Dry/wet performance of a plate-fin air-cooled heat exchanger with continuous corrugated fins

Abstract

The performance and operating characteristics of a plate-fin heat exchanger in dry/wet or deluge operations was experimentally determined. Development of the deluge heat/mass transfer model continued. The experiments were conducted in a specially-designed wind tunnel at the PNL. Air that was first heated and humidified to specified conditions was circulated at a controlled rate through a 2 ft x 6 ft heat exchanger module. The heat exchanger used in the tests was a wavy surface, plate fin on tube configuration. Hot water was circulated through the tubes at high flow rates to maintain an essentially isothermal condition on the tube side. Deionized water sprayed on the top of the vertically oriented plate fins was collected at the bottom of the core and recirculated. Instrumentation was provided for measurement of flow rates and thermodynamic conditions in the air, in the core circulation water, and in the deluge water. Measurements of the air side pressure drop and heat rejection rate were made as a function of air flow rate, air inlet temperature and humidity, deluge water flow rate, and the core inclination from the vertical. An overall heat transfer coefficient and an effective deluge film convective coefficient was determined. The deluge model, for predicting heat transfer from a wet finned heat exchanger was further developed and refined, and a major extension of the model was formulated that permits simultaneous calculation of both the heat transfer and evaporation rates from the wetted surface. The experiments showed an increase in the heat rejection rate due to wetting, accompanied by a proportional increase in the air side pressure drop. For operation at the same air side pressure drop, the enhancement ratio Q/sub w//Q/sub d/ varied between 2 and 5 for the conditions tested. Thus, the potential enhancement of heat transfer due to wetting can be substantial.