Evaporation heat transfer and pressure drop of ammonia in a mixed configuration chevron plate heat exchanger

Ammonia is a naturally occurring environment friendly refrigerant with attractive thermo-physical properties. Experimental investigation of heat transfer and pressure drop during steady state evaporation of ammonia in a commercial plate heat exchanger has been carried out for an un-symmetric 30°/60° chevron plate configuration. Experiments were conducted for saturation temperatures ranging from −25 °C to −2 °C. The heat flux was varied between 21 kW m⁻² and 44 kW m⁻². Experimental results show significant effect of saturation temperature, heat flux and exit vapor quality on heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop. Current mixed plate configuration data are compared with previous studies on the same heat exchanger with symmetric plate configurations. This comparison highlighted importance of optimization in selection of the heat exchangers. Correlations for two phase Nusselt number and friction factor for each chevron plate configuration considered are developed. A Nusselt number correlation generalized for a range of chevron angles is also proposed.     

三个关键几何参数对人字形波纹钎焊板式换热器换热性能影响的分析

以水-水热交换器为例,以CFD模拟软件为手段,以κ-ε模型为基础构建人字形波纹板式换热器模型,并系统分析波纹倾角、波纹深度、波纹间距这3个重要几何参数对换热器内部温度场、压力场、流场及平均努塞尔数和流动阻力的影响。研究结果表明,触点是板间换热效果最好的点,触点的扰流作用使流体在触点周围湍流程度最高,传热得到强化,这也是板式换热器内流体在雷诺数较低时发生湍流的主要原因;另一方面,流体经过触点后压力损失较大,是产生阻力损失的主要原因。波纹倾角是最重要的一个影响参数,最优波纹倾角在60°附近,此时换热效果较好而阻力尚未达到最大;波纹深度增加,平均努塞尔数增大,换热效果趋于好转,板间压力降也逐渐降低。但随着波纹深度的增加,结垢的倾向也会增加,因此较为合理的波纹深度应该在4～5mm之间;在给定的边界条件下,通过计算所得的波纹间距与波纹深度之比在3～4范围内时换热器性能较好。     

小通道钎焊板式冷凝器性能仿真与实验研究

本文针对当量直径为1.5 mm的小通道钎焊板式冷凝器的换热和压降特性进行了仿真和实验研究。采用有限体积法建立了一维稳态分布参数模型,对R134a和R1234yf两种制冷剂在板间冷凝换热的性能进行仿真模拟,并对模型进行了实验验证。实验结果表明:本文所建立的仿真模型精度较高,换热性能平均误差为4%,压降平均误差为16%,可用于分析换热器的整体性能。最后用此模型仿真对比了R134a和R1234yf在小通道钎焊板式换热器内的冷凝换热特性,结果显示,在相同工况下,用R1234yf替代R134a,传热系数平均下降9%,压降平均下降8%。     

Ammonia evaporation in a mixed configuration chevron plate heat exchanger with and without miscible oil

An experimental study was conducted to determine the effects of miscible lubricant oil on evaporation of ammonia in a vertical chevron plate heat exchanger. The heat exchanger was configured in a U-type counter flow arrangement with mixed (30°/60°) chevron plate configuration. Experiments were carried out for four saturation temperatures ranging from −25 °C to −2 °C for a fixed ammonia mass flux rate of 6.5 kg m⁻² s⁻¹ and over a range of heat flux levels resulting in a vapor quality at the heat exchanger exit ranging between 0.5 and 0.9. For a given saturation temperature, experiments were performed for 0%, 3%, 6% and 9% oil concentrations, by volume in ammonia. The oil concentration, exit vapor quality, heat flux and saturation temperature were found to have significant effects on the heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop of ammonia. Based on the experimental data, correlations to estimate two phase Nusselt number and friction factor, generalized for the whole range of oil concentration have been presented.     

Theoretical analysis of the thermal performance of a plate heat exchanger at various chevron angles using lithium bromide solution with nanofluid

Nanofluids technology has been rapidly developing over the last two decades. In this paper, the performance of a lithium bromide (LiBr) solution with and without nanoparticles in plate heat exchanger (PHE) for various chevron angles and mass flow rates was investigated. As a result, the heat transfer rate and the overall heat transfer coefficient in 60°/60° PHE is over 100% higher than that of 30°/30° PHE, and the effectiveness of the PHE in 60°/60° PHE is about 70% higher than that of 30°/30° PHE. By using nanoparticle in the working fluid, the heat transfer performance can increase significantly. The heat transfer rate of 3 vol.% nanofluids increased about 3–8% compare to that of LiBr solution for all chevron PHEs. Besides, the 60°/60° PHE using 3 vol.% nanofluids produced the largest heat transfer rate and heat exchange effectiveness under given operating conditions.     

Application of an embossed plate heat exchanger to adsorption chiller

The present research conducted a parametric study on an embossed plate heat exchanger (plate HX) type adsorption chiller with SWS-1L and water pair, using a numerical method. The plate HX has a relatively high heat transfer capacity and compact size, and this study is a first attempt to apply the plate HX as a new type of adsorption chiller, as an improved alterative to the fin-tube type heat exchanger. A feasibility study was conducted on the base model and the result is comparable to the value for existing fin-tube type adsorption chillers. Furthermore, a parameter study was conducted for seven important design parameters, embossing diameter ratio, embossing height, embossing pitch, bed thickness, plate thickness, heating temperature and heat transfer fluid velocity. The results provided guidelines for the optimal designs of plate HX type adsorption chiller. The optimal values of COP and SCP were 0.5118 and 662.8 W kg⁻¹, respectively.     

采用新制冷剂R134a和混合制冷剂R410A的板式蒸发器性能研究

采用分布参数法对波纹型通道板式蒸发器建立数学模型,并进行了数值模拟.通过计算板内局部蒸发传热系数和压降可以简化板式蒸发器内复杂三维网状流动的传热特性.针对应用较广的R134a和R410A制冷剂来比较和分析板式蒸发器在小的温差下的传热性能.在3种不同的计算工况下简要分析了各种热力参数的变化对蒸发器整体传热性能的影响.不同的制冷剂,其传热系数和压降差别较大,相同工况下采用R410A替代R22,板式蒸发器的传热性能可提高8.5%～10.0%,且压降可大幅降低.     

Experimental and numerical study of the compact heat exchanger with different microchannel shapes

Experimental and numerical analysis of heat transfer and fluid flow in the compact heat exchanger has been done in this paper. In an open circuit wind tunnel, developed on purpose for this investigation, the measurement of working media temperatures and mass flow rates for heat exchanger with microchannel coil has been accomplished. In accordance with the heat exchangers used for experiments, numerical 3D simulation of adequate geometry shapes has been done. With utilization of air/water side numerical simulation, more detailed results have been achieved in relation to the simulation that assumes constant temperature or constant heat flux on the pipe wall. Good agreement between experimentally measured and numerically calculated results has been accomplished. The influence of different microchannel shapes on heat transfer effectiveness and pressure drop has been studied numerically. Comparison of results has been made accompanied by the discussion and final conclusions.     

Heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of nanofluids in a plate heat exchanger

In this paper, the heat transfer characteristics and pressure drop of the ZnO and Al2O3 nanofluids in a plate heat exchanger were studied. The experimental conditions were 100-500 Reynolds number and the respective volumetric flow rates. The working temperature of the heat exchanger was within 20-40 degrees C. The measured thermophysical properties, such as thermal conductivity and kinematic viscosity, were applied to the calculation of the convective heat transfer coefficient of the plate heat exchanger employing the ZnO and Al2O3 nanofluids made through a two-step method. According to the Reynolds number, the overall heat transfer coefficient for 6 vol% Al2O3 increased to 30% because at the given viscosity and density of the nanofluids, they did not have the same flow rates. At a given volumetric flow rate, however, the performance did not improve. After the nanofluids were placed in the plate heat exchanger, the experimental results pertaining to nanofluid efficiency seemed inauspicious.     

三角形波纹板式溶液热交换器传热特性研究

为了解三角形波纹板式溶液热交换器的传热特性，通过对其物理数学模型的求解，并与平板式溶液热交换器相对比，得到了三角形波纹板式溶液热交换器的流动、传热特性以及不同溶液流速对其传热性能的影响。研究三角形波纹板式溶液热交换器的波纹形状对其流动、传热性能的影响，得到波纹长度、波纹夹角与换热器的传热系数、换热器内流体压降的关系，其结果可为溶液热交换器的设计与优化提供依据与理论指导。     

Numerical analysis of evaporation performance in a finned-tube heat exchanger

This study discusses the effects of the heat exchanger type, refrigerant, inner tube configuration, and fin geometry on evaporator performance by adopting updated correlations of EVSIM, a numerical analysis model based on the tube-by-tube method developed by Domanski. The heat exchanger types considered are the cross-counter flow type and cross-parallel flow type. The refrigerants considered for the numerical test as a working fluid are R-134a, R-410A and R-22. For inner tube configuration, enhanced tube and smooth tube cases are considered. For the air side evaporation performance, heat exchangers using plate fins, wavy fins and slit fins are analyzed. Results show that the heat transfer rate of the cross-counter flow type heat exchanger is 3% higher than that of the cross-parallel flow type with R-22. The total heat transfer rate of the evaporator using R-410A is higher than those using R-22 and R-134a, while the total pressure drop of R-410A is lower than those of R-22 and R-134a. The heat transfer rate of the evaporator using enhanced tubes is two times higher than that using smooth tubes, but the pressure drop of the enhanced tube is 45–50% higher than that of the smooth tubes. The evaporation performance of slit fins is superior to that of plate fins by 54%.     

Heat transfer analysis of fin-and-tube heat exchangers with flat and louvered fin geometries

This paper analyzes the fluid flow and heat exchange on the air side of a multi-row fin-and-tube heat exchanger. A comparison is given between fin-and-tube heat exchanger characteristics with flat and louvered fins in a wider range of operating conditions defined by Reynolds number (based on fin spacing and air frontal velocities). The detailed representation of calculated data for the louvered heat exchanger shows significantly better heat transfer characteristics and a slightly higher pressure drop. The CFD procedure was validated by comparing the numerical simulation results with the experimental results showing the minimal average Nusselt number deviation and an almost perfectly corresponding pressure drop.     

绕管换热器壳侧气相流动实验与数值模拟

搭建了绕管换热器壳侧流动实验平台,并对一个竖直布置的4层绕管式换热器进行了壳侧空气流动实验。与关联式进行对比,包含换热器结构参数的Messa压降关联式,平均绝对偏差12.82%。同时,针对绕管式换热器壳侧几何结构的周期性,利用周期性边界条件,简化了绕管换热器壳侧的几何模型。并应用简化后的三维微元结构对绕管壳侧的传热和压降特性进行了数值模拟。模拟结果与实验较为吻合,压降的平均绝对偏差为16.81%。     

CFD simulation on inlet configuration of plate-fin heat exchangers

A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) program FLUENT has been used to predict the fluid flow distribution in plate-fin heat exchangers. It is found that the flow maldistribution is very serious in the y direction of header for the conventional header used in industry. The results of flow maldistribution are presented for a plate-fin heat exchanger, which is simulated according to the configuration of the plate-fin heat exchanger currently used in industry. The numerical prediction shows a good agreement with experimental measurement. By the investigation, two modified headers with a two-stage-distributing structure are proposed and simulated in this paper. The numerical investigation of the effects of the inlet equivalent diameters for the two-stage structures has been conducted and also compared with experimental measurement. It is verified that the fluid flow distribution in plate-fin heat exchangers is more uniform if the ratios of outlet and inlet equivalent diameters for both headers are equal.     

Pressure drop characteristics of cryogenic mixed refrigerant at macro and micro channel heat exchangers

Mixed Refrigerant-Joule Thomson (MR-JT) refrigerators are widely used in various kinds of cryogenic systems these days. The temperature glide effect is one of the major features of using mixed refrigerants since a recuperative heat exchanger in a MR-JT refrigerator is utilized for mostly two-phase flow. Although a pressure drop estimation for a multi-phase and multi-component fluid in the cryogenic temperature range is necessarily required in MR-JT refrigerator heat exchanger designs, it has been rarely discussed so far. In this paper, macro heat exchangers and micro heat exchangers are compared in order to investigate the pressure drop characteristics in the experimental MR-JT refrigerator operation. The tube in tube heat exchanger (TTHE) is a well-known macro-channel heat exchanger in MR-JT refrigeration. Printed Circuit Heat Exchangers (PCHEs) have been developed as a compact heat exchanger with micro size channels. Several two-phase pressure drop correlations are examined to discuss the experimental pressure measurement results. The result of this paper shows that cryogenic mixed refrigerant pressure drop can be estimated with conventional two-phase pressure drop correlations if an appropriate flow pattern is identified.     

异型管管翅式换热器性能研究

管翅式换热器的翅片优化为研究热点,而对管型的研究较少.本文提出一种与圆管相同水力半径的异型管的设计方法,建立了异型管管翅式换热器空气侧换热的数值计算模型,研究了管型、迎风方向和翅片间距对异型管管翅式换热器性能的影响.结果表明:对于双排的异型管换热器,第一排管大圆迎风,第二排管小圆迎风时,空气流动最均匀,压降最低,是综合...     

干式风机盘管翅片管换热器流动换热的数值模拟与试验对比

利用CFD软件对干式风机盘管翅片管换热器空气侧的流动和换热特性进行数值模拟。同时,将模拟结果与试验数据进行对比分析,结果表明数值模拟计算方法是可行的,可为干式风机盘管产品的优化设计提供参考。     

Refrigerant R134a vaporisation heat transfer and pressure drop inside a small brazed plate heat exchanger

This paper presents the experimental heat transfer coefficients and pressure drop measured during refrigerant R134a vaporisation inside a small brazed plate heat exchanger (BPHE): the effects of heat flux, refrigerant mass flux, saturation temperature and outlet conditions are investigated. The BPHE tested consists of 10 plates, 72 mm in width and 310 mm in length, which present a macro-scale herringbone corrugation with an inclination angle of 65° and corrugation amplitude of 2 mm.The experimental results are reported in terms of refrigerant side heat transfer coefficients and frictional pressure drop. The heat transfer coefficients show great sensitivity both to heat flux and outlet conditions and weak sensitivity to saturation temperature. The frictional pressure drop shows a linear dependence on the kinetic energy per unit volume of the refrigerant flow.The experimental heat transfer coefficients are also compared with two well-known correlations for nucleate pool boiling and a correlation for frictional pressure drop is proposed.     

板式蒸发器换热性能的数值模拟1：数学模型

采用分布参数法对波纹型多通道单流程板式蒸发器建立数学模型，通过计算局部蒸发换热系数和摩擦压降可以简化板式蒸发器内复杂三维流动的换热关系。总结了文献已有的各种换热和压降关联式，并添加到模型控制方程组中。基于此模型，可对目前应用较广的R134a和R410A制冷剂的板式蒸发器在小换热温差下的换热性能进行研究。     

空调室外换热器分布式流路设计与实验验证

空调室外换热器通常使用流路数目均一的流路,使空调器无法在不同的制冷剂流动特性下均具有最佳的换热状态。本文提出了一种室外换热器的分布式流路方案,以提升空调器的全年换热性能。首先根据制冷剂在换热器内的沿程流动特性提出流路数目随制冷剂干度增大而增大的分布式流路方案;然后通过换热器仿真软件分析分布式流路的换热特性和阻力特性;最后通过实验验证了分布式流路对空调器性能的提升效果。结果表明,与采用固定流路的空调室外换热器相比,采用分布式流路的空调系统的全年性能系数APF提高了1. 8%～5. 8%;室外换热器的额定制热量、低温制热量、超低温制热量分别约提高了4. 3%、7. 5%、5. 9%。