Quantitative relationship between secondary flow intensity and heat transfer intensity in flat-tube-and-fin air heat exchanger with vortex generators

2016 ◽  
Vol 103 ◽  
pp. 1064-1070 ◽  
Author(s):  
KeWei Song ◽  
WanLing Hu ◽  
Song Liu ◽  
LiangBi Wang
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Heat Exchanger ◽  
Secondary Flow ◽  
Quantitative Relationship ◽  
Vortex Generators ◽  
Flat Tube ◽  
Flow Intensity

The Effectiveness of Secondary Flow Produced by Vortex Generators Mounted on Both Surfaces of the Fin to Enhance Heat Transfer in a Flat Tube Bank Fin Heat Exchanger

2013 ◽  
Vol 135 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ke-Wei Song ◽  
Liang-Bi Wang
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Nusselt Number ◽  
Heat Exchanger ◽  
Convective Heat Transfer ◽  
Secondary Flow ◽  
Average Nusselt Number ◽  
Vortex Generators ◽  
Tube Bank ◽  
Flat Tube ◽  
Flow Intensity

Secondary flow is the flow in the cross section normal to the main flow. It plays an important role on the enhanced heat transfer and in the applications in other fields. Secondary flow can greatly enhance the convective heat transfer. In order to find the effectiveness of secondary flow for heat transfer enhancement, a nondimensional parameter, Se, based on the absolute vorticity flux is reported to specify the intensity of secondary flow. Its physical meaning is the ratio of inertial force to viscous force induced by secondary flow. As an example, the effectiveness of secondary flow was numerically studied for a flat tube bank fin heat exchanger with vortex generators (VGs) mounted on both surfaces of the fin. The contributions of VGs are investigated for the enhancements of secondary flow intensity, convective heat transfer, and pressure drop. The method is demonstrated using Se to find out the optimum configurations of VGs. The results reveal that close relationships exist not only between the span-average nondimensional intensity of secondary flow and the span-average Nusselt number but also between the volume average nondimensional intensity of secondary flow and the overall average Nusselt number. For the configuration studied, a ratio of Nusselt number enhancement to the friction factor enhancement increases with increasing the enhancement of secondary flow intensity. As a supplement to traditional criteria on a good performance heat transfer surface, the nondimensional intensity of secondary flow can be used clearly for an optimum value of VG parameter.

scholarly journals A Review of Airside Heat Transfer Augmentation with Vortex Generators on Heat Transfer Surface

Energies ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 2737 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lei Chai ◽  
Savvas Tassou
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Heat Exchanger ◽  
Heat Exchangers ◽  
Circular Tube ◽  
Vortex Generator ◽  
Heat Transfer Surface ◽  
Vortex Generators ◽  
Flat Tube ◽  
Heat Transfer Augmentation ◽  
Oval Tube

Heat exchanger performance can be improved via the introduction of vortex generators to the airside surface, based on the mechanism that the generated longitudinal vortices can disrupt the boundary layer growth, increase the turbulence intensity and produce secondary fluid flows over the heat transfer surfaces. The key objective of this paper is to provide a critical overview of published works relevant to such heat transfer surfaces. Different types of vortex generator are presented, and key experimental techniques and numerical methodologies are summarized. Flow phenomena associated with vortex generators embedded, attached, punched or mounted on heat transfer surfaces are investigated, and the thermohydraulic performance (heat transfer and pressure drop) of four different heat exchangers (flat plate, finned circular-tube, finned flat-tube and finned oval-tube) with various vortex-generator geometries, is discussed for different operating conditions. Furthermore, the thermohydraulic performance of heat transfer surfaces with recently proposed vortex generators is outlined and suggestions on using vortex generators for airside heat transfer augmentation are presented. In general, the airside heat transfer surface performance can be substantially enhanced by vortex generators, but their impact can also be significantly influenced by many parameters, such as Reynolds number, tube geometry (shape, diameter, pitch, inline/staggered configuration), fin type (plane/wavy/composite, with or without punched holes), and vortex-generator geometry (shape, length, height, pitch, attack angle, aspect ratio, and configuration). The finned flat-tube and finned oval-tube heat exchangers with recently proposed vortex generators usually show better thermohydraulic performance than finned circular tube heat exchangers. Current heat exchanger optimization approaches are usually based on the thermohydraulic performance alone. However, to ensure quick returns on investment, heat exchangers with complex geometries and surface vortex generators, should be optimized using cost-based objective functions that consider the thermohydraulic performance alongside capital cost, running cost of the system as well as safety and compliance with relevant international standards for different applications.

Heat transfer enhancement for fin-tube heat exchanger using vortex generators

2002 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seong-Yeon Yoo ◽  
Dong-Seong Park ◽  
Min-Ho Chung ◽  
Sang-Yun Lee
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Heat Exchanger ◽  
Heat Transfer Enhancement ◽  
Vortex Generators ◽  
Transfer Enhancement ◽  
Tube Heat Exchanger ◽  
Fin Tube

Generation of Longitudinal Streamwise Vortices—A Device for Improving Heat Exchanger Design

1994 ◽  
Vol 116 (3) ◽  
pp. 588-597 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Biswas ◽  
P. Deb ◽  
S. Biswas
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Heat Exchanger ◽  
Delta Wing ◽  
Rectangular Channel ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Vortex Generators ◽  
Pair Type ◽  
Longitudinal Vortices ◽  
Flat Surfaces ◽  
Heat Exchanger Design

Laminar flow and heat transfer characteristics in a rectangular channel, containing built-in vortex generators of both the slender delta-wing and winglet-pair type, have been analyzed by means of solution of the full Navier–Stokes and energy equations. Each wing or winglet pair induces the creation of streamwise longitudinal vortices behind it. The spiraling flow of these vortices serves to entrain fluid from their outside into their core. These vortices also disrupt the growth of the thermal boundary layer and serve ultimately to bring about the enhancement of heat transfer between the fluid and the channel walls. The geometric configurations considered in the study are representative of single elements of either a compact gas-liquid fin-tube crossflow heat exchanger or a plate-fin crossflow heat exchanger. Physically, these vortex generators can be mounted on the flat surfaces of the above-mentioned heat exchangers by punching or embossing the flat surfaces. They can also act as spacers for the plate fins. Because of the favorable pressure gradient in the channel, the longitudinal vortices are stable and their influence persists over an area many times the area of the slender vortex generators. From a heat transfer point of view, the delta-wing generator is found to be more effective than the winglet-pair. However, most convective heat transfer processes encounter two types of loss, namely, losses due to fluid friction and those due to heat transfer across finite temperature gradient. Because these two phenomena are manifestations of irreversibility, an evaluation of the augmentation techniques is also made from a thermodynamic viewpoint. Conclusions that are drawn thus include discussion about the influence of vortex generators (wings/winglets) on irreversibility.

Parametric Study of Vortex Generator Effects in an Additive Manufactured Minichannel Heat Exchanger

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hamidreza Rastan ◽  
Tim Ameel ◽  
Björn Palm
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Thermal Properties ◽  
Additive Manufacturing ◽  
Heat Exchanger ◽  
Angle Of Attack ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Vortex Generators ◽  
Design Parameters ◽  
Minichannel Heat Exchanger

Abstract Heat exchangers with mini- and micro-channel components are capable of high energy exchange due to their incumbent large surface area to volume ratio. Concurrently, recent advances in additive manufacturing simplify the creation of metallic minichannels that incorporate turbulators for heat transfer enhancement. As part of the development of a minichannel heat exchanger with turbulators, this study analyzes the three-dimensional conjugate heat transfer and laminar flow in a minichannel heat exchanger equipped with rectangular winglet vortex generators (VGs) through numerical simulation. The minichannels have a hydraulic diameter of 2.86 mm and are assumed to be made from aluminum alloy AlSi10Mg. This material is one of the popular alloys in the additive manufacturing industry (three-dimensional (3D) printing) because of its light weight and beneficial mechanical and thermal properties. The working fluid is distilled water with temperature-dependent thermal properties. The minichannel is heated by a constant heat flux of 5 W cm−2 and the Reynolds number is varied from 230 to 950. The simulations are performed using the COMSOL® platform, which solves the governing mass, momentum, and energy equations based on the finite element method. The effect of the VG design parameters, which include VG angle of attack, height, length, thickness, longitudinal pitch, and distance from the sidewalls, is investigated. It is found that the generation of three-dimensional vortices caused by the presence of the vortex generators can notably boost the convective heat transfer, at the cost of increased pressure drop, potentially reducing the heat exchanger size for a given heat duty. A sensitivity analysis indicates that the angle of attack, VG height, VG length, and longitudinal pitch have the most significant effects on the heat transfer and flow friction characteristics. In contrast, the VG thickness and distance from the sidewalls only had minor influences on the heat exchanger performance over the studied range of design parameters.

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