An experimental study of thermal performance of shell-and-coil heat exchangers

• Published in: International communications in heat and mass transfer 2010-08, Vol.37 (7), p.775-781
• Main Authors: Ghorbani, Nasser, Taherian, Hessam, Gorji, Mofid, Mirgolbabaei, Hessam
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Coefficients; Coiling; Convection; Devices using thermal energy; Energy; Energy. Thermal use of fuels; Exact sciences and technology; Fluid flow; Forced convection; Heat exchanger; Heat exchangers; Heat exchangers (included heat transformers, condensers, cooling towers); Heat transfer; Helical coil; Mass flow rate; Mass transfer; Turbulent flow
• ISSN: 0735-1933; 1879-0178
• DOI: 10.1016/j.icheatmasstransfer.2010.02.001

In the present study an experimental investigation of the mixed convection heat transfer in a coil-in-shell heat exchanger is reported for various Reynolds and Rayleigh numbers, various tube-to-coil diameter ratios and dimensionless coil pitch. The purpose of this article is to assess the influence of the tube diameter, coil pitch, shell-side and tube-side mass flow rate over the performance coefficient and modified effectiveness of vertical helical coiled tube heat exchangers. The calculations have been performed for the steady-state and the experiments were conducted for both laminar and turbulent flow inside coil. It was found that the mass flow rate of tube-side to shell-side ratio was effective on the axial temperature profiles of heat exchanger. The results also indicate that the ɛ − NTU relation of the mixed convection heat exchangers was the same as that of a pure counter-flow heat exchanger.