Parametric study of gross flow maldistribution in a single-pass shell and tube heat exchanger in turbulent regime

Uniform distribution of flow in tube bundle of shell and tube heat exchangers is an arbitrary assumption in conventional heat exchanger design. Nevertheless, in practice, flow maldistribution may be an inevitable occurrence which may have severe impacts on thermal and mechanical performance of heat exchangers i.e. fouling. The present models for flow maldistribution in the tube-side deal only with the maximum possible velocity deviation. Other flow maldistribution models propose and recommend the use of a probability distribution, e.g. Gaussian distribution. None of these, nevertheless, estimate quantitatively the number of tubes that suffer from flow maldistribution. This study presents a mathematical model for predicting gross flow maldistribution in the tube-side of a single-pass shell and tube heat exchanger. It can quantitatively estimate the magnitude of flow maldistribution and the number of tubes which have been affected. The validation of the resultant model has been confirmed when compared with similar study using computational fluid dynamics (CFD).     

Thermal-economic multi-objective optimization of shell and tube heat exchanger using particle swarm optimization (PSO)

Many studies are performed by researchers about shell and tube heat exchanger (STHE) but the multi-objective particle swarm optimization (PSO) technique has never been used in such studies. This paper presents application of thermal-economic multi-objective optimization of STHE using PSO. For optimal design of a STHE, it was first thermally modeled using e-number of transfer units method while Bell–Delaware procedure was applied to estimate its shell side heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop. Multi objective PSO (MOPSO) method was applied to obtain the maximum effectiveness (heat recovery) and the minimum total cost as two objective functions. The results of optimal designs were a set of multiple optimum solutions, called ‘Pareto optimal solutions’. In order to show the accuracy of the algorithm, a comparison is made with the non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II) and MOPSO which are developed for the same problem.     

Metal foam and fin implementation into a triple concentric tube heat exchanger over melting evolution

It is believed that it is going to be a sizeable mismatch between supply and demand when it comes to renewable resources. Lately, researchers are on course to compensate for the unpredictabilityof such resources by the employment of phase change materials (PCMs). Having multiple advantages, PCMs generally suffer from inadequate thermal conductivity which causes prolonged transition procedures. To tackle this issue, this study is fixated on two parameterswhich are linked to fins addition and porous media incorporation in a melting process within a triple concentric tube heat exchanger (TCTHX). The results provided by multiple cases underlined the significance of natural convection in the bare system, although finned and copper-metal-foam cases outshine buoyancy forces by roughly 45% and 97%, respectively. Material is a major determent when it comes to the selection of porous media as Al₂O₃ registered the weakest performance among SiC, Ni and Cu, however, it managed to speed up the process by 75% which still is much higher than the finned system, implying that porous media is of higher priority over fins. The best scenario transpiredwhile fins and copper metal foam were integrated as 26% and 97% soars in efficacy have been obtained compared to individual incorporation of porous media and fins, respectively.     

Selection of the most suitable refrigerant for a shell and tube condenser

A theoretical performance study on a shell and tube condenser with various refrigerant blends was conducted for various ratios proposed by other researchers in the literature. The theoretical results showed that all of the alternative refrigerants investigated in the analysis have a slightly lower convective heat transfer coefficient than their base refrigerants. The refrigerant mixture of R290/R600, R152a/R125/R32 and R32/R134a were found to be the most proper replacement refrigerant among the alternatives.     

Multicomponent condensation in a shell and tube condenser – A comprehensive dataset

The purpose of this paper is to provide a database suitable for the validation of computer codes for condenser design purposes. It is too extensive to publish in full but copies of all data tables are available direct from the author. The test condenser is of industrial scale, (0.483 m diameter and 2.438 m between tubeplates), and design, (TEMA E), and should therefore be of particular relevance for this purpose. The important condition that all the individual resistances to heat and mass transfer should be controlling in some part of the dataset is fulfilled, by covering condensation of steam and steam–air mixtures, methanol and isopropanol and their mixtures with water, and hydrocarbon mixtures, commercial hexane and methylcyclohexane-toluene. Care is taken to ensure that the condenser is operating in a loaded condition with an appreciable vent flow to a knockout condenser. Data are reported at atmospheric pressure and at reduced pressures down to approximately 0.1 bar. Further the work includes measurements of the pressure and temperature profiles not only in condensation but with single-phase flow of air and two-phase flow of air–water mixtures in the stratified and spray flow regimes. The data have been analysed by standard methods available in the literature and specific conclusions are reached with respect to the performance of these methods. A particular feature is the application of rigorous models to predict multicomponent mass transfer. Care has been taken to describe the measurement techniques, their reliability and that of the dataset itself in consequence. The conclusions of the work are related to current industrial design practice and some needs for modification of current design methods are noted.     

Relation between evaporator and condenser lengths of a finless heat pipe to achieve a maximum heat flow per unit weight

Generally, it is an economic advantage to operate a heat pipe in a condition where the ratio of heat flow rate, Q, to mass, m, is a maximum. It is shown that a maximum of the function Q/m may be obtained if the ratio between the evaporator and the condenser lengths is optimum. To achieve this optimization, all the other geometrical elements of the heat pipe and the heat transfer coefficients are considered constants, the only variables being the two lengths.     

Calculation of overall heat transfer coefficients in a triple tube heat exchanger

In previous studies, calculation of overall heat transfer coefficients in a triple tube heat exchanger (TTHE) involved assumptions or approaches those are not valid in all cases. In this study a more generic way of calculating overall heat transfer coefficients in a TTHE has been developed. Consequently, temperature profiles of all streams in a TTHE in the axial direction were determined. An effective overall heat transfer coefficient that is related to the total resistance to heat transfer in the TTHE, was also determined to facilitate comparison of a TTHE to an equivalent double tube heat exchanger.     

Thermo-hydraulic characterization of a louvered fin and flat tube heat exchanger

In the present study, a whole heat exchanger with a hydraulic diameter of 2.3 mm is tested, which is a minichannel heat exchanger according to the Kandlikar classification. This is a louvered fin and flat tube heat exchanger currently used in car cooling systems, also known as radiator. A glycol-water mixture (60/40 in volume) circulates through the tubes at flows ranging from 100 to 7800 l/h and at a supply temperature of 90 °C. This fluid is cooled with ambient air at a temperature of 20 °C and at frontal air velocities varying between 0.5 and 7 m/s. The thermohydraulic performance of the heat exchanger is compared with the classical correlations given in the literature for the heat transfer and the friction factor calculation. On the glycol-water side the heat exchanger is characterized for Reynolds numbers from 30 to 8000. A first comparison is carried out with the correlations available in the literature with a purely predictive model by obtaining a predictive value with a systematic under prediction lower than 10%. In a second step a semi-empirical model is considered to identify the experimental heat transfer coefficients for this application.     

Heat transfer coefficients of shell and coiled tube heat exchangers

In the present study, the heat transfer coefficients of shell and helically coiled tube heat exchangers were investigated experimentally. Three heat exchangers with different coil pitches were selected as test section for both parallel-flow and counter-flow configurations. All the required parameters like inlet and outlet temperatures of tube-side and shell-side fluids, flow rate of fluids, etc. were measured using appropriate instruments. Totally, 75 test runs were performed from which the tube-side and shell-side heat transfer coefficients were calculated. Empirical correlations were proposed for shell-side and tube-side. The calculated heat transfer coefficients of tube-side were also compared to the existing correlations for other boundary conditions and a reasonable agreement was observed.     

Fundamental study of heat transfer augmentation of tube inside surface by cascade smooth surface-turbulence promoters

Arc-shaped turbulence promoters along the circular tube inside surface which have capability of cleaning down tube fouling by sponge balls are proposed for enhancing the heat transfer performance. First, flow characteristics and heat transfer performance of air flow in a rectangular channel for several promoters were investigated. The arc-shaped promoter was found to have the lowest pressure loss. Secondly, turbulence structures of water flow by the arc-shaped promoters in a circular tube were measured by use of a newly developed two-color LDV. The local heat transfer coefficient was shown to be well correlated to the Reynolds stress and the existence of the optimum height of the promoter as elucidated. Lastly, performances of thermoelectric power generation by using cascade arc-shaped promoters for OTEC were measured and the optimum condition was investigated.

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Untersuchungen zur Verbesserung des Wärmeübergangs an der inneren Rohroberfläche mittels einer Kaskade von Turbulenz-Promotoren

Zusammenfassung Es werden bogenförmige längs der inneren Oberfläche eines runden Rohres angeordnete Turbulenz-Promotoren vorgeschlagen, welche die Reinigung des Rohres von Ablagerungen mittels Wisch-Bällen erlauben und das Wärmeübergangsverhalten verbessern. Zunächst wurde das Verhalten des Wärmeübergangs einer Luftströmung in einem rechteckigen Kanal für verschiedene Promotoren untersucht. Es zeigte sich, daß die bogenförmigen Promotoren den niedrigsten Druckverlust verursachen. Dann wurden die durch die bogenförmigen Promotoren verursachten Turbulenzstrukturen in einem runden Rohr gemessen unter Verwendung eines neu entwickelten ZweifarbenLaser-Doppler-Verfahrens. Es zeigte sich, daß der Wärmeübergangskoeffizient gut mit der Reynoldschen Schubspannung berechnet werden kann und daß eine optimale Höhe des Promotors existiert. Schließlich wurde die Eignung dieser Promotoren für die thermoelektrische Energiewandlung untersucht und die dabei gegebenen optimalen Bedingungen herausgestellt.

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Nomenclature D height of rectangular channel or diameter of tube, m - H height of promoter, m - k turbulent energy, m²/s² - q² 3u ²+ v² /2, twice the kinetic energy, m²/s² - Re, Rh Reynolds number based onD and hydraulic diameter - U, V time mean velocity inx andy directions, m/s - u, v fluctuating velocity inx andy directions, m/s - x, y distances from promoter to downstream and from wall, m - dissipation rate of turbulent energy, m²/s³ Dedicated to Prof. Dr.-Ing. U. Grigull's 75th birthday     

Quantitative infrared investigation of local heat transfer in a circular finned tube heat exchanger assembly

This work deals with the local heat transfer coefficient evaluation over the fin of the second row of a staggered circular finned tube heat exchanger assembly. The coefficient distribution is determined by using a transient technique and by calculating the energy balance during the fin cooling. The calculation model takes into account radiation with the surrounding and lateral heat conduction into the material. The method uses infrared measurements and integration between time bounds that depend on space. It is proposed to choose the integration bounds with an original criterion based on local heat transfer. Validation is performed on the reference case consisting in a thin plate in an aerodynamically and thermally developing channel flow. Then, distributions of Nusselt number on the circular fin are presented for several Reynolds numbers. The high resolution of the whole method and set-up allow detecting thermal imprints of developing horseshoe vortices. These imprints are analyzed by following their angular evolution around the tube.     

Heat transfer and thermal performance characteristics of heat exchanger tube fitted with perforated twisted-tapes

Twisted tape insert was applied as a swirling flow generator for the passive heat transfer enhancement in the present work. The influences of the perforated twisted tapes (PTs) on the heat transfer, pressure loss and thermal performance characteristics were investigated experimentally. The experiments were performed under uniform wall heat flux condition by using PTs with y/W?=?3, 4 and 5, d/W?=?0.11, 0.14 and 0.17 and s/W?=?0.4, 0.6 and 0.8 where y is a twist length, d is a perforation hole diameter, s is a spacing between holes (pitch) and W is a tape width. The experimental results reveal that Nusselt number increased with decreasing s/W and y/W and increasing d/W. For the present range, the maximum heat transfer was obtained by utilizing the tape with s/W?=?0.4, d/W?=?0.17 and y/W?=?3, which is higher than those obtained from the plain tube with and without typical twisted tape by around 27.4 and 86.7%, respectively. In addition, the empirical correlations for Nusselt number, friction factor and thermal performance are also proposed in the present paper.     

Numerical study of heat and mass transfer of ammonia-water in falling film evaporator

To investigate the performance of the heat and mass transfer of ammonia water during the process of falling film evaporation in vertical tube evaporator, a mathematical model of evaporation process was developed and solved based on stream function. Then an experimental study of falling film evaporation was carried out in order to validate the mathematical model. A series of parameters, such as velocity, film thickness and concentration, etc., were obtained from the mathematical model. The calculated results show that the average velocity and the film thickness change sharp at the entrance region when x?x?>?100 mm. The film thickness depends largely on the flow rate of solution. It is observed that the heating power and mass flow of solution significantly affect the concentration difference between the inlet and outlet of evaporation tube. The calculated results reveal that the tube length has a significant impact on the amounts of ammonia vapor evaporated. It is suggested that the roll-worked enhanced tube should be used in order to decrease the concentration gradient in the film thickness direction and enhance the heat and mass transfer rate. Furthermore, the experimental and calculated results indicate that the inlet solution concentration has a great influence on the heat exchange capacity, the amounts of ammonia vapor evaporated and the evaporation pressure.