Experimental Investigation of Thermal Performance of a Novel Alternating Cross-Section Flattened Tube Heat Exchanger

Abstract

The air-side performance of a novel alternating cross-section flattened (ACF) tube heat exchanger was experimentally investigated. Three heat exchangers with an in-line tube arrangement and two tube rows were used as the test sections. The tube configuration is the highlight of the research work. ACF tubes with hydraulic diameters of 4.16, 4.75, and 5.20 mm were assembled as the heat exchanger. The experimental results showed that the ACF tube heat exchangers exhibited a prominent heat transfer characteristic with a reasonable pressure loss penalty. Performance evaluation criteria, as a nondimensional parameter, were employed to assess the heat exchanger performance. Finally, the j and f of the ACF tube heat exchanger were compared with those obtained from various shapes of noncircular tube and fin tube heat exchangers. All the details are examined and discussed in this study.