Heat and mass transfer through spiral tubes in absorber of absorption heat pump system for waste heat recovery

Heat and mass transfer of a LiBr/water absorption heat pump system(AHP)was experimentally studied during working a heating-up mode.The examination was performed for a single spiral tube,which was simulated for heat transfer tubes in an absorber.The inside and outside of the tube were subjected to a film flow of the absorption liquid and exposed to the atmosphere,respectively.The maximum temperature of the absorption liquid was observed not at the entrance but in the region a little downward from the entrance in the tube.The steam absorption convective heat transfer coefficient between the liquid film flowing down and the inside wall of the temperature and the film temperature at the maximum temperature location and the bottom.The film heat and mass transfer coefficients rose with increasing Reynolds number of the liquid film stream.The coefficients showed opposite trend to the empirical correlation reported for laminar film flow on a straight smooth tube in a refrigeration mode in the past work.The fact can be caused due to a turbulent promotion effect of the liquid in a spiral tube.

Numerical simulation of flow and heat transfer of n-decane in sub-millimeter spiral tube at supercritical pressure

The flow and heat transfer characteristics of n-decane in the sub-millimeter spiral tube(SMST) at supercritical pressure(p = 3 MPa) are studied by the RNG k-ε numerical model in this paper. The effects of various Reynolds numbers(Re) and structural parameters pitch(s) and spiral diameter(D) are analyzed.Results indicate that the average Nusselt numberNu and friction factorNu increase with an increase in Re, and decrease with an increase in D/d(tube diameter). In terms of the structural parameter s/d, it is found that as s/d increases, the Nu first increase, and then decrease. and the critical structural parameter is s/d = 4. Compared with the straight tube, the SMST can improve Nu by 34.8% at best, while it can improve Nu by 102.1% at most. In addition, a comprehensive heat transfer coefficient is applied to analyze the thermodynamic properties of SMST. With the optimal structural parameters of D/d = 6 and s/d = 4, the comprehensive heat transfer factor of supercritical pressure hydrocarbon fuel in the SMST can reach 1.074. At last, correlations of the average Nusselt number and friction factor are developed to predict the flow and heat transfer of n-decane at supercritical pressure.

Study on Numerical Simulation for Control of Winding Process of Thin Wall Spiral Tube

Being aimed at the inside wall wrinkling and sinking phenomenon of palladium-yttrium alloy thin wall spiral tube used for preparation of high purity hydrogen, extraction of hydrogen isotope, and purification and separation of hydrogen in the winding process, this article analyzed the reasons for above phenomena, established a numerical simulation model of winding process of above tube, using elastic-plastic Finite Element method analyzed the max. tensile stress and max. compression stress and their locations, thereby provides a theory base for the control of working forming course of thin wall spiral tube.

Heat Transfer Enhancement and Vortex Flow Structure in the Spirally Fluted Tubes

The turbulence kinetic energy and heat transfer performance of air in spirally fluted tube were numerically studied at a constant wall temperature with Reynolds number(Re)between 5000 and 45000.Furthermore,the flow dynamics and heat transfer performance of spirally fluted tubes with five different geometric parameters as well as the effects of separation vortex and swirling wake flow on heat transfer and flow resistance were analyzed.According to the results,heat transfer is enhanced mainly because the fluid hit the windward side of the flute,thus generating a strong turbulence kinetic energy to further reconstruct the boundary layer.The second reason is that the formation of the recirculation zone between the flutes disturbs the boundary layer caused by the flow separation.With the increase of flute depth ratio(L_(d)/D),the separation vortex will become stronger and larger on the leeward side of flute.The separation vortex will break the boundary layer and improve the heat transfer capacity which is accompanied with the increase of fluid resistance.As the flute pitch length ratio(L_(p)/D)decreases,the spiral flow is strengthened,and meanwhile more wake flow is generated.The spiral flow causes little impact on enhancing heat transfer but inhibits the development of the separation vortex and fluid pulsation;in addition,the fluid resistance is reduced at the same time.The maximum value of the average Nusselt number appears when Re=5000,L_(d)/D=0.25 and L_(p)/D=1.00,which is 2.53 times the value of smooth tube.In view of the whole range of Reynolds number,the thermal performance enhancement factor indicates that L_(d)/D=0.15 and L_(p)/D=1.00 are the optimal geometric design parameters.

Comparative investigation on the heat transfer performance of an energy storage system with a spiral tube and straight tube:An experimental approach

Latent heat thermal energy storage systems can effectively fill the gap between energy storage and application, and phase-change materials(PCMs) are crucial media for storing thermal energy. Therefore, how to maximize the utilization efficiency of PCMs has attracted widespread attention. In this study, the thermal behavior of two thermal storage units employing a spiral tube and straight tube as heat transfer tubes was experimentally researched and comprehensively compared. Stefan numbers were used to investigate the impact of the heat transfer fluid temperature on the PCM melting process. The temperature distribution of PCMs,temporal evolution of the melting front, and temperature variations of measurement points in both tanks were compared. The average temperature and energy storage of PCMs were calculated to evaluate the thermal performance of different configurations. The results indicate that compared to cylinder B(with a straight tube), the energy storage in cylinder A(with a spiral tube)increased by 78.8%, 38.5%, and 19.6% at Stefan numbers of 1.08, 1.28, and 1.48, respectively. Moreover, the increase in the Stefan number simultaneously ascended the average temperature and energy storage of PCMs in containers A and B, causing the shortening of the melting time. When the Stefan number was increased from 1.28 to 1.48, the storage capacity was raised from3233.18 to 3463.8 k J, and the total melting time was decreased by 34.2% from 547.5 to 360 min after the PCM was loaded in cylinder A. The research results lay a certain foundation for a deeper study of enhanced heat transfer in spiral tubes.