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Article
Publication date: 12 June 2009

Y.P. Cheng, T.S. Lee and H.T. Low

In this paper three‐dimensional numerical simulations were conducted for the periodically developed laminar flow in the sinusoid wavy fin‐and‐tube heat exchanger.

Abstract

Purpose

In this paper three‐dimensional numerical simulations were conducted for the periodically developed laminar flow in the sinusoid wavy fin‐and‐tube heat exchanger.

Design/methodology/approach

A novel CLEARER algorithm is adopted to guarantee the fully coupling between the pressure and velocity, and it can not only speed up the convergence rate, but also overcome the severe grid non‐orthogonality in the wavy fin‐and‐tube heat exchanger. The influence of wave amplitude, fin pitch, tube diameter and wave density on fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics is analyzed under different Reynolds numbers.

Findings

The numerical results show that with the increase of wave amplitude, tube diameter or wave density, both the friction factor and Nusselt number will increase, and the increase rate of friction factor is higher than that of Nusselt number. It is interesting to note that, at low Reynolds numbers the Nusselt number increases with the decrease of fin pitch, while at high Reynolds numbers, the Nusselt number increases with the increase of fin pitch.

Originality/value

The numerical results presented in this paper may provide some useful guidance in the design of the wavy fin‐and‐tube heat exchanger with large number of rows of tubes.

Details

International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, vol. 19 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0961-5539

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 April 2006

Nawaf H. Saeid and K.N. Seetharamu

To study the thermal performance of both co‐current and counter‐current parallel flow heat exchangers. The hot stream is assumed to flow in the middle of two cold streams and…

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Abstract

Purpose

To study the thermal performance of both co‐current and counter‐current parallel flow heat exchangers. The hot stream is assumed to flow in the middle of two cold streams and exchange heat with them.

Design/methodology/approach

The dimensionless governing equations are derived based on the conservation of energy principle and solved using FEM based on subdomain collocation method and Galerkin's method. The results show that the subdomain collocation method is more accurate than the Galerkin's method, as observed when the results obtained are compared with the analytical results for the classical two‐fluid heat exchangers.

Findings

The results are presented in terms of effectiveness and number of transfer units (Ntu) for different values of the governing parameters. The governing parameters are the Ntu, the heat capacity ratios, the overall heat transfer coefficient ratio, and the inlet temperatures parameter. The results show that the effectiveness of the three‐fluid heat exchanger is always higher than that of classical two‐fluid flow heat exchanger for fixed values of the governing parameters. The results also show that for fixed values of the governing parameters, the effectiveness of the counter‐current is higher than the co‐current parallel flow three‐fluid heat exchangers.

Research limitations/implications

One‐dimensional governing equations are derived based on the conservation of energy principle. The ranges of the governing parameters are: Ntu (0:5), the heat capacity ratios (0:1,000), the overall heat transfer coefficient ratio (0:2), and the inlet temperatures parameter (0:1).

Practical implications

Both co‐current and counter‐current parallel flow heat exchangers are used in the thermal engineering applications. The design and performance analysis of these heat exchangers are of practical importance.

Originality/value

This paper provides the details of the performance analysis of co‐current and counter‐current parallel flow heat exchangers, which can be used in thermal design.

Details

International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, vol. 16 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0961-5539

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 March 2004

K.N. Seetharamu, G.A. Quadir, Z.A. Zainal and G.M. Krishnan

Heat exchangers are devices for exchanging energy between two or more fluids. They find applications in various industries like power, process, electronics, refining, cryogenics…

Abstract

Heat exchangers are devices for exchanging energy between two or more fluids. They find applications in various industries like power, process, electronics, refining, cryogenics, chemicals, metals and manufacturing sector. Even though heat exchanger designs have been reported quite extensively, they are generally limited to steady‐state performance, single phase fluids, a few of the many possible flow arrangements and only two fluid heat exchangers. While these designs encompass the majority of the heat exchanger applications, there are some designs, which involve several fluids such as in cryogenics or fault‐tolerant heat exchangers. The governing differential equations for a three‐fluid heat exchanger are written based on the conservation of energy. The finite element method is used to solve the governing differential equations along with the appropriate boundary conditions. The case of a Buoyonet heat exchanger (used for pasteurizing milk) is analysed and the results are compared with the analytical solution available in the literature. The Buoyonet heat exchanger, treated as a three‐fluid heat exchanger is also analysed. The effect of heat loss to the ambient from a parallel flow double pipe heat exchanger is also investigated and the results are compared with those available in the literature. The results are presented both in terms of the temperature distribution along the length of the heat exchanger and the variation of effectiveness with NTU. The methodology presented in this paper can be extended to heat exchangers with any number of streams and any combination of the flow arrangements.

Details

International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, vol. 14 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0961-5539

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 20 April 2023

Berrak Gülmüş, Burak Muratçobanoğlu, Emre Mandev and Faraz Afshari

The purpose of this study is to numerically and experimentally survey the thermal efficiency of a block-type heat exchanger operated in different working conditions by using pure…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to numerically and experimentally survey the thermal efficiency of a block-type heat exchanger operated in different working conditions by using pure water and two nanofluids as heat transfer fluids.

Design/methodology/approach

An aluminum block-type heat exchanger integrated with Peltier thermoelectric element was designed and installed to operate in a cycle, and the thermal performance of the heat exchanger, heat transfer rate, Nusselt and heat transfer coefficient variations were examined at different bath water temperatures by using recycled nanofluids. New generation surface-modified Fe3O4@SiO2-mix-(CH2)3Cl@Imidazol/water nanofluid was used as heat transfer fluid in the cycle. In addition, CFD simulation was performed using ANSYS/Fluent to investigate the temperature distribution and fluid flow structure in the used heat exchanger.

Findings

Experiments were carried out by using numerical and experimental methods. In the experiments, the operating conditions such as flow rate, volume fraction of the nanofluid and water bath temperature were changed to find the effect of each parameter on the thermal efficiency. The Reynolds number varied depending on the test conditions, which was calculated in the range of approximately 100 < Re < 350. In addition, Nusselt number and heat transfer coefficient of test fluids were very close to each other. For 0.4% nanofluid, the maximum h value was obtained as 3837.1, when the Reynolds number was measured as 314.4.

Originality/value

In the scientific articles published in the field of heat exchangers operated by nanofluids, little attention has been paid to the stability of the nanofluids and sedimentation of particles in the base fluids. In addition, in most cases, experiments were implemented using an electrical resistance as a heat source. In this research, stable surface-modified nanofluids were used as heat transfer fluids, and it was found that the Peltier thermoelectric can be used as heat sources with acceptable efficiency in flat-type heat exchangers and even non-circular channels.

Details

International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, vol. 33 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0961-5539

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 28 September 2018

Jyothiprakash K.H., Krishnegowda Y.T., Krishna Venkataram and K.N. Seetharamu

Heat exchangers working in cryogenic temperature ranges are strongly affected by heat ingression from the ambient. This paper aims to investigate the effect of ambient heat

Abstract

Purpose

Heat exchangers working in cryogenic temperature ranges are strongly affected by heat ingression from the ambient. This paper aims to investigate the effect of ambient heat-in-leak on the performance of a three-fluid cross-flow cryogenic heat exchanger.

Design/methodology/approach

The governing equations are derived for a three-fluid cross-flow cryogenic heat exchanger based on the conservation of energy principle. For given fluid inlet temperatures, the governing equations are solved using the finite element method to obtain exit temperatures of the three-fluid exchanger. The performance of the heat exchanger is determined using effectiveness-number of transfer units (e-NTU) method. In the present analysis, the amount of ambient heat-in-leak to the heat exchanger is accounted by two parameters Ht and Hb. The variation of the heat exchanger effectiveness due to ambient heat-in-leak is analyzed for various non-dimensional parameters defined to study the heat exchanger performance.

Findings

The effect of ambient heat in leak to the heat exchanger from the surrounding is to increase the dimensionless exit mean temperature of all three fluids. An increase in heat in leak parameter (Ht = Hb) value from 0 to 0.1 reduces hot fluid effectiveness by 32 per cent for an NTU value of 10.

Originality Value

The effect of heat-in-leak on a three-fluid cross-flow cryogenic heat exchanger is significant, but so far, no investigations are carried out. The results establish the efficacy of the method and throw light on important considerations involved in the design of such heat exchangers.

Details

International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, vol. 28 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0961-5539

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 June 2019

Tomasz Sobota

The knowledge of the heat transfer coefficient is important for the proper design of heat exchangers as well as for the determination of the working medium outlet temperatures…

Abstract

Purpose

The knowledge of the heat transfer coefficient is important for the proper design of heat exchangers as well as for the determination of the working medium outlet temperatures. This paper aims to present a method of simultaneous determination of coefficients in correlation formulas for the Nusselt number on both sides of the heat transfer surface.

Design/methodology/approach

The idea of the developed method is based on determining such a values of the coefficients in Nusselt number correlations that fulfill the condition of equality between the measured and calculated temperature at the outlet of heat exchanger in terms of least squares method. To test the proposed method, a special experimental installation was built. The heat transfer in helically coiled tube-in-tube heat exchanger was examined for the wide range of temperature changes and volumetric flow rates of working fluid.

Findings

The simulation results were validated with an experimental data. The results show that the heat transfer coefficient of the counter-current is higher than the co-current flow in helically coiled heat exchanger. This phenomenon can be beneficial particularly in the laminar flow regime.

Research limitations/implications

The correlation for the Nusselt number as a function of the Reynolds and Prandtl numbers for hot and cold liquid was obtained with the least squares method for the experimental data.

Practical implications

The presented method allows for the simultaneous determination of heat transfer coefficient on both sides of the wall without the necessity of indirect calculation of the overall heat transfer coefficient. The presented method can be used in the thermal design of various type heat exchangers.

Originality/value

This work presents the new methodology of determination correlations for the helically coiled tube-in-tube heat exchanger for co-current and counter-current arrangement, which can be used in thermal design.

Details

International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, vol. 30 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0961-5539

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 January 2021

Reza Ramezanpour Jirandeh, Mehrangiz Ghazi, Amir Farhang Sotoodeh and Mohammad Nikian

The purpose of this paper is to present a novel and applied method for optimum designing of plate-finned heat exchanger network. Considering the total annual cost as the objective…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present a novel and applied method for optimum designing of plate-finned heat exchanger network. Considering the total annual cost as the objective function, a network of plate-finned heat exchanger is designed and optimized.

Design/methodology/approach

Accurate evaluation of plate-finned heat exchanger networks depends on different fin types with 10 different geometrical parameters of heat exchangers. In this study, fin numbers are considered as the main decision variables and geometrical parameters of fins are considered as the secondary decision variables. The algorithm applies heat transfer and pressure drop coefficients correction method and differential evolution (DE) algorithm to obtain the optimum results. In this paper, optimization and minimization of the total annual cost of heat exchanger network is considered as the objective function.

Findings

In this study, a novel and applied method for optimum designing of plate-finned heat exchanger network is presented. The comprehensive algorithm is applied into a case study and the results are obtained for both counter-flow and cross-flow plate-finned heat exchangers. The total annual cost and total area of the network with counter-flow heat exchangers were 12.5% and 23.27%, respectively, smaller than the corresponding values of the network with cross-flow heat exchanger.

Originality/value

In this paper, a reliable method is used to design, optimize parameters and the economic optimization of heat exchanger network. Taking into account the importance of plate-finned heat exchangers in industrial applications and the complexity in their geometry, the DE methodology is adopted to obtain an optimal geometric configuration. The total annual cost is chosen as the objective function. Applying this technique to a case study illustrates its capability to accurate design plate-finned heat exchangers to improve the objective function of the heat exchanger network from the economic viewpoint with the design of details.

Details

Journal of Engineering, Design and Technology , vol. 19 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1726-0531

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 4 January 2019

Hossein Arasteh, Mohammad Reza Salimpour and Mohammad Reza Tavakoli

In the present research, a numerical investigation is carried out to study the fluid flow and heat transfer in a double-pipe, counter-flow heat exchanger exploiting metal foam…

Abstract

Purpose

In the present research, a numerical investigation is carried out to study the fluid flow and heat transfer in a double-pipe, counter-flow heat exchanger exploiting metal foam inserts partially in both pipes. The purpose of this study is to achieve the optimal distribution of a fixed volume of metal foam throughout the pipes which provides the maximum heat transfer rate with the minimum pressure drop increase.

Design/methodology/approach

The governing equations are solved using the finite volume method. The metal foams are divided into different number of parts and positioned at different locations. The number of metal foam parts, their placements and their volume ratios in each pipe are sought to reach the optimal conditions. The four-piece metal foam with optimized placement and partitioning volume ratios is selected as the best layout. The effects of the permeability of metal foam on the Nusselt number, the performance evaluation criteria (PEC) and the overall heat transfer coefficient are investigated.

Findings

It was observed that the heat transfer rate, the overall heat transfer coefficient and the effectiveness of the heat exchanger can be improved as high as 69, 124 and 9 per cent, respectively, while the highest value of PEC is 1.36.

Practical implications

Porous materials are widely used in thermo-fluid systems such as regenerators, heat sinks, solar collectors and heat exchangers.

Originality/value

Having less pressure drop than fully filled heat exchangers, partially filled heat exchangers with partitioned metal foams distributed optimally enhance heat transfer rate more economically.

Details

International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, vol. 29 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0961-5539

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 14 August 2019

Jin-yuan Qian, Zan Wu, Qian-Kun Zhang, Zhi-Jiang Jin and Bengt Ake Sunden

The purpose of this paper is to study the effects of dimple geometries and arrangements on the heat transfer enhancement in a dimple jacketed heat exchanger.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to study the effects of dimple geometries and arrangements on the heat transfer enhancement in a dimple jacketed heat exchanger.

Design/methodology/approach

For the purpose of this paper, with the experimental validated numerical model, this paper carries out numerical simulations of both single dimples with different geometries and the whole dimple jacketed heat exchanger with different dimple arrangements. For a single dimple, its secondary vortex flow, temperature differences and the pressure drop performance for different geometries are analyzed. For the whole dimple jacketed heat exchanger, the heat transfer and pressure drop performances are investigated by comparing the no dimple, triangular and rectangular dimple arrangements.

Findings

Results show that dimples can improve the heat transfer efficiency compared with conventional jacketed heat exchanger, and specific geometries and arrangement of dimples for better heat transfer performance are figured out.

Originality/value

This paper considers both dimple geometries and arrangements, which can be useful for further applications in specific integrated devices or similar applications.

Details

International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, vol. 29 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0961-5539

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 6 August 2019

Meysam Yari, Rasool Kalbasi and Pouyan Talebizadehsardari

This study aims to simulate the flow and heat transfer through an air handling unit to reduce its energy consumption by a novel creative idea of using an air-to-air heat exchanger.

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to simulate the flow and heat transfer through an air handling unit to reduce its energy consumption by a novel creative idea of using an air-to-air heat exchanger.

Design/methodology/approach

To do this, both first and second laws of thermodynamics energy and exergy balance equations were solved numerically by an appropriate developed computer code.

Findings

Using the air-to-air heat exchanger in dry conditions decreases the cooling coil load by 0.9 per cent, whereas the reduction for humid conditions is 27 per cent. Similarly, using air-to-air heat exchanger leads to an increase in the first law of efficiency in dry and humid conditions by 0.9 per cent and 36.8 per cent, respectively.

Originality/value

The second law of efficiency increases by 1.55 per cent and 2.77 per cent in dry and humid conditions, respectively. In other words, the effect of using an air-to-air heat exchanger in humid conditions is more than that in dry conditions.

Details

International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, vol. 29 no. 10
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0961-5539

Keywords

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