Enhancement of natural convection heat transfer from a vertical heated plate using inclined fins

An enhancement technique is developed for natural convection heat transfer from a vertical heated plate with inclined fins, attached on the vertical heated plate to isolate a hot air flow from a cold air flow. Experiments are performed in air for inclination angles of the inclined fins in the range of 30° to 90° as measured from a horizontal plane, with a height of 25 to 50 mm, and a fin pitch of 20 to 60 mm. The convective heat transfer rate for the vertical heated plate with inclined fins at an inclination angle of 60° is found to be 19% higher than that for a vertical heated plate with vertical fins. A dimensionless equation on the natural convection heat transfer of a vertical heated plate with inclined fins is presented. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heat Trans Asian Res, 36(6): 334–344, 2007; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/htj.20168     

Study of Heat Transfer Distribution in a Channel with Inclined Target Surface Cooled by a Single Array of Staggered Impinging Jets

An experimental investigation has been carried out to study the heat transfer characteristics in a channel with a heated target surface inclined at an angle, cooled by a single array of staggered impinging jets. The work encompasses the effect of three feed channel aspect ratios (5, 7, 9) and three exit outflow orientations (coincident with the entry flow, opposed to the entry flow, and both), and three Reynolds numbers (9400, 14,400, 18,800) on heat transfer. Results show that increasing the Reynolds number increases the heat transfer on the inclined target surface. The outflow orientations affect significantly the local heat transfer charactracistrics, through influencing the jet flow together with the crossflow in the impingement channel. The outflow orientation coincident with the entry flow and the outflow from both sides show better averaged Nusselt number values compared to outflow orientation opposed to the entry flow. The inclined surface affects the local Nusselt number distribution especially for the outflow orientation opposing the entry flow at the narrow region of the impingement channel. In general, the feed channel aspect ratio does not affect the Nusselt number distribution, except for outflow coincident with the entry flow. The local Nusselt number for aspect ratio 9 has been found to be greater than the Nusselt number for aspect ratio 5 by 11%. Additionally, for a given jet-orifice plate with staggered holes, the heat transfer is almost the same throughout the target surface for the outflow exiting in both directions.     

The effect of condenser heat transfer on the energy performance of a plate heat pipe solar collector

For a novel prototype solar collector, using a plate heat pipe, condenser heat transfer was analysed in detail. The condenser has the shape of a rectangular channel. Flow and heat transfer of water in the rectangular channel was modelled and the heat transfer coefficient assessed, using the Fluent code. Under typical operating conditions a mixed convection situation occurs. The channel is inclined and heating is through one wall only (upper channel surface). The range of temperature differences considered was similar to the one verified under real operating conditions, covering a wide range of Grashof numbers. Results showed that the Nusselt number is significantly higher than the one for forced convection in a rectangular channel with fully developed boundary layers. In order to enhance heat transfer, a modification to the rectangular channel was analysed, using baffles to improve flow distribution and increase velocity. The effect of this modification on collector energy performance (efficiency) was assessed. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Enhancement of natural convection heat transfer from an inclined heated plate using rectangular grids

The effect of an inclination angle on the natural convection heat transfer from an inclined heated plate with rectangular grids is investigated. Heat transfer coefficients are measured in air when the plates are inclined at angles from ?30 to +60 from a vertical plane, grid heights are in the range of 5 to 10 mm, and diagonal lengths of the grid are 25, 50, 100, and 200 mm. For each configuration, the surface heat flux ranges from 50 to 200 W/m². It is found that the rectangular grids increase local heat transfer coefficients when the grids are applied to an inclined plate. The rectangular grids increase the average heat transfer coefficients along the horizontal centerline of the plate by up to 20% compared to those coefficients of a smooth plate, even when the angles of inclination are ±30° © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heat Trans Asian Res, 31(5): 408–419, 2002; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/htj.10043     

Free convection suppression using honeycomb cellular materials

It is well-known that an undisturbed layer of air forms an effective insulating barrier against heat transfer because of its low thermal conductivity. In confined air spaces any initiation of free convection will inevitably lead to an increase in the rate of heat transfer across the gap for a fixed temperature difference. To delay the onset of convection for horizontal layers of fluid it has been shown theoretically and experimentally that the introduction of cell walls will effectively raise the critical Rayleigh number by providing more shear surfaces within the fluid. This paper reports on some of the earlier work dealing with the horizontal cell (this being vertical cellular constraining walls within a horizontal fluid layer) and extends the theory to cover the case of the inclined cell and the vertical cell. The photographic results of flow visualization studies are also presented as it is felt that an inspection of the flow patterns leads to a fuller understanding of the problem. Whereas the concept of the critical Rayleigh number is quite valid for the horizontal layer of fluid heated from below, it is shown to be inadequate for the inclined fluid layer as would be found in an inclined solar absorber of the flat plate type. Instead, the solutions of the equations show that convection must be initiated for any temperature gradient to be established between the absorber plate and the glass cover plate. Although the honeycomb may be effective in suppressing convection in the horizontal case, the effect of such constraints on the fluid in the inclined case is negligible as far as suppression of natural convection is concerned.     

Heat transfer in a PEMFC flow channel

A numerical method was applied to the heat transfer performance in the flow channel for a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) using the finite element method (FEM). The heat transfer enhancement has been analyzed by transversely installing a baffle plate and a rectangular cylinder to manage flow pattern in the flow channel of the fuel cell. Case studies include baffle plates (gap ratios from 00.05 to 0.2) and the rectangular cylinder (width-to-height ratios from 0.66 to 1.66 with a constant gap ratio of 0.2; various gap ratios from 0.05 to 0.3 with a constant width-to-height ratio 1.0) at constant Reynolds number. The results show that the transverse installation of a baffle plate and a rectangular cylinder in the flow channel can effectively enhance the local heat transfer performance of a PEMFC. The installation of a rectangular cylinder has a better effective heat transfer performance than a baffle plate; the larger the width of the cylinder is the better effective heat transfer performance becomes.     

Heat Transfer Characteristics of Grooved Fin Under Forced Convection

Material removal from an extended surface in the form of perforations and slots is a proven technique to augment heat transfer rates with a considerable reduction in the surface weight. This work presents the outcomes of experimental investigation on heat transfer characteristics of a plate fin having grooves of various configurations on two broad faces. The experimental data pertaining to heat transfer have been collected by varying Reynolds number from 1500 to 5000, for transverse grooved, inclined grooved, V-grooved, and multi-V-grooved fin. The results of the grooved fin are compared with that of a smooth conventional fin to gauge the heat transfer performance of modified fin. The maximum enhancement in Nusselt number corresponds to the inclined groove fin, whereas the highest value of grooved fin effectiveness is obtained for the multi-V-grooved fin. The Nusselt number correlations are presented for different fin configurations tested in this work.     

Numerical investigation of heat transfer enhancement on a porous vortex-generator applied to a block-heated channel

The numerical simulation is used to obtain the unsteady laminar flow and convective heat transfer in the block-heated channel with the porous vortex-generator. The general Darcy–Brinkman–Forchheimer model is adopted for the porous vortex-generator. The parameters studies including porosity, Darcy number, width-to-height ratio of porous vortex-generator and Reynolds number have been explored on heat transfer enhancement and vortex-induced vibration in detail. The results indicate that heat transfer enhancement and vortex-induced vibration increase with increasing Reynolds number and width-to-height ratio. However, the porosity has slight influence on heat transfer enhancement and vortex-induced vibration. When Darcy number is 10^?3 or 10^?4, installing a porous vortex-generator with B/h = 1.0 improves overall heat transfer the best along heated blocks, and has a strong reduction of vortex-induced vibration.     

Soret and Dufour effects on free convection heat and mass transfer from an arbitrarily inclined plate in a porous medium with constant wall temperature and concentration

The free convection boundary layer flow over an arbitrarily inclined heated plate in a porous medium with Soret and Dufour effects is studied by transforming the governing equations into a universal form. The generalized equations can be used to derive the similarity solutions for limiting cases of horizontal and vertical plates and to calculate the heat and mass transfer characteristics between these two limiting cases. The heat and mass transfer characteristics are presented as functions of Soret parameter, Dufour parameter, inclination variable, Lewis number, and buoyancy ratio. Results show that an increase in the Dufour parameter tends to decrease the local heat transfer rate, and an increase in the Soret parameter tends to decrease the local mass transfer rate. As the inclination variable increases, the local Nusselt number and the local Sherwood number decrease from their respective values for horizontal plates, reach their respective minima, and then increase to their respective values for vertical plates. The minima are where the tangential and normal components of buoyancy force are comparable.     

Effect of Flow Distribution to the Channels on the Thermal Performance of the Multipass Plate Heat Exchangers

Over last two decades, plate heat exchangers (PHEs) have presented themselves as a viable alternative to the conventional shell and tube heat exchangers in the process and power industries. The thermal theory available for plate heat exchangers in the literature largely works on the assumption of equal flow in each channel. However, it is well known that the distribution of fluid from port to channel in PHE is far from being uniform. The present study brings about this port to channel flow distribution effect on the thermal behavior of multipass plate heat exchangers. The variation of the heat transfer coefficient due to flow variation from channel to channel has also been taken into consideration. Heat exchangers with both equal and unequal passes of the fluids have been studied. The results indicate that the flow maldistribution severely affects the performance of plate heat exchangers, and multipassing can act as an important tool to reduce the deterioration in performance due to maldistribution. The results show that with a low number of passes, the increase of velocity of fluid may be counterproductive in terms of heat transfer enhancement. Also, adding plates in order to increase the heat transfer surface may not be effective due to an increase in flow maldistribution. The correlations for 1-1, 1-2, 2-2, and 2-3 pass plate heat exchangers with the maldistribution index as a parameter are also presented.     

Natural Convection in a Trapezoidal Enclosure Heated from the Side with a Baffle Mounted on Its Upper Inclined Surface

A numerical investigation examined the effects on heat transfer of mounting baffles to the upper inclined surfaces of trapezoidal cavities. Two thermal boundary conditions are considered. In the first, the left, short vertical wall is heated while the right, long vertical wall is cooled (buoyancy assisting mode along the upper inclined surface of the cavity). In the second, the right, long vertical wall is heated while the left, short vertical wall is cooled (buoyancy opposing mode along the upper inclined surface of the cavity). For each boundary condition, computations are performed for three baffle heights, two baffle locations, four Rayleigh number values, and three Prandtl number values. Results are displayed in terms of streamlines, isotherms, and local and average Nusselt number values. For both boundary conditions, predictions reveal a decrease in heat transfer in the presence of baffles, with its rate generally increasing with increasing baffle height and Prandtl number. For a given baffle height, a higher decrease in heat transfer is generally obtained with baffles located close to the short vertical wall. Average Nusselt number correlations for both boundary conditions are presented.     

Experimental Study of Free Convection Heat Transfer from Horizontal Isothermal Cylinders Arranged in Vertical and Inclined Arrays

Laminar free convection heat transfer from vertical and inclined arrays of horizontal isothermal cylinders in air were investigated experimentally. Experiments were carried out using a Mach-Zehnder interferometer. For the vertical array, the cylinder spacing (center to center) varied from 2 to 5 cylinder diameter. The same range of vertical spacing also was used for the inclined array. The horizontal spacing varied from 0 to 2 cylinder diameter in the inclined array. The Rayleigh number based on the cylinder diameter varied between 10³ and 3× 10³. The effect of vertical and horizontal cylinder spacing and Rayleigh number on the heat transfer from each individual cylinder and the whole array were investigated. It is found that the free convection heat transfer from any individual cylinder in the array depends on its position relative to the others. Heat transfer correlations have been developed for any individual cylinder in the vertical and inclined arrays and for the arrays. Also the experiment was carried out on a single cylinder for a comparison with the results from other research.     

A Possible Strategy for the Performance Enhancement of Turbine Blade Internal Cooling With Inclined Ribs

Ribbing the internal passages of turbine blades with 45 deg inclined ribs is a common practice to achieve a good compromise between high heat transfer coefficients and not too large pressure drop penalties. Literature studies demonstrated that, for channels having a large aspect ratio, the effect of the secondary vortices induced by angled ribs is reduced and the heat transfer performance is degraded. In order to enhance the performance, a possible strategy consists in introducing one or more longitudinal ribs (intersecting ribs) aligned to the main direction of flow. The intersecting ribs cut the ribbed channel into separate sub-channels and markedly affect the secondary flows with consequent increases in heat transfer performance. Experiments were performed for a rectangular channel with a large aspect ratio (equal to five) and 45 deg inclined ribs, regularly spaced on one of the principal walls of the channel. The effect of one and two intersecting ribs on friction and heat transfer characteristics has been investigated. The ribbed surface of the channel has been electrically heated to provide a uniform heat flux condition over each inter-rib region. The convective fluid was air. Heat transfer experiments have been conducted by using the liquid crystal thermography. Results obtained for the ribbed channel without intersecting rib and with one/two intersecting ribs are compared in terms of dimensionless groups.     

Comparative Study of Thermal Performance of Parallel Plate and Rectangular Microchannel Counter Flow Heat Exchangers

This paper is aimed at comprehensive investigations of the thermal performance of parallel plate and rectangular microchannel counter flow heat exchangers based on axial conduction, number of transfer units, and non-dimensional power density. The geometrical parameters of the two configurations are optimized for a given heat transfer rate, effectiveness, and pressure drop. A reduced order model of rectangular micro channel counter flow heat exchanger is developed in which it is transformed into a hydrodynamically and thermally equivalent parallel plate micro heat exchanger. To improve the accuracy of the model, correction factors obtained from detailed computational fluid dynamics model are introduced. Various factors affecting the dimensionless power density of both the counter flow micro heat exchangers are studied. It is found that the axial conduction plays an important role on the performance of rectangular channel counter flow micro heat exchanger. In the limiting case where the channel aspect ratio tends to zero, the dimensionless power density of rectangular channel is found to approach that of a parallel plate counter flow micro heat exchanger.     

Control of buoyancy-induced temperature and flow fields with an embedded adiabatic thin plate in porous triangular cavities

Natural convection has been performed in an insulated horizontally thin plate embedded in a triangular enclosure filled with fluid saturated porous medium, numerically. Bottom and inclined wall of triangular enclosure are isothermally heated and cooled, respectively. Vertical wall of enclosure is adiabatic. Steady, two-dimensional, laminar governing equations, which are written with Darcy model, were solved with finite-difference method. Calculations are conducted for different lengths and locations of thin plate, different aspect ratios, and Darcy-modified Rayleigh number. Prandtl number was chosen as 0.71. It is observed that the change on plate location in vertical and horizontal axes makes small effect on heat transfer; however flow field and temperature distribution strongly affected from these parameters.     

Thermal analysis of plate condensers in presence of flow maldistribution

Flow maldistribution in plate heat exchangers causes deterioration of both thermal and hydraulic performance. The situation becomes more complicated for two-phase flows during condensation where uneven distribution of the liquid to the channels reduces heat transfer due to high liquid flooding. The present study evaluates the thermal performance of falling film plate condensers with flow maldistribution from port to channel considering the heat transfer coefficient inside the channels as a function of channel flow rate. A generalized mathematical model has been developed to investigate the effect of maldistribution on the thermal performance as well as the exit quality of vapor. A wide range of parametric study is presented, which shows the effects of the mass flow rate ratio of cold fluid and two-phase fluid, flow configuration, number of channels and correlation for the heat transfer coefficient. The analysis presented here also suggests an improved method for heat transfer data analysis for plate condensers.     

The effects of thermal radiation on unsteady MHD free convective flow through the porous medium between two vertical plates with Hall effects

The effects of thermal radiation and Hall current on magnetohydrodynamic free convection three-dimensional flow in a vertical channel filled with a porous medium have been studied. We consider an incompressible viscous and electrically conducting incompressible viscous fluid in a parallel plate channel bounded by a loosely packed porous medium. The fluid is driven by a uniform pressure gradient parallel to the channel plates, and the entire flow field is subjected to a uniform inclined magnetic field of strength inclined at an angle of inclination $\alpha$ with the normal to the boundaries in the transverse xy-plane. The temperature of one of the plates varies periodically, and the temperature difference between the plates is high enough to induce radiative heat transfer. The effects of various parameters on the velocity profiles, the skin friction, the temperature field, and the rate of heat transfer in terms of their amplitude and phase angles are shown graphically.     

Modeling of natural convection and radiative heat transfer in inclined thermosyphon system installed in the roof of a building

Some construction laws require the integration of an open thermosyphon system having multiple functions to the building roof. In order to analyze the efficiency of this system, a numerical model was developed. This model is based on the study of the natural convection coupled with radiative heat transfer in an inclined air channel. Two configurations are studied, the first one is a simple channel formed by two parallel plates and the second one is equipped with fin blades joined to the upper plate. The air flow in the channel which is due to the buoyancy forces is fully turbulent and the turbulence was modeled using the k‐ε model. Some numerical results obtained were validated using the experimental ones of Khedari et al. (2002) and those of Nouanégué and Bilgen (2009). The effect of the radiative heat transfer on the mean Nusselt number was shown. Correlations for Nusselt numbers were obtained for the two configurations as functions of the geometric parameters and the Rayleigh number. The main objective of this study is to use these correlations in other models to facilitate the operation of this system     

带错排V肋和反V肋矩形通道强化传热机理及规律研究

采用热色液晶瞬态测量技术研究了带45°V肋和45°反V肋的矩形通道端壁的传热特性,分析V肋诱导产生二次流强化传热机理及其传热系数分布规律。通道进口雷诺数变化范围是10 460~32 100,肋高与当量直径的比为0.13,肋间距与肋高的比为10。实验结果表明:带V肋和反V肋矩形通道传热系数随着雷诺数的增大而增大;正V肋诱导产生沿V肋从中间向两侧发展的二次流,反V肋片诱导气流沿肋方向产生从两边流向中间的二次流;斜置V肋诱导产生的二次流增强了通道的传热能力;带V肋通道的传热强于带反V肋通道。     

Heatline Analysis on Heat Transfer and Convective Flow of Nanofluids in an Inclined Enclosure

This article presents a heatline method to analyse the transport mechanism of heat transfer and convective flow of nanofluids in an inclined square enclosure, where a heated thin plate located in the middle of the enclosure. The fluid flow, heat transfer, and heat transport characteristics are illustrated using streamlines, isotherms, Nusselt number and heatlines. Results show that fluid flow and temperature fields strongly depend on Rayleigh number, inclination angle, solid volume fraction, types of nanoparticles and the plate length, and the maximum strength of heatfunction increases as the inclination angle and Rayleigh number increase.