An Experimental Investigation of Heat Transfer Coefficients for Spiral Plate Heat Exchanger

Abstract

Spiral plate heat exchangers play a vital role in cooling high density and high viscous fluids. This paper presents an experimental investigation of convective heat transfer co-efficient for electrolytes using spiral plate heat exchanger. The test section consists of a Plate of width 0.3150 m, thickness 0.001 m and mean hydraulic diameter of 0.01 m. The mass flow rate of hot fluid is varying from 0.4 kg sec-1 to 0.8 kg sec-1 and the mass flow rate of cold fluid varies from 0.3 kg sec-1 to 0.8 kg sec-1. Experiments have been conducted by varying the mass flow rate, temperature and pressure of cold fluid, keeping the mass flow rate of hot fluid constant. The effects of relevant parameters on spiral plate heat exchanger are investigated. The data obtained from the experimental study are compared with the theoretical data. Besides, a new correlation for the nusselt number that can be used for practical applications is proposed.