Heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of a flat plate manifold microchannel heat exchanger in counter flow configuration

2016 ◽  
Vol 96 ◽  
pp. 178-189 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rohit S. Andhare ◽  
Amir Shooshtari ◽  
Serguei V. Dessiatoun ◽  
Michael M. Ohadi
Author(s):  
Kohei Koyama

Thermal performances of gas-to-gas counter-flow and parallel-flow microchannel heat exchanger have been investigated. Working fluid used is air. Heat transfer rates of both heat exchangers are compared with those calculated by a conventional log-mean temperature difference method. The results show that the log-mean temperature difference method can be employed to a parallel-flow configuration whereas that cannot be employed to a counter-flow configuration. This study focuses on the partition wall which separates hot and cold passages of the microchannel heat exchanger. The partition wall is negligibly thin for a conventional-sized heat exchanger. In contrast, the partition wall is thick compared with channel dimensions for a microchannel heat exchanger. A model which includes the effect of the thick partition wall is proposed to predict thermal performances of the microchannel heat exchangers. The heat transfer rates obtained by the model agree well with those obtained by the experiments. Thermal performances of the counter-flow and parallel-flow microchannel heat exchangers are compared with respect to one another based on temperature of the partition wall. The comparison results show that thermal performances of the counter-flow and parallel-flow microchannel heat exchangers are identical. This is due to performance degradation induced by the thick partition wall of the counter-flow microchannel heat exchanger. This study reveals that the thick partition wall dominates thermal performance of a gas-to-gas microchannel heat exchanger.


2019 ◽  
Vol 142 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Witold Rybiński ◽  
Jarosław Mikielewicz

Abstract This paper presents a new statistical, nondestructive method for determination of the experimental channels clogging rate in a mini- or microchannel heat exchanger. Channels clogging may be caused by inaccurate fabrication of the heat exchanger or by fouling of microchannels during exploitation. The theoretical model, used in this method, predicts a significant increase of the pressure drop as the number of clogged microchannels increases. However, the exchanger’s heat transfer rate decreases moderately. It may partly be caused by the additional heat transfer in metal walls, bypassing the inactive, clogged microchannels. The presented method was tested on the prototype of a microchannel heat exchanger. The experimental values of the pressure drop of the hot and cold water flows are 2–5 times higher than the values predicted for clean microchannels. The experimental values for the pressure drop and heat transfer are in good agreement with the values calculated by the use of the theoretical model. The presented statistical method gives two channels clogging rates (for the “hot” and “cold” channels) obtained during normal exploitation without cutting (destroying) the heat exchanger.


1999 ◽  
Vol 121 (1) ◽  
pp. 110-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Muley ◽  
R. M. Manglik

Experimental heat transfer and isothermal pressure drop data for single-phase water flows in a plate heat exchanger (PHE) with chevron plates are presented. In a single-pass U-type counterflow PHE, three different chevron plate arrangements are considered: two symmetric plate arrangements with β = 30 deg/30 deg and 60 deg/60 deg, and one mixed-plate arrangement with β = 30 deg/60 deg. For water (2 < Pr < 6) flow rates in the 600 < Re < 104 regime, data for Nu and f are presented. The results show significant effects of both the chevron angle β and surface area enlargement factor φ. As β increases, and compared to a flat-plate pack, up to two to five times higher Nu are obtained; the concomitant f, however, are 13 to 44 times higher. Increasing φ also has a similar, though smaller effect. Based on experimental data for Re a 7000 and 30 deg ≤ β ≤ 60 deg, predictive correlations of the form Nu = C1,(β) D1(φ) Rep1(β)Pr1/3(μ/μw)0.14 and f = C2(β) D2(φ) Rep2(β) are devised. Finally, at constant pumping power, and depending upon Re, β, and φ, the heat transfer is found to be enhanced by up to 2.8 times that in an equivalent flat-plate channel.


Author(s):  
Foluso Ladeinde ◽  
Kehinde Alabi ◽  
Wenhai Li

Manifold-microchannel combinations used on heat transfer surfaces have shown the potential for superior heat transfer performance to pressure drop ratio when compared to chevron type corrugations for plate heat exchangers (PHE) [1–4]. However, compared with heat transfer enhancements such as intermating troughs and Chevron corrugations, manifold-microchannels (MM) have several times more variables that influence the heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics, including microchannel width, depth, passes, manifold depth, width, and manifold fin thickness. Previous work has reported on the effects of some of the variables, and provides some models for their effects on thermal and hydraulic performance. The current paper presents a genetic algorithm (GA)-based procedure to analyze the implicit effects of some of the manifold-microchannel variables, and compare the performance of manifold-microchannel plate heat exchangers to those using standard Chevron corrugations. The objective of the present work is to evaluate the performance of manifold-microchannel heat transfer enhancements and demonstrate the potential for using GA-based procedure to optimize the heat exchanger. This paper also presents the modifications of the standard GA algorithm when applied to the optimization of MM. The resulting GA procedure is particularly well suited to PHEs for several reasons, including the fact that it does not require continuous variables or functional dependence on the design variables. In addition, the computational effort required for the GA technique in our implementation scales linearly, with a scaling coefficient that is significantly less than one, making it economical to analyze PHEs with several variables with degrees of freedom (DOF) with respect to the fitness function. The results of optimizing a manifold-microchannel plate heat exchanger are presented, and the exchanger’s performance is compared to more conventional PHE of the same volume utilizing chevron corrugations. Finally, results from the empirical procedure presented in this paper for a manifold-microchannel are compared with experimental measurements in Andhare [5].


Author(s):  
G. Bhaskaran ◽  
H. A. Mohammed ◽  
N. H. Shuaib

A numerical study is performed to study the effects of using various types of nanofluids on a triangular shaped microchannel heat exchanger (MCHE). The performance of an aluminum MCHE with various types of nanofluids such as Al2O3, CuO, SiO2, Ag and TiO2 and diamond particles with particle volume fraction of 2% using water as base fluid is comprehensively analyzed. The three-dimensional steady, laminar developing flow and conjugate heat transfer of a balanced MCHE were solved using finite volume method. In order to maintain laminar flow in the microchannels, Re number was ranged from 100 to 800. The other parameters tested in this study include the effects of Reynolds number towards the temperature, effectiveness and pressure drop of the MCHE. It is found that nanofluids have improved the temperature profile and heat transfer rate of the MCHE. The increase in pressure drop was minimal while the thermal and hydrodynamic performance of the heat exchanger was enhanced.


Author(s):  
Marjan Goodarzi ◽  
Ahmad Amiri ◽  
Mohammad Shahab Goodarzi ◽  
Mohammad Reza Safaei ◽  
Arash Karimipour ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Muhammad Ansab Ali ◽  
Tariq S. Khan ◽  
Ebrahim Al Hajri

The quest to achieve higher heat transfer rate, smaller size and minimum pressure drop is a main area of focus in the design of heat exchangers. Plate heat exchangers are one of viable candidates to deliver higher heat duties but still have a drawback of higher pressure drop due to long restricted flow path. Motivated by demand of miniaturization and cost reduction, a novel design of tubular microchannel heat exchanger for single phase flow employing ammonia water mixture is proposed. Numerical simulation of unit fluid domain is conducted in ANSYS Fluent. Parametric study of the different flow geometries is evaluated in terms of Nusselt number and pressure drop. The salient features of the design include ultra-compact size with higher heat transfer rate and acceptable pressure drop.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document