CONJUGATE NUMERICAL MODEL FOR COOLING A FLUID FLOWING THROUGH A SPIRAL COIL IMMERSED IN A CHILLED WATER CONTAINER

Abstract

A conjugate numerical model has been proposed to investigate the problem of cooling a fluid flowing through a spiral coil immersed in a chilled water container, which is common in many beverage dispensers. A simple axisymmetric numerical procedure is described to determine the temperature of the fluid in the spiral coil and that of the coil surface. A one-dimensional heat balance equation for the fluid within the coil is utilized to update the fluid and wall surface temperatures, which are needed to calculate the temperature field in the water container with solid ice walls. The SIMPLE algorithm has been adopted along with the standard k-epsilon turbulence model equations. A reasonably good agreement between the numerical predictions and experimental results has been achieved.