Influence of Nanoparticle Shape Factor on Convective Heat Transfer of Water-Based ZnO Nanofluids. Performance Evaluation Criterion

The convective heat transfer of ZnO/water colloidal suspensions is investigated experimentally to appreciate the influence of two shapes of nanoparticles. Pressure drop and heat transfer coefficients have been measured at two different inlet temperatures (20, 50°C) in heating and/or cooling conditions at various flow rates (200 \u3c Re \u3c 15,000). The Reynolds and Nusselt numbers have been determined by using thermal conductivity and viscosity measured in the same conditions as those in tests. The results obtained are compared with classical correlations. An energetic Performance Evaluation Criterion (PEC) has been defined to compare heat transfer rate to pumping power

Micromixing enhancement by turbulence: Application to multifunctional heat exchangers

Compact heat exchangers are well-known for their ability to transfer large amounts of heat while retaining low volume and weight. This paper studies the use of this device as a chemical reactor, generally called a heat exchanger reactor (HEX reactor). Indeed, the question arises: can these geometries combine heat transfer and mixing in the same device? Such a technology would offer many advantages, such as better reaction control (through the thermal aspect), improved selectivity (through intensified mixing, more isothermal operation and shorter residence time, and sharper residence-time distribution), byproduct reduction, and enhanced safety. Several geometries of compact heat exchanger based on turbulence generation are available. This paper focuses on two types: offset strip fins (OSFs) and metallic foams. Our main objective is to contribute to the estimation of micromixing generated by these geometries by using an experimental method based on a unique parallel-competing reaction scheme proposed by Villermaux et al. The micromixing time, estimated according to the incorporation model, lets us compare the micromixing levels generated by duct channel, OSFs and metallic foams at volume flow rates ranging from 1 to 350 1 h(-1). The metallic foam concept is found to be very efficient in micromixing enhancement. Furthermore, OSFs make it possible to generate micromixing levels ranging between the duct channel and metallic foam level. Moreover, the results show that the fin micromixing level increases with fin thickness and ligament diameter. Finally, in an HEX reactor application, the residence time of chemical reactants must be considered in order to choose the best geometry for intensifying mass and heat transfer. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Intensification of heat-transfer and mixing in multifunctional heat exchangers by artificially generated streamwise vorticity

Compact heat exchangers are well known for their ability to transfer a large amount of heat while retaining low volume and weight. The purpose of this paper is to study the potential of using this device as a mixer as well as a chemical reactor, generally called a multifunctional heat exchanger (MHE). Indeed, the question arises: can these geometries combine heat transfer and mixing in the same device? Such a technology would offer many potential advantages, such as better reaction control (through the thermal aspect [S. Ferrouillat, P. Tochon, H. Peerhossaini, D. Della Valle, Open-loop thermal control of exothermal chemical reactions in multifunctional heat exchangers, Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer, in press]), improved selectivity (through intensified mixing, more isothermal operation and shorter residence time, and sharper residence time distribution (RTD)), byproduct reduction, and enhanced safety. Several geometries of compact heat exchanger based on turbulence generation are available. This paper focuses on one type: vortex generators. The main objective is to contribute to the determination of turbulent flow inside various geometries by computational fluid dynamics methods. These enhanced industrial geometries are studied in terms of their thermal-hydraulic performance and macro-/micro-mixing ability [S. Ferrouillat, P. Tochon, H. Peerhossaini, Micromixing enhancement by turbulence: application to multifunctional heat exchangers, Chem. Eng. Process., in press]. The longitudinal vortices they generate in a channel flow turn the flow perpendicular to the main flow direction and enhance mixing between the fluid close to the fin and that in the middle of the channel. Two kinds of vortex generators are considered: a delta winglet pair and a rectangular winglet pair. For both, good agreement is obtained between numerical results and data in the literature. The vortex generator concept is found to be very efficient in terms of heat-transfer enhancement and macro-mixing. Nevertheless, the micro-mixing level is poor due to strong inhomogeneities: the vortex generator must be used as a heat-transfer enhancement device or as a static mixer for macro- and meso-mixing. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Open loop thermal control of exothermal chemical reactions in multifunctional heat exchangers

This paper presents an experimental study which demonstrates the potentiality of multifunctional heat exchangers (MHE) to carry out exothermal chemical reactions by the local control of the reactive environment temperature. Two highly exothermal chemical reactions with different kinetics (instantaneous and fast) have been investigated. The MHE is found to be very efficient in extracting the heat released by the chemical reactions. Due to its large heat transfer capacity, this process allows to increase considerably inlet reactant concentrations without thermal runaway and thus to enhance both chemical reaction conversion ratio and yield. This study also shows the limitations of the multifunctional heat exchanger for exothermal and instantaneous chemical reactions. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Toward a Competitive Process Intensification:A New Generation of Heat Exchanger-Reactors

Process Intensification (PI) in chemical production is a major concern of chemical manufacturers. Among the numerous options to intensify a process, the transposition from a batch reactor to a continuous plug flow reactor is a good alternative when the selectivity and the thermal exchange are an issue. In this context, the RAPIC R&D project aims to develop an innovative low-cost component (in the 10 kg/h range). This project deals with the design from the local to the global scale and with testing, from elementary mock-ups to pilot scale. The present paper gives a detailed description of this research project and presents the main results on specification and definition of the reaction channel and the first simple mock-ups