Experimental and parametric studies of a louvered fin and flat tube compact heat exchanger using computational fluid dynamics

AbstractThe present study aimed to perform the parametric analysis on thermo-hydraulic performance of a compact heat exchanger using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The analysis has been carried out at different frontal air velocities by varying the geometrical parameters such as fin pitch, transverse tube pitch, longitudinal tube pitch, louver pitch and louver angle. The air side performance of the heat exchanger has been evaluated by calculating Colburn factor (j) and Fanning friction factor (f). The comparison of CFD results with the experimental data exhibited a good agreement and the influence of various geometrical parameters for the selected range of values on the pressure drop, heat transfer coefficient and goodness factor was analyzed. The results obtained from the analysis will be very useful to optimize the louvered fin and flat tube compact heat exchanger for better thermo-hydraulic performance analysis without the need of time consuming and expensive experimentation

Numerical investigation on various heat exchanger performances to determine an optimum configuration for charge air cooler, oil and water radiators in F1 sidepods

The present work focuses on a three-dimensional CFD approach to predict the performance of various heat exchangers in conjunction with non-isothermal transitional flows for motorsport applications. The objective of this study is to determine the heat transfer, pressure drop and inhomogeneous flow behaviour for distinct heat exchangers to identify an optimum configuration for the charge air cooler, water and oil radiators placed in the sidepods of a formula one (F1) car. Therefore, a comprehensive analysis of various heat exchanger configurations has been carried out in this work. In order to assess the reliability of the obtained results, a mesh sensitivity study along with additional parametric investigations have been performed to provide numerical parameters predicting accurately (a) the heat transfer rate at the fluid-solid interface and (b) the sporadic separation. As a result of the performed validation procedure in this study, the aerodynamic- and thermal boundary layer development along with the convective characteristics of the air flow have been captured accurately near to the heated surface. The characterization of a heat exchanger core and a core configuration in a closed domain is also possible with this procedure. The presented three-dimensional CFD approach could overcome the difficulties of macroscopic heat exchanger and porous media methods for F1 applications, because it can be used to predict the heat transfer and pressure drop related to the mass flow rate correlation curves. The contribution of fins to the total heat transfer rate has been predicted theoretically, and application benchmark test cases have been presented to analyze five different heat exchanger configurations in accordance with the 2014 formula one technical regulations. The numerical data extracted directly from three-dimensional CFD simulations can be used in the sidepod design process of the external cooling system of F1 engines

Performance evaluation of louvered fin compact heat exchangers with vortex generators

Every day large amounts of heat are transferred in many industrial and domestic processes. This heat transfer takes place in a heat exchanger. Any energy savings in heat transfer processes have a significant impact on the fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. More energy efficient heat exchangers help to meet the 20-20-20 climate and energy targets of the European Union. In many applications air is one of the working fluids (e.g. coolers in compressed air systems, heat pumps, air conditioning devices, domestic heating, etc.). When heat is exchanged with air, the main thermal resistance is located at the air side of the heat exchanger. To increase the heat transfer rate, the heat transfer surface area is enlarged by adding fins to the air side of the heat exchanger. When a high compactness is needed, complex interrupted fin surfaces are used. A typical example is the louvered fin design. The main disadvantage of the louvered fins is the high pressure drop. Delta winglets mounted on a heat transfer surface generate vortices which cause an intense mixing of the flow and thin the thermal boundary layers. In contrast to louvered fins, they enhance the heat transfer with a relatively low penalty in pressure drop. The objective of this doctoral work is to evaluate if the thermal hydraulic performance of a louvered fin heat exchanger with round tubes in a staggered layout can be improved by adding delta winglets to the fins. Such compound designs form the next generation of heat exchangers. Both experiments (flow visualizations in a water tunnel and heat transfer and pressure drop measurements in a wind tunnel) and simulations (Computational Fluid Dynamics - CFD) were performed. The louvers affect the main flow, while the delta winglets reduce the wake regions downstream of the tubes. The generated vortices cause three important mechanisms of heat transfer enhancement: a better mixing, a reduction of the thermal boundary layer thickness and a delay of the flow separation from the tube surface. Further, it was found that the vortices do not extend far downstream as they are destroyed by the deflected flow in the downstream louver bank. The compound heat exchanger has a better thermal hydraulic performance than when only vortex generators or only louvers are used. It is shown that for the same pumping power and heat duty, the compound heat exchanger is smaller in volume. Consequently, less space is required, the material cost is lower and (often also) the operational cost is reduced. The combination of louvered fins and vortex generators is mainly interesting for low Reynolds applications, such as HVAC&R applications or in compressed air systems. A well-considered location and geometry of the vortex generators are essential for an improved performance of the heat exchanger

Heat transfer performance of a radiator with and without louvered strip by using graphene-based nanofluids

The present work is focused on the Graphene-based nanofluids with high thermal conductivity which helps to improve the performance and enhance heat transfer. The thermal systems emphasis on the fluid coolant selection and statistical model. Graphene is a super-material, lighter than air, high thermal conductivity, and chemical stability. The purpose of the research is to work up with Graphene-based Nanofluids i.e., Graphene (G) and Graphene oxide (GO). Nanoparticles are dispersed in a base fluid with a 60:40 ratio Water & Ethylene Glycol and at different volume concentrations ranging from 0.01%-0.09%. Radiator model is designed in modelling software and louvered strip is inserted. The simulation (Finite Element Analysis) is performed to evaluate variation in temperature drop, enthalpy, entropy, heat transfer coefficient and total heat transfer rate of the considered nanofluids, results were compared by with and without louvered strip in the radiator for the temperature absorption. 58-60% enhancement of enthalpy observed when Graphene and Graphene oxide nanofluid was utilized. 1.8% enhancement of entropy is observed in 0.09% volume concentration of the Graphene and Graphene oxide nanofluid when louvered strips are inserted in the radiator tube at a flow rate of 3 LPM. With louvered strip inserted in the radiator, heat transfer coefficient enhanced by 236% for Graphene and 320% enhancement is identified for Graphene oxide nanofluid when compared to without louvered strip insert. The results stated that high performance is observed with the utilization of louvered strip in the radiator tube

Vehicle engine cooling systems: assessment and improvement of wind-tunnel based evaluation methods

The high complexity of vehicle front-end design, arising from considerations of aerodynamics, safety and styling, causes the airflow velocity profile at the radiator face to be highly distorted, leading to potentially reduced airflow volume for heat dissipation. A flow visualisation study showed that the bumper bar significantly influenced the cooling airflow, leading to three-dimensional vortices in its wake and generating an area of relatively low velocity across at least one third of the radiator core. Since repeatability and accuracy of on-road testing are prejudiced by weather conditions, wind-tunnel testing is often preferred to solve cooling airflow problems. However, there are constraints that limit the accuracy of reproducing on-road cooling performance from wind-tunnel simulations. These constraints included inability to simulate atmospheric conditions, limited tunnel test section sizes (blockage effects) and lack of ground effect simulations. The work presented in this thesis involved use of on-road and wind-tunnel tests to investigate the effects of most common constraints present in wind tunnels on accuracy of the simulations of engine cooling performance and radiator airflow profiles. To aid this investigation, an experimental technique for quantifying radiator airflow velocity distribution and an analytical model for predicting the heat dissipation rate of a radiator were developed. A four-hole dynamic pressure probe (TFI Cobra probe) was also used to document flow fields in proximity to a section of radiator core in a wind tunnel in order to investigate the effect of airflow maldistribution on radiator heat-transfer performance. In order to cope with the inability to simulate ambient temperature, the technique of Specific Dissipation (SD) was used, which had previously been shown to overcome this problem

Performance analysis of three nanofluids in liquid to gas and liquid to liquid heat exchangers

Thesis (M.S.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2013One purpose of this research was to analyze the thermal and fluid dynamic performance of nanofluids in an automotive radiator (liquid to gas). Detailed computations were performed on an automotive radiator using three different nanofluids containing aluminum oxide, copper oxide and silicon dioxide nanoparticles dispersed in the base fluid, 60:40 ethylene glycol and water (EG/W) by mass. The computational scheme adopted was the effectiveness-Number of Transfer Unit (� -- NTU) method encoded in Matlab. The computational scheme was validated by comparing the predicted results with that of the base fluid reported by other researchers. Then, the scheme was adapted to compute the performance of nanofluids. Results show that a dilute 1% volumetric concentration of nanoparticles can have substantial savings in the pumping power or surface area of the heat exchanger, while transferring the same amount of heat as the base fluid. The second purpose of this research was to carry out experimental and theoretical studies for a plate heat exchanger (PHE). A benchmark test was performed with the minichannel PHE to validate the test apparatus with water. Next, using a 0.5% aluminum oxide nanoparticle concentration dispersed in EG/W preliminary correlations for the Nusselt number and the friction factor for nanofluid flow in a PHE were derived. Then, a theoretical study was conducted to compare the performance of three nanofluids comprised of aluminum oxide, copper oxide and silicon dioxide nanoparticles in EG/W. This theoretical analysis was conducted using the � -- NTU method. The operational parameters were set by the active thermal control system currently under design by NASA. The analysis showed that for a dilute particle volumetric concentration of 1%, all the nanofluids showed improvements in their performance over the base fluid by reducing the pumping power and surface area of the PHE

Unsteady flow and heat transfer in periodic complex geometries for the transitional flow regime

Diesel engines are facing significant challenges with upcoming changes in emissions standards. In general, meeting the increased emission standards will require a larger fraction of the engine heat rejection to occur in the vehicle cooling system. For certain applications, the surface geometry must also be such that it resists particulate fouling, precluding common interrupted surfaces such as louvered fins. Although acceptable continuous surface geometries such as bumped fin geometries are in use, the impacts of changing the parameters of this geometry are unknown. This study investigates the transport characteristics of bumped fins in the transitional flow regime using unsteady multi-dimensional solutions of the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations --Abstract, page iv

Analysis of automotive thermal management heat exchangers

This work is focused on a specific application in the field of heat exchangers, and that is a vehicle radiator. Specifically, the project consists of the design and implementation of a code using the MATLAB environment to simulate the thermal behavior of a typical aluminum louvered fin automotive radiator. The methodology used to solve the equations is the ε-NTU and multi ε-NTU method. The working conditions and detailed geometry are defined, and it is explained the algorithm used to solve the problem, and also the specific correlations selected for the calculation of heat transfer and pressure loss, for this kind of heat exchangers. Beyond simulation part, it is also studied the State-of-the-Art of automotive radiators, to have an idea on the recent ideas, methods and ultimate technology applied in this field. In this part it can be seen some very different technologies implemented, which all of them are focused on improving the thermal performance of vehicle radiators. Taking into account the State-of-the-art part, it is implemented one of these novel technologies to the simulation developed in the project. In this case, it is the use of a nanofluid as a coolant in the radiator, with the aim of improving the thermal behavior. Specifically, the nanofluid used in the simulation is water + Al2O3 nanoparticles. The results obtained with the code developed show the heat transfer behavior of the radiator for certain mass flow rates conditions, and they are compared with other experimental results, demonstrating that the code works well enough, despite that the obtained results could be more accurate. The results for the implementation of nanofluid coolant in the simulation also show a clear improvement in the heat transfer rateThis Project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 81497