Optimal Thermal Design of Fin-and-Tube Heat Exchangers by Integration of a SUMT and a SCGM

It is a recognized hard task for the traditional thermal design of compact heat exchangers to obtain the optimal geometric parameters efficiently and effectively, owing to its complex trial-and-error process. In response to this issue, a simplified conjugate-gradient method (SCGM) combined with a sequential unconstrained minimization technique (SUMT) as a favorable optimization technique is incorporated with the traditional thermal design in this study, and then the key geometric parameters of fin-and-tube heat exchangers (FTHEs) are investigated and optimized successfully. In this method, the minimum total weight of FTHEs as the final objective is discussed, involving two geometric parameters, diameter of tube and height of shape as search variables. Aiming to minimize the objective function, SCGM is introduced to the SUMT to update the search variables continually with the fixed search steps and the search directions. Meanwhile, with the known geometric parameters from the SUMT, the log-mean temperature difference method (LMTD) is applied to determine the heat transfer area under the combined structure sizes for a given heat duty. Additionally, optimization results for three different heat duty is discussed in this work. The results show that it is effective to obtain the optimal sets of geometric parameters of FTHEs by the present method, and there are some guidance values for the thermal designs of compact heat exchangers.

Shellside Vacuum Condensation With a Noncondensable Gas

Shell-and-tube vacuum condensers are present in many industrial applications such as chemical manufacturing, distillation, and power production [1–3]. They are often used because operating a condenser under vacuum pressures can increase the efficiency of energy conversion, which increases the overall plant efficiency and saves money. Typical operating pressures in the petrochemical industry span a wide range of values, from one atmosphere (101.3 kPa) down to a medium vacuum (1 kPa). The current shellside condensation methods used to predict heat transfer coefficients are based on data collected near or above atmospheric pressure, and the available literature on shellside vacuum condensation generally lacks experimental data. The accuracy of these methods in vacuum conditions well below atmospheric pressure has yet to be validated. Recently, HTRI designed and constructed the Low Pressure Condensation Unit (LPCU) with a rectangular shellside test condenser. To date, heat transfer data have been collected in the LPCU for shellside condensation of a pure hydrocarbon and of a hydrocarbon with noncondensable gas at vacuum pressures ranging from 2.8 to 45 kPa (21 to 338 Torr). Traditional condensation literature methods underpredict the overall heat transfer coefficient by 20.8% ± 20.4% for the pure condensing fluid; whereas they overpredict heat transfer by 36.8% ± 40.0% with the addition of the noncondensable gas. Over or under predicting the overall heat transfer coefficient in the presence of noncondensable gases leads to inefficient condenser designs and the inability to achieve desired process conditions. With the addition of the noncondensable gas, the measured heat exchanger duty was significantly reduced compared to the pure fluid, even at inlet mole fractions below 5%. In one case, a noncondensable inlet mole fraction of 0.63% was estimated to reduce the duty by approximately 10%. Analysis of the acquired high-speed videos shows that the film thickness changes significantly from the top row to the bottom. The videos also display condensate drainage patterns and droplet interactions. The ripples and splashing of the condensate observed in the videos indicates that the Nusselt idealized model is not appropriate for analysis of a real condenser. This article presents the collected heat transfer data and high-speed images of shellside vacuum condensation flow patterns.

Numerical Modeling for the Energy Conversion and Thermal Transmission Accompanying the Process of Oily Cuttings Agitation

As a kind of unconventional gas reservoirs, shale gas reservoirs are full of potential to develop and have attracted global attention. Accompanying the exploiting of shale gas, a large amount of drilling cuttings contaminated by the oil-based drilling fluid are generated inevitably. How to deal with the drilling cuttings in a environmental-friendly way is tough especially for offshore oilfield. So it is important to investigate this aspect deeply and develop methods to clean the contaminated drilling cuttings. As is known to all, the thermal desorption technology has outstanding performance in oily cuttings cleaning. This paper bases on a kind of mechanical-thermal cuttings cleaning apparatus where the contaminated drilling cuttings are heated up by friction heat produced by the friction between the cuttings and the agitating vanes. And the harmful substance is separated from the cuttings in the agitated and high temperature flow field. This thesis investigates the fundamental of the energy conversion in the frictional process, infer formulas analyzing the thermo-physical phenomena and quantitatively model the energy conversion and thermal transmission accompanying the friction. Firstly, the principle of heat transfer and the law of conservation of energy are employed to investigate the natural law of the energy conversion in the frictional process. Based on the investigation, taking the liquid bridge between the oily cuttings and the agitating vane into account, this paper deduces the physical equations and the frictional energy model to calculate the total frictional heat, heat density and temperature distribution. Following up the frictional model, in the Eulerian-Lagrangian coupling framework, this paper develops a parallel numerical platform of computational fluid dynamics combined with discrete element method (CFD-DEM). In the coupling approach, the gas motion is solved at the computational grid level while the solid motion is resolved at the particle-scale level. Furthermore, the coupling approach is extended with the frictional energy model. The numerical platform can calculate the dense gas-solid motion in the fluidizing apparatus, the convective heat transfer between gas and solid phase, and the conductive heat transfer between particles. Based on the platform, the mechanical-thermal energy conversion and the convective heat transfer between gas and oily cuttings, and the conductive heat transfer between cuttings and the agitating vanes are investigated. Meanwhile an experiment is conducted. By comparing the numerical results with the experiment data, the paper can come to the conclusion that how to dispose the nonlinear parameters such as the friction contact area, the friction coefficient and the normal pressure is the key to accurately model the energy conversion and the heat transmission. What’s more, it can be understood that the convective heat transfer between gas and solid phase play an important role in the heat transmission.

Pool Boiling Heat Transfer of Water on Hydrophilic Surfaces With Different Wettability

The effect of wettability on boiling heat transfer (BHT) coefficient and critical heat flux (CHF) in pool boiling of water on hydrophilic surfaces having different contact angles was investigated. Hot alkali solutions were utilized to promote cupric and cuprous oxide growth which exhibited micro and nanoscale structures on copper surfaces, with thicknesses on the order of a couple of micrometers. These structure and surface energy variations result in different levels of wettability and roughness while maintaining the effusivity of the bare copper surface. The study showed that the BHT coefficient has an inverse relationship to wettability; the BHT coefficient decreases as wettability increases. Furthermore, it was shown that this dependency between BHT coefficient and wettability is more significant than the relationship between BHT coefficient and surface roughness. The CHF was also found to increase with increases in wettability and roughness. For the most hydrophilic surface tested in this study, CHF values were recorded near the 2,000 kW/m2 mark. This value is compared with maximum values reported in literature for water on non-structured flat surfaces without area enhancements. Based on these results it is postulated that there exists a true hydrodynamic CHF limit for pool boiling with water on flat surfaces, very near 2,000 kW/m2, independent of heater material, representing an 80% increase in the limit suggested by Zuber [1].

Modeling of Transport During Droplet Deposition and Spreading on Smooth and Microstructured Superhydrophilic Surfaces

The dynamic behavior of impinging water droplets is studied in the context of varying surface morphologies on smooth and microstructured superhydrophilic surfaces. The goal of this study is to evaluate the capability of contact angle wall adhesion models to accurately produce spreading phenomena seen on a variety of surface types. We analyze macroscale droplet behavior, specifically spreading extent and impinging regime, in situations of varying microscale wetting character and surface morphology. Axisymmetric, volume of fluid (VOF) simulations with static contact angle wall adhesion are conducted in ANSYS Fluent. Simulations are performed on water for low Weber numbers (We<20) on surfaces with features of length scale 5–10μm. Advanced microstructured surfaces consisting of unique wetting characteristics and lengths on each face are also tested. Results show that while the contact angle wall adhesion model shows fair agreement for conventional surfaces, the model underestimates spreading by over 60% for surfaces exhibiting estimated contact angles below approximately 0.5°. Microstructured surfaces adapt the wetting behavior of smooth surfaces with higher effective contact angles based on contact line pinning on morphology features. The propensity of the model to produce Wenzel and Cassie-Baxter states is linked to the spreading radius, introducing an interdependency of microscale wetting and macroscale spreading behavior. Conclusions describing the impact of results on evaporative cooling are also discussed.

Thermal Performance of Sierpinski Carpet Fractal Fins in a Forced Convection Environment

When certain fractal geometries are used in the design of fins or heat sinks the surface area available for heat transfer can be increased while system mass can be simultaneously decreased. The Sierpinski carpet fractal pattern, when utilized in the design of an extended surface, can provide more effective heat dissipation while simultaneously reducing mass. In order to assess the thermal performance of fractal fins for application in the thermal management of electronic devices an experimental investigation was performed. The first four fractal iterations of the Sierpinski carpet pattern, used in the design of extended surfaces, were examined in a forced convection environment. The thermal performance of the Sierpinski carpet fractal fins was quantified by the following performance metrics: efficiency, effectiveness, and effectiveness per unit mass. The fractal fins were experimentally examined in a thermal testing tunnel for a range of Reynolds numbers. As the Reynolds number increased, the fin efficiency, effectiveness and effectiveness per unit mass were found to decrease. However, as the Reynolds number increased the Nusselt number was found to similarly increase due to higher average heat transfer coefficients. The fourth iteration of the fractal pattern resulted in a 6.73% and 70.97% increase in fin effectiveness and fin effectiveness per unit mass when compared with the zeroth iteration for a Reynolds number of 6.5E3. However, the fourth iteration of the fractal pattern resulted in a 1.93% decrease in fin effectiveness and 57.09% increase in fin effectiveness per unit mass when compared with the zeroth iteration for a Reynolds number of 1.3E4. The contribution of thermal radiation to the rate of heat transfer was as high as 62.90% and 33.69% for Reynolds numbers of 6.5E3 and 1.3E4 respectively.

Boiling Heat Transfer From an Oscillated Water Column Through a Porous Domain: A Simplified Thermodynamic Analysis

Heat transfer in an oscillating water column in the transition regime of pool boiling to bubbly flow is investigated experimentally and theoretically. Forced oscillations are applied to water via a frequency controlled dc motor and a piston-cylinder device. Heat transfer is from the electrically heated inner surface to the reciprocating flow. The heat transfer in the oscillating fluid column is altered by using stainless steel scrap metal layers (made off open-cell discrete cells) which produces a porous medium within the system. The effective heat transfer mechanism is enhanced and it is due to the hydrodynamic mixing of the boundary layer and the core flow. In oscillating flow, the hydrodynamic lag between the core flow and the boundary layer flow is somehow significant. At low actuation frequencies and at low heat fluxes, heat transfer is restricted in the single phase flows. The transition regime of pool boiling to bubbly flow is proposed to be a remedy to the stated limitation. The contribution by the pool boiling on heat transfer appears to be the dominant mechanism for the selected low oscillation amplitudes and frequencies. Accordingly the regime is a transition from pool boiling to bubbly flow. Nucleate-bubbly flow boiling in oscillating flow is also investigated using a simplified thermodynamic analysis. According to the experimental results, bubbles induce highly efficient heat transfer mechanisms. Experimental study proved that the heater surface temperature is the dominant parameter affecting heat transfer. At greater actuation frequencies saturated nucleate pool boiling ceases to exist. Actuation frequency becomes important in that circumstances. The present investigation has possible applications in moderate sized wicked heat pipes, boilers, compact heat exchangers and steam generators.

Identification of Design Criteria for Converter Cooling System of Permanent Magnet Direct-Drive Wind Turbine Generator

The design criteria of converter cooling system for a 2.5 MW permanent magnet direct-drive wind turbine generator were investigated. Two (2) distribution networks with pipe sizes of DN40 and DN50 were used as basis for fluid flow analysis. The theoretical system pressure drop and system volume flow rate of converter cooling system were calculated using the governing equations of mass conservation, pump performance curve and distribution network characteristics. The system of nonlinear equations was solved using multivariable Newton-Raphson method with the solution vector determined using LU decomposition method. Numerical results suggest that the DN50 pipe provides a pressure drop limit of less than 300 Pa/m in the converter cooling system better than the pressure drop obtained from a DN40 pipe. The system volume flow rate of DN50 pipe was found to be above the operating limit of heat exchanger requirement of 135.30 L/min which needs to dissipate heat with a minimum of 50 kW.

Uncertainties of Thermal Conductivities From Equilibrium Molecular Dynamics Simulations

The Green-Kubo method in the framework of equilibrium molecular dynamics (EMD) simulations is an effective method that has been widely used to calculate thermal conductivities of materials. The previous studies focused on the thermal conductivity values or the average values from repetitive simulations. Little research has been done to investigate the uncertainties of the thermal conductivities from EMD simulations. In this paper, we use solid argon as the material system to study the factors influencing the uncertainties of the predicted thermal conductivities. We find that the uncertainties decrease with the total simulation time as (ttotal)−α and increase with correlation time as (tcorre)β, where 0.48 < α, β < 0.52. We also find that the uncertainties decrease with increasing temperature, but the simulation domain size has a negligible effect. We propose some guidelines for selecting appropriate simulation parameters (e.g., the correlation time and total simulation time) to achieve a desired level of uncertainty. This work is potentially useful for future studies on calculating the thermal conductivities of materials using EMD simulations.

Dropwise Condensation on Carbon Steel Surface

The increasing demand of heat dissipation in power plants has pushed the limits of current two-phase thermal technologies such as heat pipes and vapor chambers. One of the most obvious areas for thermal improvement is centered on the high heat flux condensers including improved evaporators, thermal interfaces, etc, with low cost materials and surface treatment. Dropwise condensation has shown the ability to increase condensation heat transfer coefficient by an order of magnitude over conventional filmwise condensation. Current dropwise condensation research is focused on Cu and other special metals, the cost of which limits its application in the scale of commercial power plants. Presented here is a general use of self-assembled monolayer coatings to promote dropwise condensation on low-cost steel-based surfaces. Together with inhibitors in the working fluid, the surface of condenser is protected by hydrophobic coating, and the condensation heat transfer is promoted on carbon steel surfaces.