Numerical Study on Novel Design for Compact Parallel-Flow Heat Exchanger with Manifolds to Improve Flow Characteristics

Byunghui Kim, Kuisoon Kim and Seokho Kim
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Byunghui Kim: Regional Leading Research Center, Changwon National University, Changwon 51140, Korea
Kuisoon Kim: Department of Aerospace Engineering, Pusan National University, Busan 46241, Korea
Seokho Kim: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Changwon National University, Changwon 51140, Korea

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 23, 1-13

Abstract: Parallel flow heat exchangers with manifolds are widely used in various industries owing to their compact size and ease of application. Research has been conducted to understand their flow characteristics and improve flow distribution and pressure drop performance; however, it is difficult to derive generalized improvements under different conditions for each application. This study proposes a novel design to improve the flow characteristics of a compact heat exchanger with a sudden expansion area of a dividing manifold and uses computational fluid dynamics simulation to verify it. The abrupt cross-sectional area change in the dividing manifold induces a jet flow near the entry region, which causes the flow maldistribution of the first few parallel tubes. To improve the efficiency of the dividing manifold, simple and novel designs with a converging-diverging area in the manifold header have been proposed. Parametric studies on the novel designs show improvements of up to 37.5% and 52.0% flow uniformity and 2.65% and 0.74% pressure drop performance for U- and Z-types, respectively, compared to the base model. Thus, the simple and easily fabricated quadrilateral shape can improve the flow maldistribution and pressure drop caused by a dividing manifold with a sudden area expansion.

Keywords: compact heat exchangers; computational fluid dynamics; dividing manifold; flow uniformity; parallel flow; pressure drop (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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