Yutasak Chokeman. Heat Transfer and Friction Characteristics of Plate Fin-And-Tube Heat Exchangers. Master's Degree(Mechanical Engineering). มหาวิทยาลัยเทคโนโลยีพระจอมเกล้าธนบุรี. : King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi, 2002.
Heat Transfer and Friction Characteristics of Plate Fin-And-Tube Heat Exchangers
Abstract:
In this thesis, the effects of fin pitch, number of tube rows, fin thickness, fin pattern, edge corrugation, coating at fin surface, and tube material on the air-side performance of fin-and-tube heat exchangers having wavy fin configuration are experimentally investigated under dry conditions. The expelsimental apparatus consists essentially of a well insulated open wind tunnel and wavy fin-and-tube heat exchangers made from aluminium plate finned, copper tube. Air and water are used to be working fluids in air-side and tube-side, respectively. A total of 17 samples of the fin-and-tube heat exchangers are tested. The experimental procedures are conducted by keeping the inlet water temperature at a pre-selected value, adjusting the water flow rate at a specific value and varying air velocity. The resuits are presented as plots of the Colburn factor (j) and fiction factor (f) against the Reynolds number based on the fin collar outside diameter (ReDc). From the experimental results, it is found that fin pitch (F,) has an insignificant effect on the heat transfer characteristic, while the friction factor increases with increasing fin pitch when the Reynolds number (ReDc)> 2500. The Colburn factor and the friction factor decrease with the increase of tube row number (N) when ReDc< 4000. As the fin thickness increases, the Colburn factor increases for N = 2 and Fp = 1.41 -2.54 mm while N= 4 and 6, and Fp= 2.54 mm, it decreases when ReDc< 1800, and increases when ReDc> 2500. The friction factor increases with increasing fin thickness when N = 2 and Fp= 1.41 -1.81 mm. For N -2 -6, and Fp= 2.54 mm, the fin thickness has an insignificant effect on the friction characteristic, except in the case of N = 6 the friction factor decreases slightly with the increased thickness of the fin when ReDc< 1800. In the case of the effect of fin pattern, the Colburn factor and the friction factor of fin pattern type I1 are higher than those of type I. The corrugation at the edge of the fins leads to the decrease of the Colburn factor but it has an insignificant effect on the friction characteristic. The experimental results also indicated that at the same Reynolds number, the Colburn factor decreases highly when the fin surface was coated with an organic combined layer, while the coating at fin surface with lacquer layer has an insignificant effect on the heat transfer characteristic. However, the coating with both lacquer layer and organic combined layer do not affect the friction characteristic. The change of tube material from copper to aluminium results in a slight decrease of the Colbwn factor but it does not affect to the fiction characteristic.