Performance comparison among the variants of curved serpentine coil

Abstract

In the present work, two variants of the novel curved serpentine coil formed by relaxing the switching angle at the junctions are explored and compared with the original design for the same mean radius Rm of concentric tubes. With α as the semi-cone angle and θ as the subtended angle of concentric tubes, the general notation given to different variants of the curved serpentine coil is CS-α-θ. The three variants are named as a cylindrical curved serpentine coil (α = 0°), conical curved serpentine coil (0° < α < 90°), and spiral curved serpentine coil (α = 90°). The fluid experiences a switching angle of 90° − α and 90° + α at the entrance and exit of every U-bend, respectively. The laminar flow of water in CS-α-θ coils (45° ≤ θ ≤ 270°, 0° ≤ α ≤ 90°) is simulated using ANSYS FLUENT version 20.2 for the range 500 ≤ Re ≤ 2000. The length-averaged Nu and f are found to decrease with an increase in either α or θ for the same mean radius Rm of concentric tubes. Secondary flow intensity is quantified using the parameter Se and is correlated with the flow and geometric parameters. Generalized correlations for predicting the average Nusselt number and friction factor for CS-α-θ coils are expressed as the sum of corresponding straight tube values and as a function of Se with a maximum deviation of ±8.5% and ±7%, respectively.