Experimental Investigation of Tube-in-Tube Nanocomposite Coated Heat Exchanger

Abstract

In this paper, heat transfer performance is investigated for plain and nanoparticle coated tube-in-tube heat exchangers. Four types of tubes, i.e. bare copper tube, bare aluminium tube, Cu-Al2O3 nanoparticle coated tube and anodized aluminium tubes are used for performing the experimental investigation. The coating thickness of Cu-Al2O3 nanocomposite surface and anodized aluminium tube varies from 10, 25 and 30 micrometres to 15, 20 and 30 micrometres respectively. The surface is found to be hydrophilic in nature as the contact angle changes from 79.82deg to 55.47deg. The prepared surfaces are characterized by FESEM, EDS and FTIR. By adjusting the hot and cold fluids relative mass flow rates, one may calculate not only the overall heat transfer coefficient but also the efficiency of the tube-in-tube heat exchanger. The Cu-Al2O3 nanocomposite coated surface has the highest overall heat transfer coefficient and efficiency, followed by an anodized aluminium surface, bare copper surface and bare aluminium surface. The aluminium anodic oxide (AAO) surface also exhibits an increased heat transfer coefficient, but to a lesser extent than the nanocomposite coating.