A numerical study on heat transfer enhancement and design of a heat exchanger with porous media in continuous hydrothermal flow synthesis system

The aim of this study is to use a new configuration of porous media in a heat exchanger in continuous hydrothermal flow synthesis(CHFS)system to enhance the heat transfer and minimize the required length of the heat exchanger.For this purpose,numerous numerical simulations are performed to investigate performance of the system with porous media.First,the numerical simulation for the heat exchanger in CHFS system is validated by experimental data.Then,porous media is added to the system and six different thicknesses for the porous media are examined to obtain the optimum thickness,based on the minimum required length of the heat exchanger.Finally,by changing the flow rate and inlet temperature of the product as well as the cooling water flow rate,the minimum required length of the heat exchanger with porous media for various inlet conditions is assessed.The investigations indicate that using porous media with the proper thickness in the heat exchanger increases the cooling rate of the product by almost 40% and reduces the required length of the heat exchanger by approximately 35%.The results also illustrate that the most proper thickness of the porous media is approximately equal to 90% of the product tube's thickness.Results of this study lead to design a porous heat exchanger in CHFS system for various inlet conditions.

Numerical simulation of membrane humidifier with different flow fields for medical application

Medical humidifier is one of the vital instruments for a respiratory patient in hospital,which is used to humidify the required oxygen for respiratory patients.The conventional type of humidifier,bubble humidifier,has some technical problems,including the need to drain condensed water and a lack of accurate control of air or oxygen required by the patient.In contrast,Membrane humidifier has exciting advantages,including the simplicity of the system,the absence of moving parts,very low noise,and the ability to control temperature and humidity.In this study,three configurations,including parallel,cross,and serpentine of a single module of a membrane humidifier according to the person's weight and breathing rate(the range of 10–28 SLPM)are numerically investigated.For validation of numerical models,a membrane humidifier experimental setup test is used.The obtained results indicated that the crossflow configuration for membrane humidifier has a minimum Dew Point Approach Temperature(DPAT)(2<DPAT<5),which confirms that this flow field has better performance than other flow fields.The results show that increasing the volume flow rate increases the DPAT for membrane humidifiers and Water Vapor Temperature Recovery(WVTR).Furthermore,with an increase of 7 L/min of the gas mixture,the relative humidity has decreased by about 30%.This decrease was most outstanding in the cross-flow field and less in the serpentine flow field.