Dehumidification: Prediction of Condensate Flow Rate for Plate-Fin Tube Heat Exchangers Using the Latent j Factor
Condensate flow rate is an important factor in designing dehumidifiers or evaporators. In this paper, the latentj fimtor is used to analyze the dehumidification performance of two plate-fin tube heat exchangers. This latent j factor, analogous to the total j factor, is a flmction of the mass transfa coefllcient, the volumetric air flow rate, and the Schmidt number. This latent j factor did predict condensate flow rate more directly and accurately than any other sensiblej factor method. The Iatentj factor has been used in the present study because the sensible j factor correlations presented in the literature failed to predict the condensate flow rate at high Reynolds numbers. Results show that the latent j i%ctor em be simply correlated as a fhnction of the Reynolds number based on the tube outside diameter and number of rows of the heat exchanger.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Oak Ridge, TN
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-96OR22464
- OSTI ID:
- 2962
- Report Number(s):
- ORNL/CP-100589; EC 12 04 00 0; ON: DE00002962
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: ASME/JSME Joint Thermal Engineering Conference, San Diego, CA, Mar. 15, 1999
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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