Enhancement of Heat Transfer for Plate Fin Heat Exchangers Considering the Effects of Fin Arrangements

ABSTRACT

In the present study, the potential of rectangular fins with different fin types of inner zigzag-flat-outer zigzag (B-type) and outer zigzag-flat-outer zigzag (C-type) and with different fin angles of 30° and 90° for 2 mm fin height and 10 mm offset from the horizontal direction for heat transfer enhancement with the use of a conjugated heat transfer approach and for pressure drop in a plate fin heat exchanger is numerically evaluated. The rectangular fins are located on a flat plate channel (A-type). The numerical computations are performed by solving a steady, three-dimensional Navier–Stokes equation and an energy equation by using FLUENT software program. Air is taken as working fluid. The study is carried out at Reynolds number of 400 and inlet temperatures, velocities of cold and hot air are fixed as 300 K, 600 K and 1.338 m.s⁻¹, 0.69 m.s⁻¹, respectively. This study presents new fin geometries which have not been researched in the literature for plate fin heat exchangers. The results show that while the heat transfer is increased by about 10% at the exit of a channel with the fin type of C, it is increased up to 8% for the fin angle of 90° when compared to a channel with A-type under the counter flow. The heat transfer enhancements for different values of Reynolds number and for varying fin heights, fin intervals and also temperature distributions of fluids are investigated for parallel and counter flow.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ertan Buyruk

Ertan Buyruk is a Professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department at the Faculty of Engineering of Cumhuriyet University in Sivas, Turkey. He received his Ph.D. degree from the University of Liverpool, England in 1996. His main research interests are heat and mass transfer, energy management, heat transfer and fouling on cross-flow heat exchangers, thermal insulation, chill storage, thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, computational fluid dynamics and heat transfer of nanofluids.

Koray Karabulut

Koray Karabulut is an Assistant Professor in the Energy Systems Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Cumhuriyet University, Sivas, Turkey. He received his Ph.D. degree in Department of Energy in 2015 from the University of Cumhuriyet. His research interests include heat and mass transfer, heat insulation, conservation of energy, plate fin heat exchangers, heat transfer of nanofluids with carbon based, thermodynamics, fluid mechanics and computational fluid dynamics.