Low Cost Polymer heat Exchangers for Condensing Boilers
- Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
Work in this project sought to develop a suitable design for a low cost, corrosion resistant heat exchanger as part of a high efficiency condensing boiler. Based upon the design parameters and cost analysis several geometries and material options were explored. The project also quantified and demonstrated the durability of the selected polymer/filler composite under expected operating conditions. The core material idea included a polymer matrix with fillers for thermal conductivity improvement. While the work focused on conventional heating oil, this concept could also be applicable to natural gas, low sulfur heating oil, and biodiesel- although these are considered to be less challenging environments. An extruded polymer composite heat exchanger was designed, built, and tested during this project, demonstrating technical feasibility of this corrosion-resistant material approach. In such flue gas-to-air heat exchangers, the controlling resistance to heat transfer is in the gas-side convective layer and not in the tube material. For this reason, the lower thermal conductivity polymer composite heat exchanger can achieve overall heat transfer performance comparable to a metal heat exchanger. However, with the polymer composite, the surface temperature on the gas side will be higher, leading to a lower water vapor condensation rate.
- Research Organization:
- Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), Albany, NY (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- SC00112704
- OSTI ID:
- 1232686
- Report Number(s):
- BNL-108354-2015-IR; 600301010
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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