THERMAL SCIENCE
International Scientific Journal
Thermal Science - Online First
online first only
Numerical simulation of heat transfer and flow characteristics for plate fin-and-tube heat exchanger with ring-bridge slit fins
ABSTRACT
In this paper, a new type of ring-bridge slit fins of plate fin-and-tube was proposed. It was studied by 3D numerical simulation of heat transfer and flow using FLUENT. A sample of plate fin-and-tube exchanger with ring-bridge slit fins was tested. The reliability of the simulation was demonstrated by contrasting the simulated data with the experimental data. Six different structural parameters were investigated for their effects on the flow and heat transfer performance of the plate fin-and-tube exchanger with ring-bridge fins. It was found that the fin pitch had the most significant effect on the heat transfer and flow performance of the ring-bridge slit fins. Proper reduction of the front ring-bridge slit angle of the sample was beneficial to the overall heat transfer performance. The overall heat transfer performance was weakened by both decreasing or increasing the rear ring-bridge slit angle of the sample. The optimal fin structure was obtained by the orthogonal experimental method.
KEYWORDS
PAPER SUBMITTED: 2023-01-23
PAPER REVISED: 2023-03-26
PAPER ACCEPTED: 2023-03-28
PUBLISHED ONLINE: 2023-05-13
- Bhuiyan, A. A. & Islam, A. K. M. S. Thermal and hydraulic performance of finned-tube heat exchangers under different flow ranges: A review on modeling and experiment. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 101, 38-59 (2016).
- Li, M. J. et al. Experimental and numerical study and comparison of performance for wavy fin and a plain fin with radiantly arranged winglets around each tube in fin-and-tube heat exchangers. Applied Thermal Engineering 133, 298-307 (2018).
- Kim, N.-H. An Experimental Investigation on the Air-Side Performance of Fin-and-Tube Heat Exchangers Having Radial Slit Fins. Int. J. Air-Cond. Ref. 23, 1550021 (2015).
- Wang, C.-C. & Chi, K.-Y. Heat transfer and friction characteristics of plain fin-and-tube heat exchangers, part I: new experimental data. Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer 11 (2000).
- Wu, X. et al. Experimental study on the effects of fin pitches and tube diameters on the heat transfer and fluid flow characteristics of a fin punched with curved delta-winglet vortex generators. Applied Thermal Engineering 119, 560-572 (2017).
- Kong, Y. Q. Effects of continuous and alternant rectangular slots on thermo-flow performances of plain finned tube bundles in in-line and staggered configurations. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 11 (2016).
- Zhang, K. Experimental and numerical study and comparison of performance for herringbone wavy fin and enhanced fin with convex-strips in fin-and-tube heat exchanger. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 13 (2021).
- Li, X.-Y. et al. Experimental study on heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of fin-and-tube surface with four convex-strips around each tube. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 116, 1085-1095 (2018).
- Li, X.-Y. et al. Numerical study on the heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of fin-and-tube surface with four round-convex strips around each tube. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 158, 120034 (2020).
- Li, L. et al. Numerical simulation on flow and heat transfer of fin structure in air-cooled heat exchanger. Applied Thermal Engineering 10 (2013).
- Kumar, A. et al. 3D CFD simulations of air cooled condenser-III: Thermal-hydraulic characteristics and design optimization under forced convection conditions. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 93, 1227-1247 (2016).
- Sarangi, S. K. & Mishra, D. P. Effect of winglet location on heat transfer of a fin-and-tube heat exchanger. Applied Thermal Engineering 116, 528-540 (2017).
- Xie, J. & Lee, H. M. Flow and heat transfer performances of directly printed curved-rectangular vortex generators in a compact fin-tube heat exchanger. Applied Thermal Engineering 180, 115830 (2020).
- Wu, J. M. & Tao, W. Q. Investigation on laminar convection heat transfer in fin-and-tube heat exchanger in aligned arrangement with longitudinal vortex generator from the viewpoint of field synergy principle. Applied Thermal Engineering 27, 2609-2617 (2007).
- Li, M. J. et al. Heat transfer and pressure performance of a plain fin with radiantly arranged winglets around each tube in fin-and-tube heat transfer surface. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 70, 734-744 (2014).
- Wang, W. et al. Numerical investigation of a finned-tube heat exchanger with novel longitudinal vortex generators. Applied Thermal Engineering 86, 27-34 (2015).
- Fan, J.-F. et al. Application of Combined Enhanced Techniques for Design of Highly Efficient Air Heat Transfer Surface. Heat Transfer Engineering 33, 52-62 (2012).
- Lin, Z.-M. et al. Numerical study on heat transfer enhancement of circular tube bank fin heat exchanger with interrupted annular groove fin. Applied Thermal Engineering 73, 1465-1476 (2014).
- Zeeshan, M. et al. Numerical study to predict optimal configuration of fin and tube compact heat exchanger with various tube shapes and spatial arrangements. Energy Conversion and Management 148, 737-752 (2017).
- Zhao, L. et al. Numerical study on airside thermal-hydraulic performance of rectangular finned elliptical tube heat exchanger with large row number in turbulent flow regime. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 114, 1314-1330 (2017).
- Wu, X. et al. Performance evaluation and optimization of semi-dimpled slit fin. Heat Mass Transfer 50, 1251-1259 (2014).
- Gholami, A. et al. Thermal-hydraulic performance of fin-and-oval tube compact heat exchangers with innovative design of corrugated fin patterns. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 106, 573-592 (2017).
- Zhi, C. et al. Prediction and analysis of thermal-hydraulic performance with slit fins in small diameter (3 mm to 4 mm) heat exchangers. International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer 129, 105684 (2021).
- He, Y. L. et al. Three-dimensional numerical study of heat transfer characteristics of plain plate fin-and-tube heat exchangers from view point of field synergy principle. International Journal of Heat and Fluid Flow 26, 459-473 (2005).