Experimental Characterization of a Natural Convection Heat Exchanger for Solar Domestic Hot Water Systems

Author(s):  
Cynthia A. Cruickshank ◽  
Stephen J. Harrison

To predict the long-term performance of solar domestic hot water (SDHW) systems requires computational models that can characterize the systems under a range of operating conditions. The development of detailed fundamental models that suitably describe the operation of systems with natural convection heat exchangers is, however, difficult and time consuming. The fact that the natural convection flow through the heat exchanger is intrinsically self-controlling and temperature dependent complicates the analysis. One approach to modeling this type of system is to use performance characteristics, empirically derived from experimental data, to predict the performance of the heat exchanger under typical operating conditions. Unfortunately, a significant number of tests may be required to characterize the full operation of the device. This paper presents a simplified test method that was developed to allow pre-configured SDHW systems that use natural convection heat exchangers, to be characterized. The results of this test method produce performance coefficients for simple empirical expressions that describe the fluid flow and heat transfer in the heat-exchange loop. These empirically derived coefficients are an input to a general simulation routine that allows overall system performance to be determined for various loads and climatic conditions. In this paper, data is presented for a typical heat exchanger under a range of operational conditions.

2009 ◽  
Vol 131 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cynthia A. Cruickshank ◽  
Stephen J. Harrison

This paper presents a simplified test method that was developed to allow preconfigured solar domestic hot water systems that use natural convection/thermosyphon heat exchangers to be characterized. The results of this test method produce performance coefficients for simple empirical expressions that describe the fluid flow and heat transfer in the heat-exchange loop. These empirically derived coefficients can be used as an input to a general simulation routine that allows overall system performance to be determined for various loads and climatic conditions. To illustrate the test procedure, results are presented for a typical heat exchanger under a range of operational conditions.


Author(s):  
Julia Haltiwanger Nicodemus ◽  
Xiaoqi Huang ◽  
Emily Dentinger ◽  
Kyle Petitt ◽  
Joshua H. Smith

Abstract In this work, we investigate the effects of the width of an annular baffle region on natural convection heat transfer to an immersed, coiled heat exchanger in an otherwise quiescent sensible hot water storage tank. In experiments, the coiled heat exchanger sits in an annular region created by the tank wall and a straight, cylindrical baffle. The width of this baffle region is 1.5, 2, 3, or 4 times the heat exchanger diameter, These experiments are compared to each other and to corresponding control experiments with no baffle. In general, all baffles create considerable benefits over their respective control experiments, consistent with past studies. The considered metrics of heat transfer rate, fraction of energy discharged from the tank, and heat exchanger outlet temperature show that heat transfer is improved slightly by narrowing the baffle region. For example, relative to their respective controls, the energy extracted from the tank after 30 min of discharge in the 1.5D, 2D, 3D and 4D experiments is 23.2%, 20.8%, 18.1%, and 14.7% higher, respectively. This improvement in natural convection heat transfer as the baffle region narrows is attributed to the increasing thermal stratification observed in experiments with increasingly narrow baffle regions.


2019 ◽  
Vol 142 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Haltiwanger Nicodemus ◽  
Xiaoqi Huang ◽  
Emily Dentinger ◽  
Kyle Petitt ◽  
Joshua H. Smith

Abstract In this work, we investigate the effects of the width of an annular baffle region on natural convection heat transfer to an immersed, coiled heat exchanger in an otherwise quiescent sensible hot water storage tank. In the experiments, the coiled heat exchanger sits in an annular region created by the tank wall and a straight, cylindrical baffle. The width of this baffle region is 1.5, 2, 3, or 4 times the heat exchanger diameter. These experiments are compared to each other and to corresponding control experiments with no baffle. In general, all baffles create considerable benefits over their respective control experiments, consistent with past studies. The considered metrics of heat transfer rate, fraction of energy discharged from the tank, heat exchanger outlet temperature, and heat exchanger effectiveness show that heat transfer is improved slightly by narrowing the baffle region. For example, relative to their respective controls, the energy extracted from the tank after 30 min of discharge in the 1.5D, 2D, 3D, and 4D experiments is 23.3%, 20.8%, 18.1%, and 14.6% higher, respectively. This improvement in natural convection heat transfer as the baffle region narrows is attributed to the increasing thermal stratification observed with increasingly narrow baffle regions.


Author(s):  
Changiz Tolouee

Air Source heat pump/chiller is used to provide chilled water for cooling and hot water for heating purposes. This is one investment for both applications with no requirement for boiler and fuel with the advantage of heat pump efficiency. In this paper we are going to analyse both air side and water side heat exchangers used in air source heat pump/chiller with special attention and emphasis on brazed plate heat exchanger which is used in refrigerant to water side of this unit in order to achieve optimum performance in both the heat pump and chiller operations. Due to compactness of brazed plate heat exchangers it is very important to balance system volume in both operating conditions which will also be examined in this paper.


Processes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 1771
Author(s):  
Paweł Obstawski ◽  
Monika Janaszek-Mańkowska ◽  
Arkadiusz Ratajski

This paper presents a new method for the diagnostics of a hot water storage tank under operating conditions. Depending on the operating point of the tank, the method enables determination of thermal conductivity coefficients of the coil heat exchanger, which allows us to determine the intensity of heat transfer between the transfer medium and water in the tank as well as of tank walls, which consequently enables determination of heat losses to the environment. Furthermore, the dynamic properties of the tank may also be determined by applying this method. The advantage of this method is possibility of analyzing changes in the material constants of the coil heat exchanger, tank walls, and dynamic properties of the tank as a function of mass flow of the medium supplying the coil heat exchanger. The possibility of determining coefficients of thermal conductivity as well as the inertia of tank and exchanger, based on temperature measurements acquired in operating conditions is a novelty in this paper. Knowing the variability of material constants and of dynamic properties of the tank as a function of medium flow rate allows multicriteria optimization to be performed which, with a conventional design of the tank, results in a reduction of up to 10% in the time taken to prepare domestic hot water.


Crystals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 476
Author(s):  
Vincenza Brancato ◽  
Larisa G. Gordeeva ◽  
Angela Caprì ◽  
Alexandra D. Grekova ◽  
Andrea Frazzica

In this study, the development and comparative characterization of different composite sorbents for thermal energy storage applications is reported. Two different applications were targeted, namely, low-temperature space heating (SH) and domestic hot water (DHW) provision. From a literature analysis, the most promising hygroscopic salts were selected for these conditions, being LiCl for SH and LiBr for DHW. Furthermore, two mesoporous silica gel matrixes and a macroporous vermiculite were acquired to prepare the composites. A complete characterization was performed by investigating the porous structure of the composites before and after impregnation, through N2 physisorption, as well as checking the phase composition of the composites at different temperatures through X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) analysis. Furthermore, sorption equilibrium curves were measured in water vapor atmosphere to evaluate the adsorption capacity of the samples and a detailed calorimetric analysis was carried out to evaluate the reaction evolution under real operating conditions as well as the sorption heat of each sample. The results demonstrated a slower reaction kinetic in the vermiculite-based composites, due to the larger size of salt grains embedded in the pores, while promising volumetric storage densities of 0.7 GJ/m3 and 0.4 GJ/m3 in silica gel-based composites were achieved for SH and DHW applications, respectively.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 716
Author(s):  
Saulius Pakalka ◽  
Kęstutis Valančius ◽  
Giedrė Streckienė

Latent heat thermal energy storage systems allow storing large amounts of energy in relatively small volumes. Phase change materials (PCMs) are used as a latent heat storage medium. However, low thermal conductivity of most PCMs results in long melting (charging) and solidification (discharging) processes. This study focuses on the PCM melting process in a fin-and-tube type copper heat exchanger. The aim of this study is to define analytically natural convection heat transfer coefficient and compare the results with experimental data. The study shows how the local heat transfer coefficient changes in different areas of the heat exchanger and how it is affected by the choice of characteristic length and boundary conditions. It has been determined that applying the calculation method of the natural convection occurring in the channel leads to results that are closer to the experiment. Using this method, the average values of the heat transfer coefficient (have) during the entire charging process was obtained 68 W/m2K, compared to the experimental result have = 61 W/m2K. This is beneficial in the predesign stage of PCM-based thermal energy storage units.


2021 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
pp. 42-64
Author(s):  
Boris Basok ◽  
Ihor Bozhko ◽  
Maryna Novitska ◽  
Aleksandr Nedbailo ◽  
Myroslav Tkachenko

This article is devoted to the analysis of the heat engineering characteristics of the operation of an Earth-to-Air Heat Exchanger, EAHE, with a circular cross-sectional shape, which is a component of the geothermal ventilation system. The authors analyzed literature sources devoted to the research of heat exchangers of the soil-air type of various designs and for working conditions in various soils. Much attention is paid to the issues of modeling the operation of such heat exchangers and the distinctive features of each of these models. Also important are the results of experimental studies carried out on our own experimental bench and with the help of which the numerical model was validated. The results of these studies are the basis for the development of a method for determining the optimal diameter of an EAHE under operating conditions for soil in Kyiv, Ukraine.


2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 1225-1235
Author(s):  
Ajay K. Gupta ◽  
Manoj Kumar ◽  
Ranjit K. Sahoo ◽  
Sunil K. Sarangi

Plate-fin heat exchangers provide a broad range of applications in many cryogenic industries for liquefaction and separation of gasses because of their excellent technical advantages such as high effectiveness, compact size, etc. Correlations are available for the design of a plate-fin heat exchanger, but experimental investigations are few at cryogenic temperature. In the present study, a cryogenic heat exchanger test setup has been designed and fabricated to investigate the performance of plate-fin heat exchanger at cryogenic temperature. Major parameters (Colburn factor, Friction factor, etc.) that affect the performance of plate-fin heat exchangers are provided concisely. The effect of mass flow rate and inlet temperature on the effectiveness and pressure drop of the heat exchanger are investigated. It is observed that with an increase in mass flow rate effectiveness and pressure drop increases. The present setup emphasis the systematic procedure to perform the experiment based on cryogenic operating conditions and represent its uncertainties level.


Author(s):  
N. F. Timerbaev ◽  
A. K. Ali ◽  
Omar Abdulhadi Mustafa Almohamed ◽  
A. R. Koryakin

In this article, a mathematical simulation of a double pipe heat exchanger is carried out, having the longitudinal rectangular fins with the dimension of (2*3*1000) mm, mounted on the outer surface of the inner tube of the heat exchanger. In this paper, the advantage of using of that type of fins and its effect on the effectiveness of the heat exchanger are studied with the help of the computer program. The carried out research allowsmaking the calculation to find the optimum design parameters of heat exchangers. The outer tube diameter is (34.1mm) while the inner tube diameter is (16.05mm). The tubes wall thickness is (1.5mm) and the model length was (1 m). The hot water is flowing through the inner tube in parallel with the cold water that passing the outer tube. The hot and cold water temperature at the inlet is (75°C & 30°C) respectively. The mass flow rate inside the central pipe is (0.1 kg/s) while the annular pipe carrying (0.3 kg/s). In the present work, the program ANSYS Workbench 15.0 was used to find out the results of heat transfer as well as the behavior of liquids inside the heat exchangers.


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