Number Of Tube Rows Research Articles

Determination of the Number of Tube Rows to Obtain Closure for Volume Averaging Theory Based Model of Fin-and-Tube Heat Exchangers

Modeling of fin-and-tube heat exchangers based on the volume averaging theory (VAT) requires proper closure of the VAT based governing equations. Closure can be obtained from reasonable lower scale solutions of a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code, which means the tube row number chosen should be large enough, so that the closure can be evaluated for a representative elementary volume (REV) that is, not affected by the entrance or recirculation at the outlet of the fin gap. To determine the number of tube rows, three-dimensional numerical simulations for plate fin-and-tube heat exchangers were performed, with the Reynolds number varying from 500 to 6000 and the number of tube rows varying from 1 to 9. A clear perspective of the variations of both overall and local fiction factor and the Nusselt number as the tube row number increases are presented. These variation trends are explained from the view point of the field synergy principle (FSP). Our investigation shows that 4 + 1 + 1 tube rows is the minimum number to get reasonable lower scale solutions. A computational domain including 5 + 2 + 2 tube rows is recommended, so that the closure formulas for drag resistance coefficient and heat transfer coefficient could be evaluated for the sixth and seventh elementary volumes to close the VAT based model.

Airside performance of herringbone wavy fin-and-tube heat exchangers – data with larger diameter tube

This study examines the airside performance of the wavy fin-and-tube heat exchangers having a larger diameter tube (Dc=16.59mm) with the tube row ranging from 1 to 16. It is found that the effect of tube row on the heat transfer performance is quite significant, and the heat transfer performance deteriorates with the rise of tube row. The performance drop is especially pronounced at the low Reynolds number region. Actually more than 85% drop of heat transfer performance is seen for Fp∼1.7mm as the row number is increased from 1 to 16. Upon the influence of tube row on the frictional performance, an unexpected row dependence of the friction factor is encountered. The effect of fin pitch on the airside performance is comparatively small for N=1 or N=2. However, a notable drop of heat transfer performance is seen when the number of tube row is increased, and normally higher heat transfer and frictional performance is associated with that of the larger fin pitch.

Effectiveness - NTU data and analysis for air conditioning and refrigeration air coils

A simulation program based on a control volume analysis has been used in the evaluation of the (e, NTU) relationship for coils of complex geometry and flow arrangement. The simulation program has been evaluated through simple geometry and flow arrangement coils. The program results compare very well with correlations for simple cross flow coils, and a number of rows up to four. It has also been determined that closed form correlations developed for coils of an infinite number of tube rows are inadequate for those with number of rows in the range between 5 and 10. In addition, it has been found that closed form (e, NTU) correlations for cross flow coils with the same tube arrangement and number of rows might lead to inaccuracies higher than 10% in the evaluation of the effectiveness of coils of complex flow arrangement.

Heat transfer characteristics of spirally-coiled circular fin-tube heat exchangers operating under frosting conditions

The objective of this study is to investigate the heat transfer characteristics of spirally-coiled circular fin-tube heat exchangers under frosting conditions. The heat transfer rate, pressure drop, frost thickness, and Nusselt number of the heat exchanger were measured and analyzed by varying the fin pitch and number of tube rows under frosting conditions. In addition, the Nusselt number of the spirally-coiled circular fin-tube exchanger was compared with those of flat plate fin-tube heat exchangers with discrete fins. An empirical correlation of the Nusselt number was developed as a function of the Reynolds number, dimensionless fin pitch normalized by the hydraulic diameter, i.e., D h / F p , Fourier number, and number of tube rows. The measured Nusselt number was consistent with the predicted value with mean and average deviations of 3.5% and 0.3%, respectively.

Effect of Number of Tube Rows on Heat Transfer Enhancement and Flow Field with Different Vortex Generator Geometries in Fin-And-Tube Heat Exchangers

Effect of Number of Tube Rows on Heat Transfer Enhancement and Flow Field with Different Vortex Generator Geometries in Fin-And-Tube Heat Exchangers

형상변수에 따른 나선형 원형핀-튜브 열교환기의 공기측 열전달 특성에 관한 실험적 연구

The objective of this study is to investigate the air-side heat transfer characteristics of a spirally-coiled circular fin-tube heat exchanger for various geometric parameters under non-frosting conditions. The heat transfer characteristics of the heat exchanger were analyzed with respect to heat exchanger geometries, and then, the characteristics were compared with those of rectangular-plate fin-tube heat exchangers with discrete fins. The heat transfer coefficient increased with a decrease in the number of tube rows and an increase in the fin pitch. The optimum length of the L-foot was 2.7 mm. In addition, the heat transfer rate increased with a decrease in the tube pitch and the tube thickness. The heat transfer coefficient of the spirally-coiled circular fin-tube heat exchanger was 24.3% higher than that of the rectangular-plate fin-tube heat exchanger.

Air-side heat transfer characteristics of flat plate finned-tube heat exchangers with large fin pitches under frosting conditions

The air-side heat transfer characteristics of flat plate finned-tube heat exchangers were measured and analyzed by varying the fin pitch, number of tube rows, and tube alignment under frosting conditions. Two empirical correlations for predicting the j-factor were developed separately for the inline and the staggered tube alignment, respectively, as a function of the Reynolds number, Fourier number, number of tube rows, and dimensionless hydraulic diameter normalized by fin pitch. The average deviation of the predictions of the present correlations from the measured data was 1.31% for the inline tube alignment and 0.65% for the staggered tube alignment.

The performance simulation of air-cooled hydrogen storage device with plate fins

This paper presents the heat and mass transfer performance of an air-cooled, multi-tube hydrogen storage device with plate fins and LaNi 5 as a hydriding alloy. The effects of number of tube rows, bed thickness and ratio of pitch distance to tube diameter (s/d) on the sorption performance of the device are reported. The influence of operating parameters such as air velocity and temperature on hydrogen sorption is also presented with emphasis on charging time and total system weight. Copyright The Author 2010. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org, Oxford University Press.

Airside performance of fin-and-tube heat exchangers in dehumidifying conditions – Data with larger diameter

This study presents the airside performance of the fin-and-tube heat exchangers having plain fin geometry with a larger diameter tube ( D c = 15.88 mm) under dehumidifying condition. A total of nine samples of heat exchangers subject to change of the number of tube row and fin pitch are made and tested. It is found that the effect of fin pitch on the sensible j factor is, in general, diminished with the rise of tube row. However, there is a unique characteristic of fin pitch at a shallow tube row, the heat transfer performance is first increased at a wider pitch but a further increase of fin pitch lead to a falloff of heat transfer performance due to interactions amid flow development and bypass flow. The influence of tube row on the airside performance is rather small for both heat transfer and frictional characteristics at a fin pitch of 2.1 mm and when the Reynolds number is less than 4000. A slight deviation of this effect is encountered when fin pitch is increased to 2.54 mm or 3.1 mm due to condensate adhered phenomena.

On the Generation Mechanism of High Level Sound Generated in a Boiler and Heat Exchanger

Boilers and heat exchangers are widely used in various plants such as power and chemical plants. However, unexpected high level sounds are generated when these plants are operated and it becomes a serious problem. This kind of problem is called acoustic resonance. In addition, it has been considered that resonance generates when the frequency of the vortex shedding behind the tube bank coincides with the natural frequency of the duct system. However, it has also been thought of as a self-sustained tone. In general, the self-excited phenomenon arises when the exciting energy becomes greater than the dissipating energy. In this paper, in order to clarify the mechanism of the self-sustained tone experimentally, we tried to find the origin of the instability by changing the number of tube rows and acoustic damping. As a result, it was found that the self-sustained tone generates when the number of tube rows increases and the acoustic damping decreases.

ボイラ・熱交換器で発生する大音響騒音の発生メカニズムに関する研究 : 管群本数と音響減衰の音圧レベルへの影響(機械力学,計測,自動制御)

A boiler and a heat exchanger are widely used in various plants such as power plants and chemical plants. However unexpected high level sounds are generated when these plants are operated and it becomes a serious problem. This kind of problem is called the acoustic resonance and it has been considered that the resonance generates when the frequency of the vortex shedding behind the tube bank coincides with the natural frequency of the duct system. However, it has also been thought of self-sustained tone. In general, the self excited phenomenon arises when the exciting energy becomes greater than the dissipating energy. Then in this paper, in order to clarify the mechanism of self sustained tone experimentally, the instability region is tried to be obtained by changing the number of tube row and acoustic damping. As a result, it was clarified that the self-sustained tone generates when the number of tube rows becomes large and the acoustic damping becomes small.

Correlations for wet surface ratio of fin-and-tube heat exchangers

Correlations are proposed for the wet surface ratio of a fin-and-tube heat exchanger with plain and wavy fin geometry under dehumidifying conditions. The ‘Finite Circular Fin Method’ (FCFM) is used for data reduction. It is found that the percentage of wet surface area increases with increasing fin spacing or number of tube rows and decreasing Reynolds number. Despite the addition of tube rows or reduced fin spacing the effective surface area is increased, and its influence on a partially wet surface is apparently the opposite. This is because adding tube rows will provide a more effective temperature drop in air flow than adding fins, Moreover, the heat and mass transfer characteristics of j h and j m increase with an increase in the area of wet surface. Correlations for prediction of the percentage of wet surface area are proposed. These correlations can describe 83.81% of the area of wet surface to within ±10%.

Air-side heat transfer characteristics of spiral-type circular fin-tube heat exchangers

The objective of this study is to investigate the air-side heat transfer characteristics of spiral-type circular fin-tube heat exchangers used as evaporators in household refrigerators. The j-factors of the tested heat exchangers under non-frosting conditions were measured by varying the fin pitch, number of tube rows, and fin alignment. The j-factors of the spiral-type circular fin-tube heat exchangers were analyzed as a function of heat exchanger geometries and then compared with those of the flat plate fin-tube heat exchangers with discrete fins. Two empirical correlations of the j-factors were developed separately for the inline and the staggered fin alignment as a function of the Reynolds number, number of tube rows, and dimensionless fin pitch normalized by the hydraulic diameter. The mean deviation of the predictions using the present correlations from the measured data was 4.78% for the inline fin alignment and 6.02% for the staggered fin alignment.

Air side heat transfer coefficients of discrete plate finned-tube heat exchangers with large fin pitch

The objective of this study is to investigate the heat transfer characteristics of discrete plate finned-tube heat exchangers with large fin pitches. Thirty-four heat exchangers were tested with variations of fin pitches, the number of tube rows, fin alignment, and vertical fin space. The j-factor of the discrete plate finned-tube exchanger was analyzed as a function of coil geometry and then compared with that of the continuous plate finned-tube heat exchanger. For fin pitches of 7.5–15 mm, the j-factors of the discrete plate finned-tube heat exchangers were 6.0–11.6% higher than those of the continuous plate finned-tube heat exchangers. Two separate correlations for the j-factor were developed for the inline and the staggered fin alignment in the discrete plate finned-tube heat exchangers to predict the measured data within a relative deviation of 2.9%.

Numerical Study of Flow and Heat Transfer Enhancement by Using Delta Winglets in a Triangular Wavy Fin-and-Tube Heat Exchanger

In this paper, three-dimensional numerical simulations with renormalization-group (RNG) k-ε model are performed for the air-side heat transfer and fluid flow characteristics of wavy fin-and-tube heat exchanger with delta winglet vortex generators. The Reynolds number based on the tube outside diameter varies from 500 to 5000. The effects of different geometrical parameters with varying attack angle of delta winglet (β=30 deg, β=45 deg, and β=60 deg), tube row number (2–4), and wavy angle of the fin (θ=0–20 deg) are examined. The numerical results show that each delta winglet generates a downstream main vortex and a corner vortex. The longitudinal vortices are disrupted by the downstream wavy trough and only propagate a short distance along the main flow direction but the vortices greatly enhance the heat transfer in the wake region behind the tube. Nusselt number and friction factor both increase with the increase in the attack angle β, and the case of β=30 deg has the maximum value of j/f. The effects of the tube row number on Nusselt number and friction factor are very small, and the heat transfer and fluid flow become fully developed very quickly. The case of θ=5 deg has the minimum value of Nusselt number, while friction factor always increases with the increase in wavy angle. The application of delta winglet enhances the heat transfer performance of the wavy fin-and-tube heat exchanger with modest pressure drop penalty.

Airside characteristics of heat, mass transfer and pressure drop for heat exchangers of tube-in hydrophilic coating wavy fin under dehumidifying conditions

The airside heat, mass and momentum transfer characteristics of seven wavy fin-and-tube heat exchangers with hydrophilic coating under dehumidifying conditions were experimented. The test inlet air dry bulb temperatures were 20, 27 and 35oC, the inlet relative humidity were 50%, 60%, 70% and 80%, and the air velocity were 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 3.0 and 4.0ms−1. The test results indicate that both the Colburn jm factor and the Colburn jh factor decrease with the increase of fin pitch, and this phenomenon becomes more and more pronounced as Reynolds number decreases. The friction factor is very sensitive to the change of fin pitch, and the friction factor shows a cross-over phenomenon as fin pitch changes. The Colburn jh factor decreases and the Colburn jm factor increases when the number of tube rows increases, while the friction performance is insensitive to the change of the number of tube rows. The effects of inlet relative humidity on the heat transfer and friction performance can be omitted, but the Colburn jm factor decreases with the increase of the inlet relative humidity. The predictive ability of the available state-of-the-art heat transfer and pressure drop correlations was evaluated with the experiment data of the present study. The new heat, mass and momentum transfer correlations were proposed to describe the present test results according to the multiple linear regression technique. The mean deviations of the proposed jh, jm and f correlations are 6.3%, 8.9% and 7.9%, respectively. Comparing to published data reduction method, the process line on psychrometric chart of fin-and-tube heat exchanger for partially wet conditions and more accurate overall heat transfer coefficient equation are put forward in this paper.

Air side heat transfer characteristics of plate finned tube heat exchangers with slit fin configuration under wet conditions

An experimental study was performed on compact finned tube heat exchangers under wet conditions. Eight different finned tube heat exchangers having slit fins with hydrophilic coatings were tested. The effects of tube diameter, the number of tube rows, and inlet air relative humidity on air side heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics were investigated. Air side heat transfer coefficients were calculated using the log mean enthalpy difference method. The effects of the number of tube rows and the tube diameter on the Colburn j-factor and the f-factor were larger compared with those of the inlet air relative humidity. The Colburn j-factor and the f-factor of the single-row heat exchanger were larger than those of two- or three-row heat exchangers. The j-factor for the 5.30 mm tube diameter was compared with those for 7.35 mm and 9.95 mm tube diameters at 46% RH and was found to be 33% and 55% larger, respectively.

Experimental and numerical investigation on air-side performance of fin-and-tube heat exchangers with various fin patterns

Air-side heat transfer and friction characteristics of five kinds of fin-and-tube heat exchangers, with the number of tube rows ( N = 12) and the diameter of tubes ( D o = 18 mm), have been experimentally investigated. The test samples consist of five types of fin configurations: crimped spiral fin, plain fin, slit fin, fin with delta-wing longitudinal vortex generators (VGs) and mixed fin with front 6-row vortex-generator fin and rear 6-row slit fin. The heat transfer and friction factor correlations for different types of heat exchangers were obtained with the Reynolds numbers ranging from 4000 to 10000. It was found that crimped spiral fin provides higher heat transfer and pressure drop than the other four fins. The air-side performance of heat exchangers with the above five fins has been evaluated under three sets of criteria and it was shown that the heat exchanger with mixed fin (front vortex-generator fin and rear slit fin) has better performance than that with fin with delta-wing vortex generators, and the slit fin offers best heat transfer performance at high Reynolds numbers. Based on the correlations of numerical data, Genetic Algorithm optimization was carried out, and the optimization results indicated that the increase of VG attack angle or length, or decrease of VG height may enhance the performance of vortex-generator fin. The heat transfer performances for optimized vortex-generator fin and slit fin at hand have been compared with numerical method.

Performance predictions of laminar and turbulent heat transfer and fluid flow of heat exchangers having large tube-diameter and large tube-row by artificial neural networks

In this work an artificial neural network (ANN) is used to correlate experimentally determined and numerically computed Nusselt numbers and friction factors of three kinds of fin-and-tube heat exchangers having plain fins, slit fins and fins with longitudinal delta-winglet vortex generators with large tube-diameter and large the number of tube rows. First the experimental data for training the network was picked up from the database of nine samples with tube outside diameter of 18 mm, number of tube rows of six, nine, twelve, and Reynolds number between 4000 and 10,000. The artificial neural network configuration under consideration has twelve inputs of geometrical parameters and two outputs of heat transfer Nusselt number and fluid flow friction factor. The commonly-implemented feed-forward back propagation algorithm was used to train the neural network and modify weights. Different networks with various numbers of hidden neurons and layers were assessed to find the best architecture for predicting heat transfer and flow friction. The deviation between the predictions and experimental data was less than 4%. Compared to correlations for prediction, the performance of the ANN-based prediction exhibits ANN superiority. Then the ANN training database was expanded to include experimental data and numerical data of other similar geometries by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) for turbulent and laminar cases with the Reynolds number of 1000–10,000. This in turn indicated the prediction has a good agreement with the combined database. The satisfactory results suggest that the developed ANN model is generalized to predict the turbulent or/and laminar heat transfer and fluid flow of such three kinds of heat exchangers with large tube-diameter and large number of tube rows. Also in this paper the weights and biases corresponding to the neural network architecture are provided so that future research can be carried out. It is recommended that ANNs might be used to predict the performances of thermal systems in engineering applications, especially to model heat exchangers for heat transfer analysis.

Fin Pattern Effects on Air-Side Heat Transfer and Friction Characteristics of Fin-and-Tube Heat Exchangers with Large Number of Large-Diameter Tube Rows

Air-side heat transfer and friction characteristics of nine kinds of fin-and-tube heat exchangers, with a large number of tube rows (6, 9, and 12, respectively) and large diameter of tubes (18 mm), are experimentally investigated. The test samples consist of three types of fin configurations: plain fin, slit fin, and fin with delta-wing longitudinal vortex generators. The working fluid in the tube is steam. Results show that when the number of tube is larger than 6, the heat transfer and friction performance for three kinds of fins is independent of the number of tube rows, and slit fin provides higher heat transfer and pressure drop than the other two fins. The heat transfer and friction factor correlations for all the heat exchangers were acquired with Reynolds numbers ranging from 4000 to 10000. The air-side performance of heat exchangers with plain fin, slit fin, and longitudinal vortex-generator fin were evaluated under three sets of criteria, and the results showed that the heat exchanger with slit fin has better performance than that with vortex-generator fin, especially at high Reynolds numbers.