Experimental and numerical investigation of additively manufactured novel compact plate-fin heat exchanger

•Novel compact plate-fin heat exchangers fabricated by laser powder bed fusion (LPBF)•Experimental and numerical investigation of different plate-fin heat exchangers•Plate-fin heat exchanger with twisted fins exhibits superior thermal performance•Improved rectangular fins improve coefficient of perf...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of heat and mass transfer 2022-07, Vol.190, p.122818, Article 122818
Main Authors: Ning, Jiuxin, Wang, Xiaodong, Sun, Yajing, Zheng, Chenggang, Zhang, Shengwu, Zhao, Xi, Liu, Changyong, Yan, Wentao
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Additive manufacturing
Coefficient of performance
Compact heat exchanger
Fins
Heat exchangers
Industrial applications
Numerical simulations
Performance evaluation
Plate-fin heat exchanger
Plate-fin heat exchangers
Powder beds
Pressure drop
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Summary:•Novel compact plate-fin heat exchangers fabricated by laser powder bed fusion (LPBF)•Experimental and numerical investigation of different plate-fin heat exchangers•Plate-fin heat exchanger with twisted fins exhibits superior thermal performance•Improved rectangular fins improve coefficient of performance and overall performance Plate-fin heat exchanger (PFHX) is one of the vital compact heat exchangers due to its high heat transfer area per unit volume and promising potentials in industrial applications where dimensions and weight are limited. Additive manufacturing presents great potentials for fabricating novel compact heat exchangers. In this work, three types of compact heat exchangers including a PFHX with twisted fins, a PFHX with improved rectangular fins and a PFHX with conventional rectangular fins are manufactured using the laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) technology. The experimental tests together with numerical simulations are conducted to evaluate the thermal performance and pressure drop of the heat exchangers. The results show that PFHX with twisted fins exhibits superior thermal performance among the three heat exchangers, and the PFHX with improved rectangular fins has the highest experimental coefficient of performance (COP) and provides outstanding overall performance. Furthermore, the impact of LPBF accuracy on the performance of heat exchanger are discussed to provide guidance for future designs.
ISSN:0017-9310
1879-2189
DOI:10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2022.122818