Modeling the heat transfer and the pressure loss in flat fin-and-tube compact heat exchangers

• Autor(a) principal: Aguiar, Martim
• Data de Publicação: 2019
• Outros Autores: Gaspar, Pedro Dinis, Silva, Pedro Dinho da
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.6/7520
• topic: Refrigeration; Heat exchangers; Compact; Computational simulation; Evaporators; Energy Efficiency

Fin-and-tube heat exchangers (HX) have wide application in the industry. The study of HXs with reduced tube diameter has allowed the development of more compact and equally efficient equipment. Most of the HXs of this type are composed of flat fins, not only due to the ease of construction but also to their reliability in long-term operation and reduced friction characteristics. The formulation of mathematical equations that predict the effect of the geometric characteristics on the heat transfer and friction factors of the HXs lead many researchers to try to establish correlations that approximate the experimental results. In this paper is developed a computational tool based on literature correlations is used to evaluate the Colburn and friction factors for flat fin-and-tube compact HXs. The results of predictions show the Colburn and friction factors behavior for different geometrical parameters (fin pitch, tube diameter, tube number) and typical Reynolds number.