Thermal Performance of Elliptical Fin-and-Tube Heat Exchangers with Vortex Generator under Various Inclination Angles

Elliptical fin-and-tube heat exchangers are commonly used in air conditioning,heating,refrigeration industries,and ventilation.This study numerically investigates the effect of vortex generators on the performance of elliptical fin-and-tube heat exchanger under different inclination angles.In this study,air flow that is in the transitional regime is selected as the working fluid.Reynolds numbers at the inlet are varied in a range of 1300 to 2100,and the shear stress transport k-ωturbulence model is selected to solve the non-closure of basic turbulence equations.The ellipticity ratios of the tubes which are used for the analysis are between 0.6 and 1.0,and the inclination angles are varied from 15°to 75°.The effects of different inclination angles of vortex generators on the Colburn factor j,friction factor f,and efficiency index j/f are analyzed.The friction and Colburn factors are observed to increase with increasing vortex generator inclination angles.It is found that the efficiency factors for a 15°vortex generator inclination angle at 0.6,0.7,0.8,and 0.9 ellipticity ratios improve compared to the corresponding cases with no vortex generator.However,the vortex generator cannot improve the efficiency factor of the circular tube heat exchanger.The 3 D CFD method employed by this study has great potential for use in optimally designing the arrangement of the vortex generators to enhance the performance of heat exchangers.

Performance analysis of deep borehole heat exchangers for decarbonization of heating systems

Meeting the climate change mitigation targets will require a substantial shift from fossil to clean fuels in the heating sector.Heat pumps with deep borehole exchangers are a promising solution to reduce emissions.Here the thermal behavior of deep borehole exchangers(DBHEs)ranging from 1 to 2 km was analyzed for various heat flow profiles.A strong correlation between thermal energy extraction and power output from DBHEs was found,also influenced by the heating profile employed.Longer operating time over the year typically resulted in higher energy production,while shorter one yielded higher average thermal power output,highlighting the importance of the choice of heating strategy and system design for optimal performance of DBHEs.Short breaks in operation for regenerating the borehole,for example,with waste heat,proved to be favorable for the performance yielding an overall heat output close to the same as with continuous extraction of heat.The results demonstrate the usefulness of deep boreholes for dense urban areas with less available space.As the heat production from a single DBHE in Finnish conditions ranges from half up to even a few GWh a year,the technology is best suitable for larger heat loads.

Numerical Studies on Thermal and Hydrodynamic Characteristics of LNG in Helically Coiled Tube-in-Tube Heat Exchangers

As compact and efficient heat exchange equipment,helically coiled tube-in-tube heat exchangers(HCTT heat exchangers)are widely used in many industrial processes.However,the thermal-hydraulic research of liquefied natural gas(LNG)as the working fluid inHCTT heat exchangers is rarely reported.In this paper,the characteristics of HCTT heat exchangers,in which LNG flows in the inner tube and ethylene glycol-water solution flows in the outer tube,are studied by numerical simulations.The influences of heat transfer characteristics and pressure drops of the HCTT heat transfers are studied by changing the initial flow velocity,the helical middle diameter,and the helical pitch.The results indicate that different initial flow velocities in the inner tube and the outer tube of the HCTT heat exchanger have little influence on the secondary flow of the fluid in the helical tubes,and the overall flow characteristics tend to be stable.The smaller helical middle diameter of the HCTT heat exchanger leads to the shorter fluid flow length,the smaller resistance along the tubes and the increase of initial pressure under the condition of constant inlet velocity,which promotes the occurrence of secondary flow.The axial flow of fluid promotes the destruction of heat transfer boundary layer and gains strength of the turbulence and heat transfer efficiency.With the increase of the helical pitch of the HCTT heat exchanger,the turbulent intensity and the heat transfer efficiency are also increased.Moreover,the improvement of the flow state of the HCTT exchanger in a longer helical pitch also enhances the heat exchange efficiency.

Numerical Simulation of Liquified Natural Gas Boiling Heat Transfer Characteristics in Helically Coiled Tube-in-Tube Heat Exchangers

Helically coiled tube-in-tube(HCTT)heat exchangers are widely applied to the process technology because of their compactness and higher heat transfer efficiency.HCTT heat exchangers play an important role in liquified natural gas(LNG)use and cold energy recovery.The heat transfer characteristics,pressure distribution,and degree of vaporization of LNG in HCTT heat exchangers are numerically investigated.By comparing the simulation results of the computational model with existing experimental results,the effectiveness of the computational model is verified.The numerical simulation results show the vapor volume fraction of the HCTT heat exchanger is related to the inlet Reynolds number,inner tube diameters,and helix diameter.The vapor volume fraction increases rapidly from the fourth to the seventh equal division points of the helix tube length.On condition that the inlet Reynolds number is greater than 33500,the pressure drop rate gradually increases.When the magnitude of the vapor volume fraction is below 0.2,the heat transfer coefficient increase rate is greater than that when the vapor volume fraction is above 0.2.The heat exchange efficiency of HCTT heat exchangers increases with the decrease of the ratio of helix diameter to inner tube diameter.

Analysis of secondary flow in shell-side channel of trisection helix heat exchangers

The flow characteristics of shell-side fluid in the tube-and-shell heat exchangers with trisection helical baffles with 35° inclined angles are numerically analyzed. The secondary flow distribution of the fluid in the shell-side channel is focused on. The results on meridian planes indicate that in the shell-side channel, the center part of fluid has an outward tendency because of the centrifugal force, and the peripheral region fluid has an inward tendency under the centripetal force. So in a spiral cycle, the fluid is divided into the upper and lower beams of streamlines, at the same time the Dean vortices are formed near the left baffle, and then the fluid turns to centripetal flow near the right baffle. Finally the two beams of streamlines merge in the main flow. The results of a number of parallel slices between two parallel baffles with the same sector in a swirl cycle also show the existence of the secondary flow and some backward flows at the V-gaps of the adjacent baffles. The secondary flows have a positive effect on mixing fluid by promoting the momentum and mass exchange between fluid particles near the tube wall and in the main stream, and thus they will enhance the heat transfer of the helix heat exchanger.

Performance comparison of heat exchangers using sextant/trisection helical baffles and segmental ones

The shell side flow fields of both sextant and trisection helical baffle heat exchangers are presented on meridian and multilayer hexagon slices.It verifies that the performance of sextant schemes is better than those of the other kinds of helical baffle heat exchangers.The main mechanisms are due to the restricted leakage flow in the minimized gaps with increased baffle number and by one row of tubes dampen the leakage flow in the circumferential overlapped area of the adjacent helical baffles.The performance features were simulated on two different angled sextant helical heat exchangers and each compared with two trisection ones of either identical helical pitch or identical incline angle.The results verified that the performances of helical heat exchangers are mainly determined by the helical pitch rather than the baffle incline angle.The average values of comprehensive index hoΔpo-1/3 of the trisection helical schemes T-24.1°and T-29.7°are correspondingly 3.47%and 3.34%lower than those of the sextant ones X-20°and X-25°with identical helical pitches.The comparison results show that the average values of shell side h.t.c.hoand comprehensive index hoΔpo-1/3 of the optimal dual helix sextant scheme DX30°are respectively 7.22%and 23.56%higher than those of the segment scheme S100.

Distribution performance of gas–liquid mixture in the shell side of spiral-wound heat exchangers

The non-uniformity of gas–liquid mixture is a critical issue which leads to the heat transfer deterioration of spiralwound heat exchangers(SWHEs).Two-phase mass flow rate and the content of gas are important parameters as well as structural parameters which have prominent influences on flow distribution uniformity of SWHE shell side.In order to investigate the influences of these parameters,an experimental test system was built using water and air as mediums and a novel distributor named"tubes distributor"was designed.The effects of mass flow rate and the content of gas on two-phase distribution performance were analyzed,where the mass flow rate ranged from 28.4 to 171.9 kg·h-1 and the content of gas changed from 0.2 to 0.8,respectively.The results showed that the mixture mass flow rate considerably influenced the liquid distribution than that of gas phase and the larger mass flow rate exhibited the better distribution uniformity of two-phase flow.It was also found that the tubes distributor had the better two-phase uniformity when the content of gas was around 0.4.Tube diameter played an important role in the distribution of gas phase and slit width was more significant for the uniformity of liquid phase.

Simulated Annealing Approach to the Optimal Synthesis of Distillation Column with Intermediate Heat Exchangers

This article presents a simulated annealing-based approach to the optimal synthesis of distillation column considering intermediate heat exchangers arrangements. T-he number of intermediate condensers and/or intermediate reboilers, the placement locations, the.operating pressure of column, and the heat duties of intermediate heat exchangers are treated as optimization variables. A novel coding procedure making use of an integer number series is proposed to represent and manipulate the structure of system and a stage-to-stage method is used for column design and cost calculation. With the representation procedure, the synthesis problem is formulated as a mixed integer nonlinear programming （MINLP） problem, which can then be solved with an improved simulated annealing algorithm. Two examples are illustrated to show the effectiveness of the suggested approach.

Experimental Research on Flow Maldistribution in Plate-Fin Heat Exchangers

The flow maldistribution and the effect of different inlet configuration on the flow distribution in platefin heat exchangers were studied experimentally. It is found that the flow maldistribution is serious because of the defects of inlet configurations, while the inlet configuration and Reynolds number are the main factors affecting the flow distribution. The improved inlet configurations, which are the header with a two-stage distributing configuration and the guide vane with a fluid complementary cavity were proposed and tested in this paper. The experimental results show that the improved inlet configurations can effectively improve the performance of flow distribution in heat exchangers.

Effects of Shape and Quantity of Helical Baffle on the Shell-side Heat Transfer and Flow Performance of Heat Exchangers

Shape and quantity of helical baffles have great impact on the shell-side performance of helical baffled heat exchangers （HBHE）. In this work, three physical models of HBHE with baffles of different shape （trisection, quadrant and sextant sector） were investigated. Numerical simulations were performed on HBHE at three helix an- gles （10°, 25° and 40°） by the software ANSYS CFX. Analyses of numerical results indicate that the sextant HBHE shows relatively better fluid flow performance because the leakage flow in the triangle area is evidently reduced and the fluid streamline appears much closer to an ideal spiral flow, while the trisection and quadrant HBHE show more scattered and disordered streamline distributions. The convective heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop in three types of HBHE were presented. Further investigations on the shell side performance with different helical baf- fles were implemented by the field synergy theory. Both theoretical and numerical analyses gave support on the re- lations between helical baffle shape and shell-side performance. This paper may provide useful reference for the selection of baffle shade and auantitv in HBHE.

Synthesis of Heat Exchanger Network Considering Multipass Exchangers

Many methods have been proposed for synthesis of heat exchanger networks in recent years, most of which consider single pass exchangers. In this study some evolutionary rules have been proposed for synthesis of multipass exchanger networks. The method is based on the heuristic that optimal networks should feature maximum energy recovery and have the minimum number of shells. The effectiveness of the developed evolutionary rules is demonstrated through some literature examples.

Research on shell-side heat and mass transfer with multi-component in LNG spiral-wound heat exchanger under sloshing conditions

The spiral-wound heat exchanger(SWHE) is the primary low-temperature heat exchanger for large-scale LNG plants due to its high-pressure resistance, compact structure, and high heat exchange efficiency. This paper studied the shell-side heat and mass transfer characteristics of vapor-liquid two-phase mixed refrigerants in an SWHE by combining a multi-component model in FLUENT software with a customized multicomponent mass transfer model. Besides, the mathematical model under the sloshing condition was obtained through mathematical derivation, and the corresponding UDF code was loaded into FLUENT as the momentum source term. The results under the sloshing conditions were compared with the relevant parameters under the steady-state condition. The shell-side heat and mass transfer characteristics of the SWHE were investigated by adjusting the component ratio and other working conditions. It was found that the sloshing conditions enhance the heat transfer performance and sometimes have insignificant effects. The sloshing condition is beneficial to reduce the flow resistance. The comprehensive performance of multi-component refrigerants has been improved and the improvement is more significant under sloshing conditions, considering both the heat transfer and pressure drop.These results will provide theoretical support for the research and design of multi-component heat and mass transfer enhancement of LNG SWHE under ocean sloshing conditions.

A Cell Model to Describe and Optimize Heat and Mass Transfer in Contact Heat Exchangers

A cell model to describe and optimize heat and mass transfer in contact heat exchangers for utilization of exhaust gases heat is proposed. The model is based on the theory of Markov chains and allows calculating heat and mass transfer at local moving force of the processes in each cell. The total process is presented as two parallel chains of cells (one for water flow and one for gas flow). The corresponding cells of the chains can exchange heat and mass, and water and gas can travel along their chains according to their transition ma-trices. The results of numerical experiments showed that the most part of heat transfer occurs due to moisture condensation from gas and the most intense heat transfer goes near the inlet of gas. Experimental validation of the model showed a good correlation between calculated and experimental data for an industrial contact heat exchanger if appropriate empirical equations were used to calculate heat and mass transfer coefficient. It was also shown that there exists the optimum height of heat exchanger that gave the maximum gain in heat energy utilization.

Comparison of heat transfer performances of helix baffled heat exchangers with different baffle configurations

Numerical simulations were performed on flow and heat transfer performances of heat exchangers having six helical baffles of different baffle shapes and assembly configurations, i.e., two trisection baffle schemes, two quadrant baffle schemes, and two continuous helical baffle schemes. The temperature contour or the pressure contour and velocity contour plots with superimposed velocity vectors on meridian, transverse and unfolded concentric hexagonal slices are presented to obtain a full angular view. For the six helix baffled heat exchangers,the different patterns of the single vortex secondary flow and the shortcut leakage flow were depicted as well as the heat transfer properties were compared. The results show that the optimum scheme among the six configurations is a circumferential overlap trisection helix baffled heat exchanger with a baffle incline angle of 20°(20°TCO) scheme with an anti-shortcut baffle structure, which exhibits the second highest pressure dropΔpo, the highest overall heat transfer coefficient K, shell-side heat transfer coefficient hoand shell-side average comprehensive index ho/Δpo.

Topology Optimization of Two Fluid Heat Transfer Problems for Heat Exchanger Design

Topology optimization of thermal-fluid coupling problems has received widespread attention.This article proposes a novel topology optimization method for laminar two-fluid heat exchanger design.The proposed method utilizes an artificial density field to create two permeability interpolation functions that exhibit opposing trends,ensuring separation between the two fluid domains.Additionally,a Gaussian function is employed to construct an interpolation function for the thermal conductivity coefficient.Furthermore,a computational program has been developed on the OpenFOAM platform for the topology optimization of two-fluid heat exchangers.This program leverages parallel computing,significantly reducing the time required for the topology optimization process.To enhance computational speed and reduce the number of constraint conditions,we replaced the conventional pressure drop constraint condition in the optimization problem with a pressure inlet/outlet boundary condition.The 3D optimization results demonstrate the characteristic features of a surface structure,providing valuable guidance for designing heat exchangers that achieve high heat exchange efficiency while minimizing excessive pressure loss.At the same time,a new structure appears in large-scale topology optimization,which proves the effectiveness and stability of the topology optimization program written in this paper in large-scale calculation.

Combining reinforcement learning with mathematical programming:An approach for optimal design of heat exchanger networks

Heat integration is important for energy-saving in the process industry.It is linked to the persistently challenging task of optimal design of heat exchanger networks(HEN).Due to the inherent highly nonconvex nonlinear and combinatorial nature of the HEN problem,it is not easy to find solutions of high quality for large-scale problems.The reinforcement learning(RL)method,which learns strategies through ongoing exploration and exploitation,reveals advantages in such area.However,due to the complexity of the HEN design problem,the RL method for HEN should be dedicated and designed.A hybrid strategy combining RL with mathematical programming is proposed to take better advantage of both methods.An insightful state representation of the HEN structure as well as a customized reward function is introduced.A Q-learning algorithm is applied to update the HEN structure using theε-greedy strategy.Better results are obtained from three literature cases of different scales.

Simulation of heat transfer performance using middle-deep coaxial borehole heat exchangers by FEFLOW

Due to its large heat transfer area and stable thermal performance,the middledeep coaxial borehole heat exchanger(CBHE)has become one of the emerging technologies to extract geothermal energy.In this paper,a numerical modeling on a three-dimensional unsteady heat transfer model of a CBHE was conducted by using software FEFLOW,in which the model simulation was compared with the other studies and was validated with experimental data.On this basis,a further simulation was done in respect of assessing the influencing factors of thermal extraction performance and thermal influence radius of the CBHE.The results show that the outlet temperature of the heat exchanger decreases rapidly at the initial stage,and then tended to be stable;and the thermal influence radius increases with the increase of borehole depth.The heat extraction rate of the borehole increases linearly with the geothermal gradient.Rock heat capacity has limited impact on the heat extraction rate,but has a great influence on the thermal influence radius of the CBHE.When there is groundwater flow in the reservoir,the increase of groundwater velocity will result in the rise of both outlet temperature and heat extraction rate.The heat affected zone extends along with the groundwater flow direction;and its influence radius is increasing along with flow velocity.In addition,the material of the inner pipe has a significant effect on the heat loss in the pipe,so it is recommended that the material with low thermal conductivity should be used if possible.

CFD-Based Simulation and Analysis of Hydrothermal Aspects in Solar Channel Heat Exchangers with Various Designed Vortex Generators

The hydrothermal behavior of air inside a solar channel heat exchanger equipped with various shaped ribs is analyzed numerically.The bottom wall of the exchanger is kept adiabatic,while a constant value of the temperature is set at the upper wall.The duct is equipped with a flat rectangular fin on the upper wall and an upstream V-shaped baffle on the lower wall.Furthermore,five hot wall-attached rib shapes are considered:trapezoidal,square,triangular pointing upstream(type Ⅰ),triangular pointing downstream(type Ⅱ),and equilateral-triangular(type Ⅲ)cross sections.Effects of the flow rates are also inspected for various Reynolds numbers in the turbulent regime(1.2×10^(4)-3.2×10^(4)).The highest performance(η)value is given for the Ⅱ-triangular rib case in all Re values,while the square-shaped ribs show a significant decrease in the η along the achieved Re range.The η value at Remax is 2.567 for the Ⅱ-triangular roughness case.Compared with the other simulated cases,this performance is decreased by about 3.768%in the case of Ⅰ-triangular ribs,15.249% in the case of Ⅲ-triangular ribs,20.802% in the case of trapezoidal ribs,while 27.541% in the case of square ribs,at the same Remax.Also,a comparison ismade with air-heat exchangers that have non-rough walls and contain cross-shaped VGs presented previously,in order to highlight the effectiveness of the rough surface presence in the baffled and finned channels.The obtained results indicated that the triangular-shaped rib(type Ⅱ)has the most significant hydrothermal behavior than the other cases.This indicates the necessity of roughness heat transfer surfaces for finned and baffled channels to improve significantly the performance of the air-heat exchangers they contain.

Experimental study on thermal resistance of fouling in heat exchangers of sewage source heat pumps

To investigate the formation of fouling in sewage heat exchangers, a model of thermal resistance with time is developed based on the experiments in a practical engineering site. And this model is asymptotic exponential function. According to the characteristic of sewage heat exchangers, the effective thermal resistance and effective coefficient of heat transmission during the formation of fouling are defined. A model for pressure loss of fouling of asymptotic distribution is presented based on the model of thermal resistance of fouling. And the maximum absolute margin of error of the fouling thermal resistance is smaller than the typical allowable error range. The maximum relative error of the heat transfer coefficient is 12%. These can meet the requirements of engineering. The resuhs of experiments provide a basis for further study and application of swage heat exchangers.

Optimization of Finned-Tube Heat Exchanger in a Gravity-Assisted Separated Heat Pipe

Finned-tube heat exchanger(FTHE)is often used as an evaporator in commercial products of separated heat pipe(SHP).The working conditions of FTHE in gravity-assisted SHP are significantly different from those working in refrigerators and air conditioners.Although FTHE is widely used in commercial products of SHP,previous research on its characteristics is very limited.In this paper,a mathematical model for a SHP with FTHE as the evaporator and plate heat exchanger as the condenser is established and verified with experiments.Parametric analyses are carried out to investigate the influences of evaporator design parameters:air inlet velocity,number of tube rows,tube diameter,and fin pitch.With the increasing of air velocity,number of tube rows and tube diameter,and the decreasing of fin pitch,the heat transfer rate increases,while the energy efficiency ratio(EER)decreases monotonically.Using the total cost of the ten-year life cycle as the performance index,the structure parameters of the evaporator with a given heat transfer rate are optimized by the method of orthogonal experimental design.It is found that the total cost can differ as large as nearly ten times between groups.Among the three factors investigated,the number of tube rows has a significant impact on the total cost of the evaporator.With more tube rows,the total cost will be less.The impacts of fin pitch and tube diameter are insignificant.These results are of practical importance for the engineering design of FTHE in gravity-assisted SHP.