Effects of airflow direction on the thermal-hydraulic performance of louvered fin-common flow up vortex generator

Abstract

To improve the thermal-hydraulic performance of the louvered fin and flat tube heat exchangers (LFHEs), this paper innovatively proposes the louvered fin-common flow up vortex generator (LF-CFUVG). Then, numerical simulations are conducted to study the effects of airflow direction γ on the thermal-hydraulic performance of the LF-CFUVG. The corresponding results indicate that the flow resistance of the LF-CFUVG is always greater than the Baseline (the LFHE without CFUVGs), as the CFUVGs reduce the minimum free flow area while forming low-speed wake zones behind them. The heat transfer capacity of the LF-CFUVG exceeds the Baseline as well, this is attributed to the longitudinal vortices induced by the CFUVGs, which is helpful to homogenize the temperature field and transport the high-speed and low-temperature airflow. And the thermal-hydraulic performance of LF-CFUVG also outperforms the Baseline. In comparison to the working condition of γ is 0°, the pressure drop Δp for the LF-CFUVG declines with increase of γ from 0° to 30°, thus a larger angle helps to reduce flow resistance. However, the heat transfer coefficients hLF and performance evaluation criteria (PEC) of the LF-CFUVG deteriorate with the increasing γ, so a smaller angle is recommended to obtain an intenser heat transfer and better PEC.