Performance and Modeling of Thermosyphon Heat Exchangers for Solar Water Heaters

1997 ◽  
Vol 119 (3) ◽  
pp. 193-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. D. Dahl ◽  
J. H. Davidson
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Heat Exchanger ◽  
Heat Exchangers ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Heating Systems ◽  
Solar Water ◽  
Water Heaters ◽  
Prandtl Numbers ◽  
Area Product ◽  
Solar Water Heaters

Determining the performance of indirect solar heating systems that use thermosyphon heat exchangers requires knowledge of how thermosyphon flow rate and heat exchanger performance vary with operating conditions. In this paper, measured performance of a two-pass, tube-in-shell, double-wall heat exchanger is discussed in terms of modeling issues. Thermosyphon heat exchangers may operate in the developing, mixed convection regime where natural convection effects can significantly influence overall heat transfer and friction coefficients. Existing models which assume the thermal and hydraulic behaviors of thermosyphon heat exchangers are only functions of the thermosyphon and collector flow rates may not be suitable for all heat exchanger types. For example, the overall heat-transfer coefficient-area product for the two-pass, tube-in-shell heat exchanger is best expressed as a function of Reynolds, Grashof, and Prandtl numbers on the thermosyphon side of the heat exchanger. It is proposed that annual simulations of solar water heaters with thermosyphon heat exchangers use this type of relationship to characterize heat transfer in the heat exchanger.

Thermal Properties Study of a Solar Water Heater Tank with a Mantle Exchanger

2014 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 92-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mourad Chikhi ◽  
Rabah Sellami ◽  
Nachida Kasbadji Merzouk
Keyword(s):  
Heat Exchanger ◽  
Renewable Energy Sources ◽  
Supply And Demand ◽  
Research Work ◽  
Solar Water Heater ◽  
Water Heater ◽  
Solar Water ◽  
Incentive Programs ◽  
Water Heaters ◽  
Solar Water Heaters

The development and use of renewable energy sources and technologies are becoming vital for the management of energy supply and demand. For development solar water heaters, the incentive programs are supported by the Algerian government to generalize the using of this kind of energy especially in Sahara. This study is a part of program to develop a new solar water heater in UDES (Algeria). In this research work, the thermal performance of a solar water heater with a mantle heat exchanger is investigated numerically using Comsol Multyphysics software. The objective is to investigate the influence of the mantle heat exchanger thickness on the performance of solar water heaters. The results show, for 160 liters capacity of the solar water heaters tank, the 13mm of the heat exchanger thickness leads to improve the efficiency of the solar water heater.

The Effect of Geometrical Features on Air-Side Heat Transfer and Friction Characteristics, and Optimization of a Large-Size Plain Fin-and-Tube Heat Exchanger by 3-D Numerical Simulation

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Izadi ◽  
D. K. Aidun ◽  
P. Marzocca ◽  
H. Lee
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Numerical Modeling ◽  
Heat Exchanger ◽  
Heat Exchangers ◽  
Simple Algorithm ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Friction Characteristics ◽  
Tube Heat Exchanger ◽  
Large Size ◽  
Geometrical Features

The effect of geometrical features on the air-side heat transfer and friction characteristics of an industrial plain fin-and-tube heat exchanger is investigated by 3-D numerical modeling and simulations. The heat exchanger has been designed and employed as an intercooler in a gas power plant and is a large-size compact heat exchanger. Most of the available design correlations developed so far for plain fin–and–tube heat exchangers have been prepared for small-size exchangers and none of them fits completely to the current heat exchanger regarding the geometrical limitations of correlations. It is shown that neglecting these limitations and applying improper correlations may generate considerable amount of error in the design of such a large-size heat exchanger. The geometry required for numerical modeling is produced by Gambit® software and the boundary conditions are defined regarding the real operating conditions. Then, three-dimensional simulations based on the SIMPLE algorithm in laminar flow regime are performed by FLUENT™ code. The effect of fin pitch, tube pitch, and tube diameter on the thermo-hydraulic behavior of the heat exchanger is studied. Some variations in the design of the heat exchanger are suggested for optimization purposes. It is finally concluded that the current numerical model is a powerful tool to design and optimize of large-size plain fin-and-tube heat exchangers with acceptable accuracy.

Thermal–Hydraulic Performance Analysis of a Convergent Double Pipe Heat Exchanger

2019 ◽  
Vol 141 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmed T. Al-Sammarraie ◽  
Kambiz Vafai
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Heat Exchanger ◽  
Hydraulic Performance ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Contraction Ratio ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Prandtl Numbers ◽  
Double Pipe ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Pipe Heat

The present investigation proposes an innovative convergent double pipe heat exchanger (C-DPHE). A two-dimensional (2D) axisymmetric heat transfer model with counterflow is employed to analyze the thermal and hydraulic performance of this configuration numerically. The impact of convergence in the flow direction, using a wide range of contraction ratio (Cr), is explored. The effect of Reynolds and Prandtl numbers on the flow and heat transfer is addressed, as well. The model results were validated with available data from the literature, and an excellent agreement has been confirmed. In general, the findings of the present study indicate that increasing the contraction ratio increases heat transfer and pressure drop in the C-DPHE. Moreover, this configuration has a prominent and sustainable performance, compared to a conventional double pipe heat exchanger (DPHE), with an enhancement in heat transfer rate up to 32% and performance factor (PF) higher than one. Another appealing merit for the C-DPHE is that it is quite effective and functional at low Reynolds and high Prandtl numbers, respectively, since no high-operating pumping power is required. Further, the optimal operating conditions can be established utilizing the comprehensive information provided in this work.

Novel Evaporator Geometries Based on Entrance-Length Flow-Paths for Geothermal Binary Power Plants

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrian S. Sabau ◽  
Ali H. Nejad ◽  
James W. Klett ◽  
Adrian Bejan ◽  
Kivanc Ekici
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Heat Exchanger ◽  
Heat Exchangers ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Cost Model ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Transfer Model ◽  
Length Scale ◽  
Entrance Length ◽  
Scale Levels

In this paper, a novel geometry is proposed for evaporators that are used in Organic Rankine Cycles. The proposed geometry consists of employing successive plenums at several length-scale levels, creating a multi-scale heat exchanger. The channels at the lowest length-scale levels were considered to have their length given by the thermal entrance-length. Numerical simulations based on turbulent flow correlations for supercritical R134a and water were used to obtain performance indicators for new heat exchangers and baseline heat exchangers. The relationship between the size of the channels at one level, k, with respect to the size of the channels at the next level, k + 1, is based on generalization of the “Murray’s law.” In order to account for the variation of the temperature and heat transfer coefficient in the entrance region, a heat transfer model was developed. The variation of the brine and refrigerant temperatures along each pipe was considered. Using the data on pumping power and weight of metal structures, including that of all the plenums and piping, the total present cost was evaluated using a cost model for shell-and-tube heat exchangers. In addition to the total present cost, the data on overall thermal resistance is also used in identifying optimal heat exchanger configurations. The main design variables include: tube arrangement, number of channels fed from plenum, and number of rows in the tube bank seen by the outside fluid. In order to assess the potential improvement of the new evaporator designs, baseline evaporators were designed. The baseline evaporator designs include long tubes of the same diameter as those of the lowest length-scale levels, placed between one inlet and one outlet. The baseline evaporator designs were created from the new evaporator designs by simply removing most of the internal plenums employing tubes much longer than their entrance length, as they would currently be used. Consistent with geothermal applications, the performance of new heat exchanger designs was compared to that of baseline heat exchanger designs at the same flow rates. For some operating conditions it was found that the new heat exchangers outperform their corresponding baseline heat exchangers.

scholarly journals Optimum Values of Tank Volume to Collector Area Ratios of Thermosyphon Solar Water Heaters for Libyan Families

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
M. J. R Abdunnabi
Keyword(s):  
Optimization Technique ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Hot Water ◽  
Weather Data ◽  
Active System ◽  
Solar Water ◽  
Water Heaters ◽  
Temperature Ranges ◽  
Solar Water Heaters ◽  
Auxiliary Heater

Thermosyphon solar water heaters are the best choice to be utilized in residential sector to provide the required hot water in Libya. These systems are autonomy in operation and as a result require less maintenance and hence low operation and initial costs than active system. ln this paper, GenOpt optimization technique provided in TRNSYS simulation program is used for sizing Thermosyphon systems to obtain the optimum size (namely V/A ratio) of Thermosyphon system that suits Libyan families according to the weather and operating conditions of Tripoli. The typical hot water load pattern and quantity of the Libyan families are taken from a field study conducted on a number of solar system for a whole year. Whereas, the typical weather data are taken from five year measurements recorded at CSERS weather station. The results showed that the optimum storage tank volume to collector area ratio of Thermosyphon systems is between 49-60 Lit/m2 for the most common collector characteristics ratio (equation!!) and the auxiliary heater set point temperature ranges from (45-60C). 

Performance of solar water heaters with narrow mantle heat exchangers

Solar Energy ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 83 (3) ◽  
pp. 350-362 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y.C. Soo Too ◽  
G.L. Morrison ◽  
M. Behnia
Keyword(s):  
Heat Exchangers ◽  
Solar Water ◽  
Water Heaters ◽  
Solar Water Heaters

scholarly journals Effective Overall Heat Transfer Coefficient Solver in a Triple Concentric-Tube Heat Exchanger

2019 ◽  
Vol 70 (6) ◽  
pp. 2040-2043
Author(s):  
Sinziana Radulescu ◽  
Loredana Irena Negoita ◽  
Ion Onutu
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Heat Transfer Coefficient ◽  
Heat Exchanger ◽  
Transfer Coefficient ◽  
Heat Exchangers ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Total Thermal Resistance ◽  
Tube Heat Exchanger ◽  
Overall Heat Transfer Coefficient

A relation for calculation of the effective overall heat transfer coefficient in a triple concentric-tube heat exchanger is proposed. The relation of the effective overall heat transfer coefficient is obtained based on total thermal resistance and it is applied within a case study for thermal analysis of two triple concentric-tube heat exchangers with different geometries, hot fluids and operating conditions. Through case study it is found that the values of effective overall heat transfer coefficient can be obtained with acceptable errors, up to 3 % for both heat exchangers.

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