Abstract

This paper presents numerical analysis of fluid flow and heat transfer in the heat exchanger with microchannel coil (MCHX). In accordance with previously published experimental results, 3D mathematical model has been defined and appropriate numerical simulation of heat transfer has been performed. Geometry and working parameters of cross-flow air-water heat exchanger with microchannel coil, installed in an open circuit wind tunnel and used in experimental investigations, have been applied in numerical analysis in order to validate the mathematical model. 3D model with air and water fluid flow and heat transfer domains has been used, as it gives more precise results compared to models that assume constant temperatures or constant heat fluxes on the pipe walls. Developed model comprised full length of air and water flows in the heat exchanger. Due to limitations of computational capacity, domain has been divided in multiple computational blocks in the water flow direction and then solved successively using CFD solver Fluent. Good agreement between experimentally measured and numerically calculated results has been obtained. The influence of various working parameters on heat transfer in air-water heat exchanger has been studied numerically, followed with discussion and final conclusions.

Highlights

  • Numerical analysis is a powerful tool that can be used in different investigations and various fields

  • Large number of research papers about MCHX can be found with different topics that deal with both single phase or with phase change processes [4, 5]

  • Main findings of paper demonstrated that well-known correlations for heat transfer could be used to predict heat transfer in multiport microchannel heat sink

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Summary

Introduction

Numerical analysis is a powerful tool that can be used in different investigations and various fields. When dealing with heat transfer of compact heat exchangers, it gives possibility to test and simulate a number of different designs under numerous operating conditions without need of creation of very expensive real size prototypes. Analysis and simulation of heat transfer can be performed experimentally, numerically or by combination of this two main approaches. In paper [6] experimental study of heat transfer characteristics of single-phase turbulent flow of R-134a refrigerant in a rectangular multi-micro channel heat sink has been performed. Geometry and working parameters of crossflow air-water heat exchanger with microchannel coil, installed in an open circuit wind tunnel and used in experimental investigations, have been applied in numerical analysis in order to validate the mathematical. Description of mathematical model and numerical solving, with numerical analysis and final conclusions follows

Physical model
Governing equations
Numerical solution
Validation
Experimental setup and procedure
Comparison between experimental and numerical results
Numerical results
Distribution of air and water temperatures
Conclusion

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