An experimental and numerical investigation of air side heat transfer and flow characteristics on finned plate configuration

In this paper, a new type of finned plate heat exchanger (FPHE) is presented to recover the waste heat from exhaust flue gases. A finned plate configuration causes low pressure drop and it is especially appropriate for heat transfer at the flue gas side. Meanwhile, this paper presents a detailed experimental and numerical study of convection heat transfer and pressure drop of the new structure. Three-dimensional numerical simulation results using the CFD code FLUENT6.3 were compared with experimental data to select the best model. The heat transfer and pressure drop with different geometry pattern was then studied numerically using the selected model. And the velocity field and temperature distribution of air flow in the finned plate channel are presented with different geometry patterns. These results provide insight into improved designs of FPHEs.