Effect of Magnetic Nanofluids on the Performance of a Fin-Tube Heat Exchanger

As electrical devices become smaller, it is essential to maintain operating temperature for safety and durability. Therefore, there are efforts to improve heat transfer performance under various conditions, such as using extended surfaces and nanofluids. Among them, cooling methods using ferrofluid are drawing the attention of many researchers. This fluid can control the movement of the fluid in magnetic fields. In this study, the heat transfer performance of a fin-tube heat exchanger, using ferrofluid as a coolant, was analyzed when external magnetic fields were applied. Permanent magnets were placed outside the heat exchanger. When the magnetic fields were applied, a change in the thermal boundary layer was observed. It also formed vortexes, which affected the formation of flow patterns. The vortex causes energy exchanges in the flow field, activating thermal diffusion and improving heat transfer. A numerical analysis was used to observe the cooling performance of heat exchangers, as the strength and number of the external magnetic fields were varying. VGs (vortex generators) were also installed to create vortex fields. A convective heat transfer coefficient was calculated to determine the heat transfer rate. In addition, the comparative analysis was performed with graphical results using contours of temperature and velocity.

Fluid elastic instability and vortex induced vibration parameters in finned tube arrays with P/D ratio 1.79

Purpose This paper aims to analyze the effect of fin geometry on mechanisms of flow induced vibration. Finned tube arrays are used in a heat exchanger to increase its efficiency. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the effect of geometric parameters of the fin fluid elastic instability and vortex shedding. In this paper, the effect of fin height, fin density and tube pitch ratio for parallel triangular tube array on fluid elastic instability and vortex shedding is analyzed. Design/methodology/approach Experimental analysis was carried out on a parallel triangular finned tube array with a pitch ratio of 1.79 subjected to water crossflow. The experimentation aims to study fluid elastic instability and vortex-induced vibration mechanism responsible for flow induced vibration for finned tube array. A fully flexible finned tube array of the copper tube was used with its base diameter of 19.05 mm and thickness of 2 mm. Over the tube surface, crimped fins of height 6 mm and the same material are welded spirally with fin density 8.47 mm and 2.82 mm. Experimental analysis was carried out on a test setup developed for the same. The results obtained for the finned tube array were compared with those for the plain tube array with the same base tube diameter. Findings For parallel triangular tube array of copper material, test results show that critical velocity increases with an increase in fin pitch density for low pitch tube array. Before the occurrence of instability, the rate of growth in tube vibrations is high for plain tubes compared to that with fin tubes. The results based on Owen’s hypothesis show vortex shedding before the occurrence of fluid elastic instability. The effect of fin geometry on vortex-induced forces is analyzed. For the tube array pattern understudy, the values of Conner’s constant K for coarse fin-tube and fine fin tube array are obtained, respectively, 6.14 and 7.25. Originality/value This paper fulfills the need for research on the effect of fin geometry on fluid elastic instability and Vortex shedding on a tube array subjected to water cross flow when the pitch ratio is less than two, i.e. with a low pitch ratio.