Modeling and Assessment of the Thermo-Hydraulic Performance for a Fish Gill Patterned Plate Heat Exchanger in Biomimetic Approach

Abstract

Increasing the surface area of ​​the plate heat exchangers (PHEs) has recently been one of the focuses of the industry. Improved surface shapes provide greater heat transfer and also become an important key point in energy saving. In this study, a fish-gill pattern is modeled on the plate surface and a thermo-hydraulic evaluation is performed on it. It is known that living respiratory organs such as fish gills are the natural heat exchangers that provide the best heat and mass transfer. Thus, the focus is on both increasing the compactness and heat transfer and reducing the pressure drop for PHEs. Comparative simulation studies are conducted between the fish-gill patterned PHE and the commercial Chevron PHE for water fluid. The study results show that the heat transfer rate of the fish gill patterned PHE is 15% higher compared to the Chevron PHE while the pressure drop is close. The compactness and efficiency values are also higher than those of the Chevron PHE. It is observed that the pressure consumption is higher because the surface geometry is complex, and the channels are narrow. Therefore, this study can be considered as a guide for the realization of PHE surface shape designs.

Additional information

Funding

This work is supported by the Turkey Scientific and Technological Research Council (TUBITAK) of Turkey (Grant No. 218M470).

Notes on contributors

Bariş Gürel

Barış Gürel received his MSc and PhD degrees in Mechanical Engineering in 2012 and 2018, respectively, from Süleyman Demirel University, Turkey. He is currently an Associate Professor in Mechanical Engineering at Süleyman Demirel University. His research interests include fluid mechanics, thermal systems, heat exchangers, combustion, circulating fluid bed, and multiphase flow.

Ali Keçebaş

Ali Keçebaş received his MSc degree in Mechanical Education in 2007 from Zonguldak Karaelmas University, Turkey, and his PhD degree in Mechanical Engineering in 2011 from Süleyman Demirel University, Turkey. He serves as Professor in Department of Energy Systems Engineering of Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University since 2020. His research interests include fluid mechanics, thermal systems, heat exchangers and renewable energies such as geothermal and solar.

Volkan Ramazan Akkaya

Volkan Ramazan Akkaya received his MSc and PhD degrees in Mechanical Engineering in 2009 and 2015, respectively, from Gebze High Technology University, Turkey. He is currently an Assistant Professor in Energy Systems Engineering at Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University, Turkey. His research interests include fluid mechanics, thermal systems, heat exchangers, renewable energies such as geothermal and solar, thermodynamics and organic Rankine cycle.

Merve Göltaş

Merve Göltaş is a project assistant at the Department of Energy Systems Engineering, Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University, Turkey. She received her BSc and MSc degrees in Mechanical Engineering in 2017 and 2020, respectively, from Süleyman Demirel University, Turkey. She is currently a PhD student at Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University. Her research interests are organic Rankine cycle, heat exchangers, and computational fluid dynamics.

Onur Vahip Güler

Onur Vahip Güler is a research fellow at the Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences, Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University, Turkey. He received his BSc degree in Energy Systems Engineering in 2017 from the Süleymen Demirel University, Turkey, and his MSc degree in Energy Systems Engineering in 2019 from Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University. He is currently a PhD student at Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University. His research interests are geothermal energy, heat pump, heat exchangers, and thermodynamics.

Karani Kurtuluş

Karani Kurtuluş received his BSc degree in Mechanical Engineering in 2011 from the Süleymen Demirel University, Turkey. He received his MSc and PhD degrees in Mechanical Engineering in 2014 and 2020, respectively, from Süleyman Demirel University. He is currently a Research Assistant at Süleyman Demirel University, Isparta, Turkey. His research interests include fluid mechanics, thermal systems, heat exchangers, combustion, thermodynamics, and organic Rankine cycle.