Experimental and numerical study of the compact heat exchanger with different microchannel shapes

Abstract

Experimental and numerical analysis of heat transfer and fluid flow in the compact heat exchanger has been done in this paper. In an open circuit wind tunnel, developed on purpose for this investigation, the measurement of working media temperatures and mass flow rates for heat exchanger with microchannel coil has been accomplished. In accordance with the heat exchangers used for experiments, numerical 3D simulation of adequate geometry shapes has been done. With utilization of air/water side numerical simulation, more detailed results have been achieved in relation to the simulation that assumes constant temperature or constant heat flux on the pipe wall. Good agreement between experimentally measured and numerically calculated results has been accomplished. The influence of different microchannel shapes on heat transfer effectiveness and pressure drop has been studied numerically. Comparison of results has been made accompanied by the discussion and final conclusions.