attack angle of vortex generator [°] - time interval for naphthalene sublimation [s] - fin thickness, distance between two VGs around the tube [m] - small interval - C distance between the stream direction centerlines of VGs - p pressure drop [Pa] - 0 without VG enhancement - 1, 2, I, II fin surface I, fin surface II, respectively - atm atmosphere - f fluid - fin fin - local local value - m average - naph naphthalene - n,b naphthalene at bulk flow - n,w naphthalene at wall - VG with VG enhancement - w wall or fin surface     

Effect of tube pitch on heat transfer in shell-and-tube heat exchangers—new simulation software

A new program for simulation and optimization of the shell-and-tube heat exchangers is prepared to obtain useful results by employment of the computing technology fast and accurately. As an application of this program, the effects of transverse and longitudinal tube pitch in the in-line and staggered tube arrangements on the Nusselt numbers, heat transfer coefficients and thermal performance of the heat exchangers were investigated. The obtained values of the tube pitch were compared with literature values.     

Three-dimensional numerical study and field synergy principle analysis of wavy fin heat exchangers with elliptic tubes

Three dimensional numerical studies were performed for laminar heat transfer and fluid flow characteristics of wavy fin heat exchangers with elliptic/circular tubes by body-fitted coordinates system. The simulation results of circular tube were compared with the experiment data, then circular and elliptic (e = b/a = 0.6) arrangements with the same minimum flow cross-sectional area were compared. A max relative heat transfer gain of up to 30% is observed in the elliptic arrangement, and corresponding friction factor only increased by about 10%. The effects of five factors on wavy fin and elliptic tube heat exchangers were examined: Reynolds number (based on the smaller ellipse axis, 500  4000), eccentricity (b/a, 0.6  1.0), fin pitch (F_p/2b, 0.05  0.4), fin thickness (F_t/2b, 0.006  0.04) and tube spanwise pitch (S₁/2b, 1.0  2.0). The results show that with the increasing of Reynolds number and fin thickness, decreasing of the eccentricity and spanwise tube pitch, the heat transfer of the finned tube bank are enhanced with some penalty in pressure drop. There is an optimum fin pitch (F_p/2b = 0.1) for heat transfer, but friction factor always decreases with increase of fin pitch. And when F_p/2b is larger than 0.25, it has little effects on heat transfer and pressure drop. The results were also analyzed from the view point of field synergy principle. It was found that the effects of the five factors on the heat transfer performance can be well described by the field synergy principle.     

Effect of fin thickness on air-side performance of herringbone wavy fin-and-tube heat exchangers

In the present study, the effects of fin thickness on the heat transfer and friction characteristics of fin-and-tube heat exchangers having herringbone wavy fin configuration are experimentally investigated. The experimental apparatus consists essentially of a well insulated open wind tunnel and herringbone wavy fin-and-tube heat exchangers made from aluminium plate finned, copper tube. Air and water are used to be working fluids in air-side and tube-side, respectively. A total of 10 samples of the fin-and-tube heat exchangers are tested. The experimental procedures are conducted by keeping the inlet water temperature at a pre-selected value, adjusting the water volumetric flow rate at a specific value and varying the air velocity. The results are presented as plots of the Colburn factor and friction factor against the Reynolds number based on the fin collar outside diameter (Re_Dc). From the results, it is found that for number of tube rows (N) = 2, the Colburn factor increases with increasing fin thickness. For N 4, the Colburn factor decreases with increasing fin thickness when Re_Dc < 1800, and increases with increasing fin thickness when Re_Dc > 2500. The friction factor increases with increasing fin thickness when fin pitch (F_p) 1.81 mm.     

A tube-by-tube reduction method for simultaneous heat and mass transfer characteristics for plain fin-and-tube heat exchangers in dehumidifying conditions

This study proposed a new method, namely a tube-by-tube reduction method to analyze the performance of fin-and-tube heat exchangers having plain fin configuration under dehumidifying conditions. The mass transfer coefficients which seldom reported in the open literature, are also presented. For fully wet conditions, it is found that the reduced results for both sensible heat transfer performance and the mass transfer performance by the present method are insensitive to change of inlet humidity. Unlike those tested in fully dry condition, the sensible heat transfer performance under dehumidification is comparatively independent of fin pitch. The ratio of the heat transfer characteristic to mass transfer characteristic (h_c,o/h_d,o C_p,a) is in the range of 0.6~1.0, and the ratio is insensitive to change of fin spacing at low Reynolds number. However, a slight drop of the ratio of (h_c,o/h_d,o C_p,a) is seen with the decrease of fin spacing when the Reynolds number is sufficient high. This is associated with the more pronounced influence due to condensate removal by the vapor shear. Correlations are proposed to describe the heat and mass performance for the present plate fin configurations. These correlations can describe 89% of the Chilton Colburn j-factor of the heat transfer (j_h) within 15% and can correlate 81% of the Chilton Colburn j-factor of the mass transfer (j_m) within 20%.     

Air-side performance of louver-finned flat aluminum heat exchangers at a low velocity region

The heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of heat exchangers having louver fins were experimentally investigated. The samples had small fin pitches (1.0–1.4 mm), and experiments were conducted up to a very low frontal air velocity (as low as 0.3 m/s). Below a certain Reynolds number (critical Reynolds number), the fall-off of the heat transfer coefficient curve was observed. The critical Reynolds number was insensitive to the louver angle, and decreased as the louver pitch to fin pitch ratio (L _p /F _p ) decreased. Existing correlations on the critical Reynolds number did not adequately predict the data. The heat transfer coefficient curves crossed over as the Reynolds number decreased. Possible explanation is provided considering the louver pattern between neighboring rows. Different from the heat transfer coefficient, the friction factor did not show the fall-off characteristic. The reason was attributed to the form drag by louvers, which offsets the decreased skin friction at low Reynolds numbers. The friction factor increased as the fin pitch decreased and the louver angle increased. A new correlation predicted 92% of the heat transfer coefficient and 94% of the friction factor within ±10%.     

Inverse determination of the heat transfer characteristics on a circular plane fin in a finned-tube bundle

In this work, we present the numerical results of the average heat transfer coefficients, $ \overline{{h_{\varphi } }} $ , over a circular plane fin in a finned-tube bundle for both aligned and staggered arrangements as well as the fin efficiency and the heat flux dissipated from the whole fin. The study covers a wide range of Reynolds number (2 × 10³–3 × 10⁴), for three different positions of the finned tube inside the heat exchanger. The temperature distribution on the fins surfaces was obtained experimentally using infrared thermography technique. The predicted values of the heat transfer coefficient were obtained numerically using the finite element method in conjunction with the conjugate gradient algorithm and the measured temperatures.     

Performance and optimum dimensions of flat fins for tube-and-fin heat exchangers: A generalized analysis

The performance of flat fins for tube-fin heat exchangers has been analyzed for both inline and staggered arrangement of tubes. In earlier published studies, regular square and equilateral triangular array tube layouts were considered. No such restriction is put in the present study. The analysis has been done by a semi-analytical technique where the boundary condition at the fin edge is discretely satisfied at a large number of points by a method of collocation. It has also been demonstrated that the approximate results obtained by the sector method closely agree with the prediction of semi-analytical technique. Finally, a generalized scheme of optimization based on Lagrange multiplier technique has been suggested which shows that irrespective of the volume and thickness of the fins, square and equilateral triangular array of tubes are the optimum layout for inline and staggered arrangements, respectively. This result was known so far only intuitively. The optimum dimensions for flat fins for other layout of tubes have also been obtained specifying the ratio of longitudinal to transverse tube pitch.     

Experimental investigation of convective heat transfer enhancement from 3D-shape heat sources by EHD actuator in duct flow

Heat transfer enhancement from cylindrical heat sources as electronic components established at the bottom of duct with in-line arrangement and also from the bottom by electrohydrodynamic (EHD) actuator has been investigated experimentally. Air flow is drawn to the duct with various Reynolds numbers based on hydraulic diameter of inlet of the test section (Re = 0, 500, 1100, 2500 and 3870) that include natural convection (confined and unconfined cases) and forced convection (laminar and turbulent flows). Wire electrodes are arranged in transverse direction and perpendicular to the main flow with two various arrangements and high voltages are applied up to 30 kV in the wires. The results revealed that the second electrode arrangement (three wires over the ribs) is more effective due to more enhancement of heat transfer and less corona power consumption in comparison with the first one (four wires between the ribs). Also the electric field is obviously more effective for low Reynolds numbers.