Optimization of the single staggered wire and tube heat exchanger

Abstract

Wire and tube heat exchanger consists of a coiled tube, and wire is welded on the two sides of it in normal direction of the tube. Generally,wire and tube heat exchanger uses inline wire arrangement between the two sides, whereas in this study, it used staggered wire arrangement that reduces the restriction of convection heat transfer. This study performed the optimization of single staggered wire and tube heat exchanger to increase the capacity and reduce the mass of the heat exchanger. Optimization was conducted with the Hooke-Jeeves method, which aims to optimize the geometry of the heat exchanger, especially on the diameter (dw) and the distance between wires (pw). The model developed to present heat transfer correlations on single staggered wire and tube heat exchanger was valid. The maximum optimization factor obtained when the diameter wire was 0.9 mm and the distance between wires (pw) was 11 mm with the fref value = 1.5837. It means that the optimized design only using mass of 59,10 % and could transfer heat about 98,5 % from the basis design.