A numerical investigation of louvered fin-and-tube heat exchangers having circular and oval tube configurations

Abstract

A numerical investigation of the airside performance for fin-and-tube heat exchanger having circular and oval configuration is presented in this study. The geometrical parameters of louver angle, louver pitch, and louver length are examined. For a fixed louver length (6.25 mm) and louver angle (14°), a 10% decrease of heat transfer performance is observed and a 41% decrease of pressure drop is seen for oval tube configuration. The calculated results indicate that the pressure drops always with increase in louver angle. However, an optimal value of heat transfer performance is observed due to the difference in the development of thermal boundary layer on the upper and lower louver surface. Both the heat transfer and friction performance increase with louver length. However, the rate of the increase of heat transfer performance is about the same as the increase of pressure drops.