Abstract
The maldistribution of fluid flow through multi-channels is a critical issue encountered in many areas, such as multi-channel heat exchangers, electronic device cooling, refrigeration and cryogenic devices, air separation and the petrochemical industry. In this paper, the uniformity of flow distribution in a printed circuit heat exchanger (PCHE) is investigated. The flow distribution and resistance characteristics of a PCHE plate are studied with numerical models under different flow distribution cases. The results show that the sudden change in the angle of the fluid at the inlet of the channel can be greatly reduced by using a spreader plate with an equal inner and outer radius. The flow separation of the fluid at the inlet of the channel can also be weakened and the imbalance of flow distribution in the channel can be reduced. Therefore, the flow uniformity can be improved and the pressure loss between the inlet and outlet of PCHEs can be reduced. The flow maldistribution in each PCHE channel can be reduced to ± 0.2%, and the average flow maldistribution in all PCHE channels can be reduced to less than 5% when the number of manifolds reaches nine. The numerical simulation of fluid flow distribution can provide guidance for the subsequent research and the design and development of multi-channel heat exchangers. In summary, the symmetry of the fluid flow in multi-channels for PCHE was analyzed in this work. This work presents the frequently encountered problem of maldistribution of fluid flow in engineering, and the performance promotion leads to symmetrical aspects in both the structure and the physical process.
Highlights
A heat exchanger is a device used to transfer heat from a hot fluid to a cold fluid to meet specified process requirements, which is an industrial application of convection heat transfer and heat conduction [1]
This paper aims to present the flow distribution and resistance characteristics of the printed circuit heat exchanger (PCHE) plate, which was studied with numerical models under different flow distribution cases; the numerical simulation of fluid flow distribution can provide guidance for subsequent research and the design and development of multi-channel heat exchangers
This paper aims to present the flow distribution and resistance characteristics of PCHE plates, which were studied with numerical models under different flow distribution cases; the numerical simulation of fluid flow distribution can provide guidance for subsequent research and the design and development of multi-channel heat exchangers
Summary
A heat exchanger is a device used to transfer heat from a hot fluid to a cold fluid to meet specified process requirements, which is an industrial application of convection heat transfer and heat conduction [1]. The heat exchanger is an important piece of ship power system equipment, because the efficiency and cost of the ship power system are both significantly affected by the thermal-hydraulic performance of the intermediate heat exchanger [2]. The ship power system has a large amount of heat generation, in which its internal high heat flux electronic equipment has a large demand for heat dissipation, so it needs to adopt efficient cooling and heat dissipation technology in a limited space. It is necessary to develop a highly efficient heat exchanger with a high temperature and high pressure for the ship power system. Double-pipe heat exchangers are the simplest exchangers used in industry. On one hand, these heat exchangers are cheap for both design and maintenance, making them a good choice for small industries
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