Heat transfer characteristics in a tube fitted with helical screw-tape with/without core-rod inserts

Abstract

Effects of insertion of a helical screw-tape with or without core-rod in a concentric double tube heat exchanger on heat transfer and flow friction characteristics are experimentally investigated. The heat exchanger has the outer and the inner tube diameters of 50 mm ( D o) and 25 mm ( D) where the cold and the hot waters used as the test fluids are in shell and tube sides, respectively. The stainless steel helical screw-tape has the geometrical dimensions of width ( W) 17 mm with the clearance to the tube wall ( D − W) / 2 = 4 mm. Thus, the insertion of the screw-tape in the tube is considered as a loose-fit. In the experiment, the loose-fit helical tape with or without core-rod, is inserted in the inner tube of the heat exchanger and the hot water enters the tube based on its Reynolds number in a range of 2000 to 12,000. The experimental results show that the increases in average Nusselt number of using the loose-fit, helical tape with and without core-rod are found to be 230% and 340%, respectively, over the corresponding plain tube. It is worth noting that for the loose-fit, helical tape without core-rod, the friction factor is around 50% less than that for the one with core-rod while the Nusselt number is about 50% higher. Furthermore, the enhancement efficiency of the helical screw-tapes varies between 1.00 and 1.17, 1.98 and 2.14, for the tapes with and without core-rod, respectively.