scholarly journals Detailed CFD Modelling of Open Refrigerated Display Cabinets

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pedro Dinis Gaspar ◽  
L. C. Carrilho Gonçalves ◽  
R. A. Pitarma

A comprehensive and detailed computational fluid dynamics (CFDs) modelling of air flow and heat transfer in an open refrigerated display cabinet (ORDC) is performed in this study. The physical-mathematical model considers the flow through the internal ducts, across fans and evaporator, and includes the thermal response of food products. The air humidity effect and thermal radiation heat transfer between surfaces are taken into account. Experimental tests were performed to characterize the phenomena near physical extremities and to validate the numerical predictions of air temperature, relative humidity, and velocity. Numerical and experimental results comparison reveals the predictive capabilities of the computational model for the optimized conception and development of this type of equipments. Numerical predictions are used to propose geometrical and functional parametric studies that improve thermal performance of the ORDC and consequently food safety.

1994 ◽  
Vol 116 (3) ◽  
pp. 543-551 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vijayaragham Srinivasan ◽  
Kambiz Vafai ◽  
Richard N. Christensen

An innovative approach was opted for modeling the flow and heat transfer through spirally fluted tubes. The model divided the flow domain into two regions. The flutes were modeled as a porous substrate with direction-dependent permeabilities. This enabled modeling the swirl component in the fluted tube. The properties of the porous substrate such as its thickness, porosity, and ratio of the direction-dependent permeabilities were obtained from the geometry of the fluted tube. Experimental data on laminar Nusselt numbers and friction factors for different types of fluted tubes representing a broad range of flute geometry were available. Experimental data from a few of the tubes tested were used to propose a relationship between the permeability of the porous substrate and the flute parameters, particularly the flute spacing. The governing equations were discretized using the Finite Element Method. The model was verified and applied to the other tubes in the test matrix. Very good agreement was found between the numerical predictions and the experimental data.


2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pedro Dinis Gaspar ◽  
L. C. Carrilho Gonçalves ◽  
R. A. Pitarma

A detailed CFD modelling of an open refrigerated display cabinet has been formulated in a previous study. Some modifications are introduced in order to perform parametric studies dealing with low-cost geometrical and functional characteristics for improvement of the global performance and energy efficiency. The parametric studies are devoted to the analysis of the thermal response and behaviour inside the food conservation space influenced by (1) air flow rate through the evaporator heat exchanger; (2) air curtain behaviour; (3) hole dimensions and distribution of the back panel; (4) discharge and return grilles angles; and (5) flow deflectors inside the internal duct. The analysis of the numerical predictions from the parametric studies allows the development of an optimized model for the conception of an open refrigerated display cabinet with a more adequate configuration. The numerical predictions of the optimized model show lower product temperature and reduced electrical energy consumption, allowing the improvement of the food safety and the energy rationalization of the refrigeration equipment.


Author(s):  
Ali C. Kheirabadi ◽  
Dominic Groulx

This study compares two numerical strategies for modeling flow and heat transfer through mini- and microchannel heatsinks, the unit cell approximation, and the full 3D model, with the objective of validating the former approach. Conjugate heat transfer and laminar flow through a 2 × 2 cm2 copper–water heatsink are modeled using the finite element package COMSOL Multiphysics 5.0. Parametric studies showed that as the heatsink channels’ widths were reduced, and the total number of channels increased, temperature and pressure predictions from both models converged to similar values. Relative differences as low as 5.4% and 1.6% were attained at a channel width of 0.25 mm for maximum wall temperature and channel pressure drop, respectively. Due to its computational efficiency and tendency to conservatively overpredict temperatures relative to the full 3D method, the unit cell approximation is recommended for parametric design of heatsinks with channels’ widths smaller than 0.5 mm, although this condition only holds for the given heatsink design. The unit cell method is then used to design an optimal heatsink for server liquid cooling applications. The heatsink has been fabricated and tested experimentally, and its thermal performance is compared with numerical predictions. The unit cell method underestimated the maximum wall temperature relative to experimental results by 3.0–14.5% as the flowrate rose from 0.3 to 1.5 gal/min (1.1–5.7 l/min).


Author(s):  
Gongnan Xie ◽  
Bengt Sunde´n

Gas turbine blade tips encounter large heat load as they are exposed to the high temperature gas. A common way to cool the blade and its tip is to design serpentine passages with 180-deg turns under the blade tip-cap inside the turbine blade. Improved internal convective cooling is therefore required to increase the blade tip life time. This paper presents numerical predictions of turbulent fluid flow and heat transfer through two-pass channels with and without guide vanes placed in the turn regions using RANS turbulence modeling. The effects of adding guide vanes on the tip-wall heat transfer enhancement and the channel pressure loss were analyzed. The guide vanes have a height identical to that of the channel. The inlet Reynolds numbers are ranging from 100,000 to 600,000. The detailed three-dimensional fluid flow and heat transfer over the tip-walls are presented. The overall performances of several two-pass channels are also evaluated and compared. It is found that the tip heat transfer coefficients of the channels with guide vanes are 10∼60% higher than that of a channel without guide vanes, while the pressure loss might be reduced when the guide vanes are properly designed and located, otherwise the pressure loss is expected to be increased severely. It is suggested that the usage of proper guide vanes is a suitable way to augment the blade tip heat transfer and improve the flow structure, but is not the most effective way compared to the augmentation by surface modifications imposed on the tip-wall directly.


2020 ◽  
Vol 307 ◽  
pp. 01010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahlem Boudiaf ◽  
Fetta Danane ◽  
Youb Khaled Benkahla ◽  
Walid Berabou ◽  
Mahdi Benzema ◽  
...  

This paper presents the numerical predictions of hydrodynamic and thermal characteristics of nanofluid flow through backward facing step. The governing equations are solved through the finite volume method, as described by Patankar, by taking into account the associated boundary conditions. Empirical relations were used to give the effective dynamic viscosity and the thermal conductivity of the nanofluid. Effects of different key parameters such as Reynolds number, nanoparticle solid volume fraction and nanoparticle solid diameter on the heat transfer and fluid flow are investigated. The results are discussed in terms of the average Nusselt number and streamlines.


Author(s):  
S. T. Kuo ◽  
M. P. Wang ◽  
M. C. Wu ◽  
Y. H. Hung

A series of experimental investigations with a new modified transient liquid crystal method on the studies related to the fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics in a channel installed with a heat sink have been successfully performed. The parametric studies on the local and average effective heat transfer characteristics for confined heat sinks have been explored. The influencing parameters and conditions include air preheating temperature at channel inlet, flow velocity and heat sink types. Besides, a concept of the amount of enhanced heat transfer (AEHT) is introduced and defined as the ratio of j/f. The j/f ratio is almost independent of Reynolds number for a specific confined heat sink. The j/f ratios are 0.0603 and 0.0124 for fully-confined and unconfined heat sinks, respectively.


Author(s):  
Huei Chu Weng

The presence of current flow in an electric and magnetic field results in electromagnetic force and joule heating. It is desirable to understand the roles of electromagnetic force and joule heating on gas microflow and heat transfer. In this study, a mathematical model is developed of the pressure-driven gas flow through a long isothermally heated horizontal planar microchannel in the presence of an external electric and magnetic field. The solutions for flow and thermal field and characteristics are derived analytically and presented in terms of dimensionless parameters. It is found that an electromagnetic driving force can be produced by a combined non-zero electric field and a negative magnetic field and results in an additional velocity slip and an additional flow drag. Also, a joule heating can be enhanced by an applied positive magnetic field and therefore results in an additional temperature jump and an additional heat transfer.


Author(s):  
Ephraim M. Sparrow ◽  
John P. Abraham ◽  
Paul W. Chevalier

The method of Design of Simulation (DOS) was used to guide and enhance a numerical simulation of fluid flow and heat transfer through offset-fin arrays which from the interior geometry of a cold plate. The basic problem involved 12 independent parameters. This prohibitive parametric burden was lessened by the creative use of nondimensionalization that was brought to fruition by a special transformation of the boundary conditions. Subsequent to the reduction of the number of parameters, the DOS method was employed to limit the number of simulation runs while maintaining an accurate representation of the parameter space. The DOS method also provided excellent correlations of both the dimensionless heat transfer and pressure drop results. The results were evaluated with respect to the Colburn Analogy for heat and momentum transfer. It was found that the offseting of the fins created a larger increase in the friction factor than that which was realized for the dimensionless heat transfer coefficient.


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