Comparison of flow resistance and port maldistribution between novel and conventional plate heat exchangers

Abstract

Corrugated plate heat exchanger (CPHE) is the most utilized compact heat exchanger (HE) due to its high thermal performance. The present study is conducted for modified CPHEs with chevron angles β = 60°/60° and 30°/30°, and for conventional CPHE with β = 30°/30°. The characteristics of flow resistance along with other important physical parameters inside the modified and the conventional CPHEs are presented in this study. Acomputational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) approach is employed to conduct the present study, where realizable k − ε turbulence model is used. The numerical simulations results are validated against available experimental data in the literature. The overall thermal performance is examined by calculating the ratio of the heat transfer rate to the ratio of increase in the pumping power (JF factor). The core pressure drop, fanning friction factor (f), turbulence kinetic energy (TKE), and port maldistribution have been investigated. The findings are compared against those of conventional CPHE with β = 60°/60°. The modified and the conventional CPHEs are alike in geometrical and physical tests conditions. The simulations are performed for single-phase (water-water), counter-current flow, and for a range of Reynolds number (Re = 500 to 2000). The results show that f data of the modified CPHEs are ~4.5–7 fold higher than those of the conventional CPHEs. The data of port maldistribution of conventional CPHEs are found up to ~8 times greater than those of the modified ones. The TKE of the modified CPHEs is found ~2–3 times higher than those of the conventional ones. In addition, due to the high pumping power requirements of the modified CPHEs, their JF data have been found 1.1–1.5 fold lower than those of the conventional CPHEs. The f correlations of the modified and the conventional CPHEs have been established.