Abonnement à la biblothèque: Guest

ISSN Online: 2377-424X

International Heat Transfer Conference 12
August, 18-23, 2002, Grenoble, France

Heat transfer in wavy channels of plate heat exchanger

Get access (open in a dialog) DOI: 10.1615/IHTC12.3090
6 pages

Résumé

Plate heat exchangers (PHEs) are currently used as heat transfer components in refrigeration systems. The major characteristics of PHEs is the wavy flow channel. Detailed knowledge of the transport phenomena within the channel is thus a necessity. Unfortunately, available literatures emphasized on the overall performance of PHEs. This experimental study is thus intended to investigate the effect of the channel geometry and flow conditions on the heat transfer of the exchangers.
In this work, two stainless steel cases with surfaces of the same wavy shape were clipped between two metal plates to constitute the required flow channel, within which air was passed though. The shape of the corrugated surface can be changed with different cases. The temperature of the wall was maintained constant with hot water. Starting from the entrance, the temperature distribution within the channel of two wavelengths was monitored with thermocouples. The geometric parameters investigated in this work included the width (W) and corrugated angle (β) of the flow channel. The flow rate of air was also varied to study the effect of Reynolds number (Re). Results indicate that the local Nusselt number (Nux) is greater at sections close to the wave crest than that at other regions within the channel. The average Nusselt number (Nu) increases with Re and β, but does not change apparently with W. Nux increases with Re, but decreases with the distances from the entrance of the channel. Furthermore, the heat transfer coefficient (hm) increases with β but decreases with W.