Analysis of spray-cooled finned-tube heat exchangers
- Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, Univ. of Stellenbosch, Stellenbosch, 7600 (South Africa)
This paper reports that a mathematical model has been developed for the analysis of spray-cooled finned-tube heat exchangers. An experimental study was conducted on a four-pass, finned-tube heat exchanger in a vertical air/water mist flow to validate the model, and the results compared well with the predicted performance. Significant performance enhancement (up to 3.5 times the dry performance) was found by spraying relatively small amounts of water onto the heat exchanger. The two-phase pressure drop across the heat exchanger was also measured, and the spray water mass flow rate was found to have a significant effect on the pressure drop across the tube bundle. The study helped to identify certain factors, such as the geometry of the finned tubes and the optimum air/spray water ratios, which have to be taken into consideration when designing spray-cooled heat exchangers.
- OSTI ID:
- 6904670
- Journal Information:
- Heat Transfer Engineering; (United States), Vol. 13:4; ISSN 0145-7632
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS//MATHEMATICS, COMPUTING, AND INFORMATION SCIENCE
HEAT EXCHANGERS
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
AIR FLOW
COOLING
DESIGN
FINS
GEOMETRY
MASS TRANSFER
OPTIMIZATION
PERFORMANCE
PRESSURE DROP
PRESSURE MEASUREMENT
SPRAYS
TUBES
WATER
FLUID FLOW
GAS FLOW
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
MATHEMATICS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
420400* - Engineering- Heat Transfer & Fluid Flow
990200 - Mathematics & Computers