Thermal performance and pressure drop of the helical-coil heat exchangers with and without helically crimped fins

Paisarn Naphon
Thermo-Fluid and Heat Transfer Enhancement Lab. (TFHT), Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Srinakharinwirot University, 63 Rangsit-Nakhonnayok Rd., Ongkarak, Nakhon-Nayok 26120, Thailand Available online 19 December 2006

Abstract In the present study, the thermal performance and pressure drop of the helical-coil heat exchanger with and without helical crimped fins are studied. The heat exchanger consists of a shell and helically coiled tube unit with two different coil diameters. Each coil is fabricated by bending a 9.50 mm diameter straight copper tube into a helical-coil tube of thirteen turns. Cold and hot water are used as working fluids in shell side and tube side, respectively. The experiments are done at the cold and hot water mass flow rates ranging between 0.10 and 0.22 kg/s, and between 0.02 and 0.12 kg/s, respectively. The inlet temperatures of cold and hot water are between 15 and 25 C, and between 35 and 45 C, respectively. The cold water entering the heat exchanger at the outer channel flows across the helical tube and flows out at the inner channel. The hot water enters the heat exchanger at the inner helical-coil tube and flows along the helical tube. The effects of the inlet conditions of both working fluids flowing through the test section on the heat transfer characteristics are discussed. 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Thermal performance; Pressure drop; Helically coiled tube; Heat exchanger

1. Introduction Due to their high heat transfer coefficient and smaller space requirement compared with straight tubes, curved-tubes are the most widely used tubes in several heat transfer applications, for example, heat recovery processes, air conditioning and refrigeration systems, chemical reactors, food and dairy processes. Helical and spiral coils are well known types of curved-tubes which have been used in a wide variety of applications. For helically coiled tubes, numerous theoretical and experimental works have been reported on heat transfer and flow characteristics. Dravid et al. [1] investigated numerically the effect of secondary flow on laminar flow heat transfer in helically coiled tubes. Numerical results were compared with the measured data in the range in which they overlap. Austen and Soliman [2] studied the influence of pitch on the pressure drop and heat transfer characteristics of helical coils under uniform wall heat flux. Two coils with different pitch ratios and the same diameter ratio were tested. Water was used as working fluid. Prasad et al. [3] experimentally studied the pressure drop and heat transfer coefficient in the tube and shell sides of a helical-coil heat exchanger. Yang and Ebadian [4] solved the k model to analyze the fully developed turbulent

Communicated by W.J. Minkowycz. E-mail address: paisarnn@swu.ac.th.

0735-1933/$ - see front matter 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.icheatmasstransfer.2006.11.009

convective heat transfer in a circular cross-section helicoidal pipe with finite pitch. Xin et al. [5] studied the effects of the Prandtl numbers and geometric parameters on the local and average convective heat transfer characteristics in helical-pipes. The experiments were performed with three different working fluids: air, water, and ethylene-glycol. In their second paper, Xin et al. [6] experimentally investigated the single-phase and two-phase flow pressure drop in annular helicoidal pipes. Inagaki et al. [7] used a full-size partial model to predict the flow-induced vibration, heat transfer and pressure drop of helically coiled tubes of an intermediate heat exchanger (IHX) for the HTTR. Chen et al. [8] studied the conjugate heat transfer of a finned oval tube. Acharya et al. [9] numerically studied the phenomenon of steady heat transfer enhancement in coiled-tube heat exchangers due to chaotic particle paths in steady, laminar flow with two different mixings. Ju et al. [10] investigated the performance of small bending radius helical-coil pipe. The formulas for the Reynolds number of single-phase flow structure transition, and single-phase and two-phase flow friction factor were obtained. Ali [11] proposed the pressure drop correlations for fluid flows through regular helicalcoil tubes. Generalized pressure drop correlations were developed in terms of the Euler number, Reynolds number, and the geometrical group. Prabhanjan et al. [12] illustrated the advantage of using a helically coiled heat exchanger versus a straight tube heat exchanger for heating liquids. The experiments were done in the transitional and turbulent flow regions. In their second paper, Prabhanjan et al. [13] experimentally investigated the natural convection heat transfer from helically coiled tubes. The predicted outlet temperature was validated by comparing with the measured data. Chen and Zhang [14] studied the combined effects of rotation, curvature, and heating/cooling on the flow pattern, friction factor, temperature distribution, and Nusselt number. Ko and Ting [15] studied the entropy generation of the fully developed laminar convection in a helical coil with constant wall heat flux. Effect of Reynolds number, coil-to-tube radius ratio and nondimensional coil pitch were discussed. Although some information is currently available on the method to calculate the performance of the helical-coil heat exchanger, there is still room to discuss whether it gives a reliable prediction of the heat transfer characteristics of the helical-coil heat exchanger. The objective of this paper is to experimentally study the thermal performance and pressure drop of a helical-coil heat exchanger with and without helically crimped fin. Effects of relevant parameters on the heat transfer characteristics of the helical-coil heat exchanger are discussed.
2. Experimental apparatus and method A schematic diagram of the experimental apparatus is shown in Fig. 1. The test loop consists of a test section, refrigerant loop, hot water loop, cold water loop and data acquisition system. The test section is a helical-coil heat exchanger consisting of a shell and helically coiled finned tube unit (Fig. 2). The test section and the connections of the piping system are designed such that parts can be changed or repaired easily. In addition to the loop component, a full set of instruments for measuring and control of temperature and flow rate of all fluids is installed at all important points in the circuit. The close loops of hot and cold water consist of the 0.5 m3

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of experimental apparatus.

Fig. 2. Schematic diagram of test section.

storage tanks, the electric heaters controlled by adjusting the voltage, and a cooling coil immerged inside a storage tank. R22 is used as the refrigerant for chilling the water. The hot water is adjusted to the desired level and controlled by temperature controller. After the temperatures of the cold and hot water are adjusted to achieve the desired level, the water of each loop is pumped out of the storage tank, and is passed through a filter, flow meter, test section, and returned to the storage tank. The flow rates of the water are controlled by adjusting the valve and measured by the flow meters with an accuracy of 0.2% of full scale. The heat exchanger consists of a steel shell and a helically coiled finned tube unit. The helical-coil tube unit consists of two different coil diameters. Each coil is constructed by bending a 9.5 mm diameter straight copper tube into a helical-coil of thirteen turns. The minimum and maximum diameters of helical-coil are 127.0 and 197.0 mm, respectively. Annular aluminium fins with thickness of 0.4 mm and height of 9.6 mm are placed helically around the coil tube. The edge of fin at the inner diameter is corrugated. Six type-T copperconstantan thermocouples are installed to measure the hot water and tube wall temperatures at the inlet, middle, and outlet sections. The accuracy of the thermocouple is 0.1% of full scale. In addition, all the thermocouples are precalibrated by the dry-box temperature calibrator with 0.01 C precision. The digital manometer (YOKOKAWA, MT120) with the accuracy of 0.02% of full scale is employed to measure the pressure drop in the tube side. The dimensions of the test section are listed in Table 1. An overall energy balance was performed to estimate the extent of any heat losses or gains from the surrounding. In the present study, only the data that satisfy the energy balance conditions; Qw,c Qw,hQave is less than 10%, are used in the analysis. Experiments were conducted with various inlet temperatures and flow rates of hot water and cold water entering the test section. In the experiments, the hot water flow rate was increased in small increments while the cold water flow rate, inlet cold water and hot water temperatures were kept constant. The inlet hot and cold water temperatures were adjusted to achieve the desired level by using electric heaters controlled by temperature controllers. Before any data were recorded, the system was allowed to approach the steady
Table 1 Dimensions of the helical-coil heat exchanger Parameters Outer diameter of tube, mm Inner diameter of tube, mm Minimum diameter of helical coil, mm Maximum diameter of helical coil, mm Number of coil turns Helical pitch, mm Diameter of shell, mm Length of shell, mm Total length of helical coil, mm Fin spacing, mm Fin height, mm Fin thickness, mm Dimensions 9.50 7.75 127.0 197.0 13 30 230 420 12000 4.5 9.6 0.4

Table 2 Accuracy and uncertainty of measurements Instruments Rotameter, (water flow rate, kg/s) Thermocouple type T, data logger, (C) Digital manometer Accuracy 0.2% 0.1% 0.02% Uncertainty 0.01 0.01 0.02

state. Data collection was accomplished using a data acquisition system (DataTaker, DT800). The uncertainty and accuracy of the measurements are given in Table 2.

3. Data reduction The data reduction of the measured results is summarized in the following procedures: Heat transferred to the cold water in the test section, Qw,c, can be calculated from Qw;c mw;c Cp;w Tw;c;out Tw;c;in 1

where mw,c is the mass flow rate of cold water, Cp,w is the specific heat of water, Tw,c,in and Tw,c,out are the inlet and outlet cold water temperatures, respectively. Heat transferred from the hot water, Qw,h, can be calculated from Qw;h mw;h Cp;w Tw;h;in Tw;h;out 2

where mw,h is the hot water mass flow rate, Tw,h,in and Tw,h,out are the inlet and outlet hot water temperatures, respectively. The average heat transfer rate, Qave, used in the calculation is determined from the hot water-side and cold waterside as follows: Qw;c Qw;h Qave : 3 2 The tube-side heat transfer coefficient for the helically coiled tube, hi, can be calculated from the average heat transfer rate obtained from Qave hi Ai Ts;ave Tw;h;ave 4

where Ts,ave is the average tube wall temperature, and Tw,h,ave is the average hot water temperature, and Ai is the inside surface area of the helical-coil tube.

Fig. 3. Variation of outlet cold water temperature with hot water mass flow rate for helically coiled finned tube heat exchanger.

The overall heat transfer coefficient can be determined from Qave Ui Ai FDTLMTD 5

where TLMTD is the logarithmic-mean temperature difference, F is the correction factor which is equal to 1 for this case. An outside heat transfer coefficient, ho, is usually obtained from the overall thermal resistance consisting of three resistances in series: the convective resistance on the inner surface, conductance resistance of the pipe wall, and the convective resistance on the outer surface: 1 1 dt 1 : Ui Ai go ho Ao kt Aave hi Ai 6

The overall surface efficiency, o, defined as the ratio of the effective heat transfer area to the total heat transfer area can be expressed in term of fin efficiency, , fin surface area, Af, and total outside surface area, Ao,as follows: go 1 Af 1g: Ao 7

The fin efficiency, , is determined from: g where  / M2 Rf 1 ro  1 0:35ln   Rf ro 9 10 tanhMro / Mro / 8

2ho k f df

where Rf is the fin radius, ro is the outer tube radius, kf is the thermal conductivity of the fin, f is the fin thickness.

Fig. 4. Variation of average heat transfer rate with hot water mass flow rate for helically coiled tube heat exchanger.

Fig. 5. Variation of friction factor with hot water mass flow rate for helically coiled tube heat exchanger.

To obtain the outside heat transfer coefficient and the overall surface efficiency, an iterative procedure is employed to solve the Eqs. (6), (7), (8), (9) and (10).
4. Results and discussion Fig. 3 illustrates the variation of the outlet temperature of cold water with hot water mass flow rate for helically coiled finned tube heat exchanger. It is found that when the inlet hot and cold water temperatures, and cold water mass flow rate are kept constant, the outlet cold water temperature increases with increasing hot water mass flow rate. This is because the heat transferred from the hot water to cold water increases with increasing hot water mass flow rate. Therefore, the outlet cold water temperature also tends to increase when hot water mass flow rate increases. Considering Fig. 3, which shows the effect of cold water mass flow rate on the outlet cold water temperature, it is clearly seen that at a specific inlet cold and hot water temperatures, and hot water mass flow rate, when the outlet hot water temperature decreases, the temperature difference between inlet and outlet hot water temperature increases. Therefore, one way of keeping the heat transfer rate equal to the hot water-side is by increasing the cold water mass flow rate. Therefore, it can be clearly seen that the outlet cold water temperature decreases with increasing cold water mass flow rate.

Fig. 6. Variation of heat exchanger effectiveness with hot water mass flow rate for helically coiled finned tube heat exchanger.

Fig. 7. Variation of heat exchanger effectiveness with hot water mass flow rate for helically coiled tube heat exchanger.

Fig. 4 shows the variation of the average heat transfer rate with hot water mass flow rate for helically coiled tube heat exchanger. As expected, at a specific temperature of cold and hot water entering the test section, the heat transfer rate depends directly on hot water mass flow rate. Also, at the same hot water mass flow rate, the heat transfer rates at lower cold water mass flow rate are lower than those at higher ones across the range of hot water mass flow rate. However, this effect becomes relatively larger as hot water mass flow rate increases as shown in Fig. 4. Fig. 5 shows the variation of the friction factor with hot water mass flow rate for helically coiled tube heat exchanger. It can be seen from the figure that the friction factors tend to decrease as hot water mass flow rate increases. In addition, at a given hot water mass flow rate, effect of inlet hot water temperature is insignificant effect to friction factor. Figs. 6 and 7 show the variation of the heat exchanger effectiveness with hot water mass flow rate for helically coiled finned tube heat exchanger and for helically coiled tube heat exchanger, respectively. The heat exchanger effectiveness used to evaluate the performance of the helical-coil heat exchanger is calculated from e Qave Qave : Qmax mCp min Tw;h;in Tw;c;in 11

It is found from these figures that the effectiveness tends to decrease with increasing hot water mass flow rate. This phenomenon can be clearly explained by Eq. (11). From the whole range of hot and cold water mass flow rates, the capacity rate of the cold water,

Fig. 8. Variation of heat exchanger effectiveness with hot water mass flow rate for helically coiled finned tube heat exchanger.

Fig. 9. Variation of heat exchanger effectiveness with hot water mass flow rate for helically coiled tube heat exchanger.

(mCp)w,c, is higher than that of the hot water, (mCp)w,h. The minimum capacity rate, (mCp)min, in Eq. (11) is replaced by the capacity rate of the hot water. Therefore, the effectiveness decreases as hot water mass flow rate increases. At a given hot water mass flow rate, the inlet hot water temperature has significant effect on the heat exchanger effectiveness. This is because the effectiveness depends directly on average heat transfer rate. Figs. 8 and 9 show the variation of the effectiveness with hot water mass flow rate for helically coiled finned tube heat exchanger and for helically coiled tube heat exchanger, respectively. It should be noted that the effectiveness is inversely proportional to the hot water mass flow rate. The effectiveness decreases rapidly in the low hot water mass flow rate region and then decreases moderately as the hot water mass flow rate increases. For a specific hot water mass flow rate at constant inlet hot and cold water temperatures, the effectiveness increases with increasing cold water mass flow rate. Again, it can be clearly seen from Eq. (11) that the average heat transfer rate increases with increasing cold water mass flow rate but the maximum heat transfer rate is kept constant. Therefore, the effectiveness also increases.

5. Conclusion This paper presents new experimental data from the measurement of the average in-tube convective heat transfer characteristics and thermal performance of helical-coil heat exchanger. The heat exchanger consists of thirteen turns concentric helically coiled tubes with and without helically crimped fins. The conclusion can be summarized as follows; Outlet cold water temperature increases with increasing hot water mass flow rate. An average heat transfer rate increases as hot and cold water mass flow rates increase. The friction factor decreases with increasing hot water mass flow rate. Inlet hot and cold water mass flow rates and inlet hot water temperature have significant effect on the heat exchanger effectiveness.

Nomenclatures A Area Cp Specific heat, kJ/ (kg C) d Tube diameter, m D Coil diameter, m f Friction factor F Correction factor h Heat transfer coefficient, kW/(m2 C) k Thermal conductivity, kW/(m C) m Mass flow rate, kg/s

Nu Pr Q r R Re T U o

Nusselt number Prandtl number Heat transfer rate, kW Tube radius, m Coil radius, m Reynolds number Temperature, C Overall heat transfer coefficient, kW/(m2 C) Thickness, m Overall surface efficiency Fin efficiency Effectiveness

Subscripts ave Average c Cold f Fin h Hot i Inside in Inlet LMTD Long mean temperature difference o Outside out Outlet s Surface, wall t Tube w Water Acknowledgements The author would like to express their appreciation to the Srinakharinwirot University (SWU) for providing financial support for this study. The author also wishes to acknowledge Mr. Jumras Tritasanon, Mr. Montree Fenner and Mr. Monton Moungthong, for their assistance in some of the experimental work. References
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