Air Cooled Compact Heat Exchanger Design for Avionics Thermal Management Using Published Test Data

Author(s):  
George Hall ◽  
James Marthinuss

This paper will discuss air-cooled compact heat exchanger design using published data. Kays & London’s “Compact Heat Exchangers” [1] contains measured heat transfer and pressure drop data on a variety of circular and rectangular passages including circular tubes, tube banks, straight fins, louvered fins, strip or lanced offset fins, wavy fins and pin fins. While “Compact Heat Exchangers” is the benchmark for air cooled heat exchanger test data it makes no attempt to summarize the results or steer the thermal designer to an optimized design based on the different factors or combination of heat transfer, pressure drop, size, weight, or even cost. Using this reduced data and the analytical solutions provided highly efficient compact heat exchangers could be designed. This paper will guide a thermal engineer toward this optimized design without having to run trade studies on every possible heat exchanger design configuration. Typical applications of published fin data in the aerospace and military electronics include electronics cold plates, card rack walls and air-to-air heat exchangers using fan driven and ECS driven air. Airborne electronics often require extremely dense packaging techniques to fit all the required functions into the available volume. While leaving little room for cooling hardware this also drives power densities up to levels (20 W/sq-cm) that require highly efficient heat transfer techniques. Several design issues are discussed including pressure drop, heat transfer, compactness, axial conduction, flow distribution and passage irregularities (bosses). Comparisons between fin performance are made and conclusions are drawn about the applicability of each type of fin to avionics thermal management.

Author(s):  
Robert J. Moffat ◽  
John K. Eaton ◽  
Andrew Onstad

Metallic and graphitic open-cell foams are being used as extended surfaces in some designs of compact heat exchangers. The shape and orientation of the solid material in the foam is hard to describe in classical terms and harder still to model. There appears to be a clear need for a method of characterizing foams that allows flexible, optimized design of a foam-fin heat exchanger. To be most useful, the description should be expressed in terms that are consistent with current heat exchanger design methods. The heat transfer performance of a foam-fin can be calculated if three parameters are known: the product hmAc* (the convective conductance per unit volume) as a function of flow rate, the product ksAk* (the effective conductive conductance as a fin), and Rbond, the effective thermal resistance between the foam fin and the surface to which it is attached. An experimental method is presented by which these three properties can be determined using the results from two tests: a conventional heat exchanger core test (single-blow-transient or cyclic) to measure hmAc* and a new type of "one-heated-wall" test, described here, from which the temperature distribution in the foam can be inferred. Results from these two tests can be combined to evaluate the three necessary parameters: hmAc*, ksAk* and Rbond. In this paper we describe the theory behind this approach and present sample calculations showing the type of data that are expected and demonstrating that the necessary parameters can be measured with these tests. Experimental testing of the method is underway but has not yet been completed, hence no data are available at this time to confirm the validity or practicality of the method.


Author(s):  
Justin J. Gossard ◽  
Andrew D. Sommers

The need for more compact and more efficient heat exchangers in the aerospace, automotive, and HVAC&R industries has led to the development of heat exchangers that utilize minichannel or microchannel tubes coupled with louvered fins. Minichannel and microchannel heat exchangers exhibit enhanced heat transfer with a minimal increase in pressure drop over conventional round tube, plain fin heat exchangers often with a significant reduction in the required refrigeration charge and overall heat exchanger size. This paper presents the development and validation of a finite volume, steady-state evaporator model to be used as an aid in heat exchanger design and analysis. The model focuses on evaporator geometries that include minichannel and microchannel tubes with louvered fins and headers. Multiple published correlations provide the user with options for calculating the air-side and refrigerant-side heat transfer and pressure drops within the control volume. Once the model was validated, it was then briefly used to study the effects of maldistribution of refrigerant within the inlet headers on the cooling capacity and refrigerant side pressure drop.


Author(s):  
Piyush Sabharwall ◽  
Mike Patterson ◽  
Vivek Utgikar ◽  
Fred Gunnerson

One key long-standing issue that must be overcome to fully realize the successful growth of nuclear power is to determine other benefits of nuclear energy apart from meeting the electricity demands. The Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP) will most likely be producing electricity and heat for the production of hydrogen and/or oil retrieval from oil sands and oil shale to help in our national pursuit of energy independence. For nuclear process heat to be utilized, intermediate heat exchange is required to transfer heat from the NGNP to the hydrogen plant or oil recovery field in the most efficient way possible. Development of nuclear reactor-process heat technology has intensified the interest in liquid metals as heat transfer media because of their ideal transport properties. Liquid metal heat exchangers are not new in practical applications. An important rationale for considering liquid metals as the working fluid is because of the higher convective heat transfer coefficient. This explains the interest in liquid metals as coolant for intermediate heat exchange from NGNP. The production of electric power at higher efficiency via the Brayton Cycle, and hydrogen production, requires both heat at higher temperatures and high effectiveness compact heat exchangers to transfer heat to either the power or process cycle. Compact heat exchangers maximize the heat transfer surface area per volume of heat exchanger; this has the benefit of reducing heat exchanger size and heat losses. High temperature IHX design requirements are governed in part by the allowable temperature drop between the outlet of NGNP and inlet of the process heat facility. In order to improve the characteristics of heat transfer, liquid metal phase change heat exchangers may be more effective and efficient. This paper explores the overall heat transfer characteristics and pressure drop of the phase change heat exchanger with Na as the heat exchanger coolant. In order to design a very efficient and effective heat exchanger one must optimize the design such that we have a high heat transfer and a lower pressure drop, but there is always a tradeoff between them. Based on NGNP operational parameters, a heat exchanger analysis with the sodium phase change is presented to show that the heat exchanger has the potential for highly effective heat transfer, within a small volume at reasonable cost.


2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seyed Alireza Ghazanfari ◽  
Malan Abdul Wahid

Heat transfer rate, pressure loss and efficiency are considered as the most important parameters in designing compact heat exchangers. Despite different types of heat exchangers, fin-and-tube compact heat exchangers are still common device in different industries due to the diversity of usage and the low space installation need. The efficiency of the compact heat exchanger can be increased by introducing the fins and increasing the heat transfer rate between the surface and the surroundings. Numerous modifications can be applied to the fin surface to increase heat transfer. Delta-winglet vortex generators (VGs) are known to enhance the heat transfer between the energy carrying fluid and the heat transfer surfaces in plate-fin-and-tube banks, but they have drawbacks as well. They increase the pressure loss and this should be considered. In this paper, the thermal efficiency of compact heat exchanger with VGs is investigated in different variations. The angle of attack, the length and horizontal and vertical position of winglet are the main parameters to consider. Numerical analyses are carried out to examine finned tube heat exchanger with winglets at the fin surface in a relatively low Reynolds number flow for the inline tube arrangements. The results showed that the length of the winglet significantly affects the improvement of heat transfer performance of the fin-and-tube compact heat exchangers with a moderate pressure loss penalty. In addition, the results show that the optimization cannot be performed for one criterion only. More parameters should be considered at the same time to run the process properly and improve the heat exchanger efficiency.


Author(s):  
L E Haseler ◽  
R G Owen ◽  
R G Sardesai

The various processes occurring in shell and tube heat exchangers are examined for their dependence on the physical properties of the fluid streams. This dependence, coupled with estimates of likely uncertainties in the various properties, is used in developing a simple procedure for evaluating the resultant uncertainty in heat exchanger design calculations. Two case studies, which use a well-tested computer program, have shown that the above procedure adequately quantifies the uncertainties in the calculation of heat transfer area and pressure drop.


Author(s):  
G. K. Housley ◽  
J. E. O’Brien ◽  
G. L. Hawkes

Design details of a compact heat exchanger and supporting hardware for heat recuperation in a high-temperature electrolysis application are presented. The recuperative heat exchanger uses a vacuum-brazed plate-fin design and operates between 300 and 800°C. It includes corrugated inserts for enhancement of heat transfer coefficients and extended heat transfer surface area. Two recuperative heat exchangers are required per each four-stack electrolysis module. The heat exchangers are mated to a base manifold unit that distributes the inlet and outlet flows to and from the four electrolysis stacks. Results of heat exchanger design calculations and assembly details are also presented.


1982 ◽  
Vol 104 (4) ◽  
pp. 683-690 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. P. Hedderich ◽  
M. D. Kelleher ◽  
G. N. Vanderplaats

A computer code has been developed for analysis of air-cooled heat exchangers and was coupled with a numerical optimization program to produce an automated air-cooled, heat-exchanger design and optimization procedure. A general iteration free approximation method was used for the analysis which calculates the mean overall heat-transfer coefficient and the overall pressure drop for many flow arrangements. The analysis takes into account the variation of the heat-transfer coefficients and the pressure drop with temperature and/or length of flow path. The code is not limited to surfaces found in the literature, but will accommodate any triangular pitch bank of finned tubes in multiple-pass configurations. The numerical optimization code is a general purpose program based on the Method of Feasible Directions and the Augmented Lagrange Multiplier Method. The capability is demonstrated by the design of an air-to-water finned-tube heat exchanger and is shown to be a useful tool for heat exchanger design.


2013 ◽  
Vol 832 ◽  
pp. 160-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Alam Khairul ◽  
Rahman Saidur ◽  
Altab Hossain ◽  
Mohammad Abdul Alim ◽  
Islam Mohammed Mahbubul

Helically coiled heat exchangers are globally used in various industrial applications for their high heat transfer performance and compact size. Nanofluids can provide excellent thermal performance of this type of heat exchangers. In the present study, the effect of different nanofluids on the heat transfer performance in a helically coiled heat exchanger is examined. Four different types of nanofluids CuO/water, Al2O3/water, SiO2/water, and ZnO/water with volume fractions 1 vol.% to 4 vol.% was used throughout this analysis and volume flow rate was remained constant at 3 LPM. Results show that the heat transfer coefficient is high for higher particle volume concentration of CuO/water, Al2O3/water and ZnO/water nanofluids, while the values of the friction factor and pressure drop significantly increase with the increase of nanoparticle volume concentration. On the contrary, low heat transfer coefficient was found in higher concentration of SiO2/water nanofluids. The highest enhancement of heat transfer coefficient and lowest friction factor occurred for CuO/water nanofluids among the four nanofluids. However, highest friction factor and lowest heat transfer coefficient were found for SiO2/water nanofluids. The results reveal that, CuO/water nanofluids indicate significant heat transfer performance for helically coiled heat exchanger systems though this nanofluids exhibits higher pressure drop.


1988 ◽  
Vol 110 (1) ◽  
pp. 60-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Halle ◽  
J. M. Chenoweth ◽  
M. W. Wambsganss

Throughout the life of a heat exchanger, a significant part of the operating cost arises from pumping the heat transfer fluids through and past the tubes. The pumping power requirement is continuous and depends directly upon the magnitude of the pressure losses. Thus, in order to select an optimum heat exchanger design, it is is as important to be able to predict pressure drop accurately as it is to predict heat transfer. This paper presents experimental measurements of the shellside pressure drop for 24 different segmentally baffled bundle configurations in a 0.6-m (24-in.) diameter by 3.7-m (12-ft) long shell with single inlet and outlet nozzles. Both plain and finned tubes, nominally 19-mm (0.75-in.) outside diameter, were arranged on equilateral triangular, square, rotated triangular, and rotated square tube layouts with a tube pitch-to-diameter ratio of 1.25. Isothermal water tests for a range of Reynolds numbers from 7000 to 100,000 were run to measure overall as well as incremental pressure drops across sections of the exchanger. The experimental results are given and correlated with a pressure drop versus flowrate relationship.


2013 ◽  
Vol 655-657 ◽  
pp. 461-464 ◽  
Author(s):  
Su Fang Song

The three-dimensional model of heat exchangers with continuous helical baffles was built. The fluid flow dynamics and heat transfer of shell side in the helical baffled heat exchanger were simulated and calculated. The velocity, pressure and temperature distributions were achieved. The simulation shows that with the same baffle pitch, shell-side heat transfer coefficient increased by 25% and the pressure drop decreases by 18% in helical baffled heat exchanger compared with segmental helical baffles. With the analyzing of the flow and heat transfer in heat exchanger in 5 different inclination angles from 11°to 21°, it can be found that both shell side heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop will reduce respectively by 86% and 52% with the increases 11°to 21°of the inclination angles. Numerical simulation provided reliable theoretical reference for further engineering research of heat exchanger with helical baffles.


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