Applied Thermal Engineering 115 (2017) 782–792

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Applied Thermal Engineering

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apthermeng

Research Paper

Design and experimental investigations of a cylindrical microjet heat

exchanger for waste heat recovery systems
Tomasz Muszynski
Gdansk University of Technology, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Department of Energy and Industrial Apparatus, Narutowicza 11/12, 80-233 Gdansk, Poland

h i g h l i g h t s g r a p h i c a l a b s t r a c t

A prototype heat exchanger was built

and tested.

Microjets enhance heat transfer
specially in low flow rates.

The obtained overall heat transfer
coefficient reaches over 12000 W/
m2 K.

Lower pumping power of MJHX can
attribute to lowering operational
costs.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history:
Received 20 October 2016 Ó 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Revised 29 December 2016
Accepted 8 January 2017
Available online 9 January 2017

1. Introduction 1.1. Waste heat recovery

Nowadays, increasing energy utilization efficiency became a
universal trend both in industry and households. It’s driven both
by the rising cost of energy resources and environmental consider-
ations. Environmental aspect led to government regulations of
emissions of greenhouse gasses reduction. Due to those limita-
tions, renewable energy gains more and more interest in various
applications, including the engineering [1], food [2], and agricul-
tural sectors [3]. Nonetheless, significant gains can be made also
in these areas by increasing the efficiency of energy utilization,
i.e. improving process efficiency [4] or recovering low-grade waste
heat. Investments in various industry branches would bring envi-
ronmental benefits of thousands of tons of carbon dioxide equiva-
lent per year and significant economic advantages due to lower
emission fees.
E-mail address: Tomasz.Muszynski@pg.gda.pl
Energy optimization, such as improved utilization of existing
resources, needs precise data both on the system and its elements
characteristics. Demand for defining the waste heat recovery
potential in process sites, which would increase energy efficiency,
resulted in various well-established methods. Simplified mathe-
matical models are based on waste heat as a primary source for
power generation [5], combined cooling and heating [6]. Studies
conducted in leading research centers show, that the total energy
utilization efficiency can be increased up to 10% with the use of
waste heat recovery systems, even 33% if total recovered heat
would be exploited on-site [7].
The Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) plants are a well-established
in industry, in order to produce electric power or combined heat
and power from low-temperature sources [8]. Moreover, the
advantages of ORC also include economical utilization of energy
resources, resulting in reduced emissions of carbon, sulfur and
nitrous oxides and other environmental pollutants. Many

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2017.01.021
1359-4311/Ó 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 T. Muszynski / Applied Thermal Engineering 115 (2017) 782–792 783

Nomenclature

a coefficient, function gradient e effectiveness

A heat transfer area [m2] k thermal conductivity [W/m K]
b coefficient, function ordinate q density [kg/m3]
C heat capacity rate [W/K] l viscosity [Pas]
CF orifice type factor
cp specific heat [J/kg K] Subscripts
d wetted area diameter [m] c cold working fluid
D nozzle diameter [m] h hot working fluid
G mass flux [kg/m2 s] in inlet
h nozzle to impinged surface distance [m] max maximal value
U total heat transfer coefficient [W/m2 K] min minimal value
LMTD logarithmic mean temperature difference [K] out outlet
m _ mass flow rate [kg/s] r ratio
n experimental factor
Nu Nusselt number, Nu ¼ akD
lc Abbreviations
Pr Prandtl number, Pr ¼ k p FS full scale
DP pressure drop [Pa] HX heat exchanger
Re Reynolds number, Re ¼ GD l HTC heat transfer coefficient
T fluid temperature [K] MJHX microjet heat exchanger
v velocity [m/s] MAD mean absolute deviation
V_ volumetric flow rate [m3/s] NTU number of transfer units
q_ heat flux density [W/m2]
ORC organic Rankine cycle
Q_ heat flux [W] TAC total annual cost
WHR waste heat recovery
Greek symbols
a heat transfer coefficient [W/m2 K]
d thickness [m]

installations are developed and optimized due to their simplicity
and commonly available components, because the ORC power
plant works on a similar principle to that of the conventional steam
power plant, with the use of the organic fluid instead of water. This
technology is suitable for application in a very wide power range,
starting from a few kW up to tens of MW. As of today, due to plant
economics, which strongly depends on the plant size, it is mostly
used for plants with a minimum size on the order of a few hundred
kW. Mentioned are systems and technologies capable of utilizing
low and medium quality heat for power production within indus-
trial WHR and power generation. However many research projects
for very small installations are currently ongoing, for the very dif-
ferent applications: heat recovery [9,10], renewable sources [11],
buildings [12], biomass-based power generation systems [13],
and transport by exploiting waste heat recovery from Diesel engi-
nes [14]. Considerable studies have been conducted on ORC sys-
tems, i.e. selection of optimal working fluid, process integration
of ORC, operation optimization of ORC heat recovery power plants
[15].
Traditionally, the criterion of performance used to design WHR
is the heat exchanger effectiveness, which is defined by the ratio of
the actual enthalpy change to the maximum enthalpy difference
attainable under ideal conditions. However, maximum perfor-
mance and minimum waste cannot be achieved by this criterion.
So, ahead of design, optimization should take account of the prob-
lem requirements, such as life, service temperature, occupied
space, material demanded, cost, and so on, which possess a major
impact on the selection of technical solution and project profitabil-
ity [16]. The drawbacks of industrial grade heat exchangers, indus-
trial processes require a new generation of heat exchangers which
have better comprehensive performance and exclude all disadvan-
tages of the original constructions [17].
Highly compact and highly efficient heat exchanger construc-
tions are investigated to develop such systems [18]. The modeling
and models validation for heat exchangers used in WHR systems is
an important task towards optimal installation design. Newly
developed models are capable of predicting the working parame-
ters, and system response [19]. Cost effectiveness and increasing
efficiency lead research towards new technologies of heat transfer
enhancement in heat exchangers design. One of the methods is to
reduce the plant investment cost is a replacement of conventional
metallic heat exchangers with plastic components in waste heat
recovery systems [20].
1.2. Heat transfer enhancement
Efficient heat removal in refrigeration and air-conditioning
requires an installation of high-performance heat exchangers i.e.
condenser, evaporator or regenerator [15]. Striving to increase
the performance of these elements while maintaining the highest
possible size to thermal energy ratio is nowadays the main trend
in research.
As is well known, in recuperators heat transfer coefficient has a
decisive influence on their efficiency. Many investigators con-
ducted experimental and numerical studies of geometrical param-
eters on the thermo-hydraulic performance of heat exchangers.
Overall heat transfer coefficient is always lower than the lowest
HTC from working media. Therefore, a key issue is to enhance
the lower value of heat transfer coefficient. Especially single phase
HTC, which in the case of ORC occurs in transcritical or super-
heated vapor region [21].
Methods to intensify the heat transfer by means of jet cooling
was presented in work of Martin [22], who analyzed different
impinging gas jets. His research focused on involving the nozzle
geometry and a number of jets (single or arrays) with heat transfer
coefficient. Also, key geometric nozzle parameters (round, or slot)
for the different configurations were taken into the account. A lot
of interest regarding microjet cooling especially in electronics
784 T. Muszynski / Applied Thermal Engineering 115 (2017) 782–792

resulted in a development of jet impingement correlations such as vective heat transfer. Distilled water was used as a working med-
one by Li and Garimella [23]. Authors focused on finding the influ- ium. A reference pipe in pipe heat exchanger was compared with
ence of Prandtl number on the local and average heat transfer coef- the experimental data obtained from the presented prototype.
ficient during jet impingement. Experiments were conducted on The characteristics of the heat exchanger are calculated for varying
three different liquids and air with varying Reynolds number, noz- water flow rates and temperatures. The obtained thermal and
zle diameters, and nozzle to plate distance. The area weighted hydraulic characteristics show that microjet enhancement can be
average of the impingement region and the wall jet region heat successfully be used for further implementation of such device in
transfer coefficients were used to describe average Nusselt num- engineering applications.
bers .
Meola [24] proposed a new correlation for the average Nusselt
2. Experimental setup
number based on the database available in the literature. New cor-
relation tries to include effects of jet forming orifice on heat trans-
2.1. Experimental test facility
fer for an array jets impinging on a flat surface.
Microjet heat transfer enhancement in micro heat exchangers
The present study shows heat transfer and pressure drop char-
was also investigated. The overall heat transfer coefficients pre-
acteristics of a newly developed cylindrical heat exchanger with
sented for a single phase water forced convection, reaches over
microjet heat enhancement technique. Both thermal and hydraulic
10 kW/m2 K. Obtained results for a heat exchanger geometry indi-
characteristics are obtained as a result of steady state experiments.
cated that significant heat transfer enhancement can be obtained
The test facility used for data acquisition consisted of the tested
with low pumping power requirements [25].
heat exchanger, the measurement equipment, and fluid prepara-
Microjet enhancement was successfully adapted for the novel
tion system. Working fluids in both cold and hot circuits were
construction of a forced air solar heater. Based on a confined single
fed by a pulsation-free gear pump from a supply tank. Desired fluid
slot jet of air impinging on the flat surface of a solar absorber plate.
flow rate was obtained by adjusting pump rotational speed.
A comparison of experimental results of thermal-flow performance
Detailed design of tested heat exchanger was presented in the fol-
of different types of air solar heaters indicated that the tested
lowing section.
device can compete with the best commercially available solu-
The temperature at the inlets and outlets of the heat exchanger
tions. It was found that the single glass covering significantly
was measured by means of T-type thermocouples in 1st class.
improves the efficiency of solar energy conversion from 16% up
Thermocouples were connected to the National Instruments SCXI
to 24%. Also, the pressure losses associated with air passing
data acquisition set and processed with the program developed
through the developed device were the lower than in compared
in LabVIEW environment (see Fig. 1B). The measurement system
solar air heaters [12].
was calibrated with a dry box calibrator before experiments.
As described in the literature review there is a universal need to
The heat source of the hot circuit is a laboratory grade ultra-
develop compact, efficient heat exchangers in order to rise up to
thermostat with additional electric heaters. The whole set main-
both economic and technical challenges of WHR systems. This
tained temperature stability of ±0.05 °C. Additional electric heaters
paper describes the development of heat exchanger with microjet
were submerged in the bath in order to obtain higher heat flux.
technology, proposed for a waste heat recovery from a range of
Heating system could supply up to 10 kW of heat during experi-
processes. The article presents a comprehensive study on the heat
ments. Cold working fluid circulates in a second circuit with the
transfer enhancement in prototype heat exchanger. The heat
heat exchanger connected with an industrial grade chiller.
exchanger is based on multiple jet impingement on the cylindrical
Scheme of the facility used during the tests was shown in Fig. 1B.
heat transfer surface. It comprises four coaxial pipes (a supply
channel and a return channel for two fluids). The design of the heat
is based on available on the market standardized materials. 2.2. Experimental procedure
Presented heat exchanger technology is based on author’s pre-
vious research on heat transfer enhancement [25–27]. The paper The total heat flux transferred in the heat exchanger was deter-
presents labor that was carried out in several stages. Also, it mined from the mass and energy balance, i.e. by measuring mass
describes the construction of the test facility and the tubular flow rate and temperature rise of cold fluid. During tests, proposed
microjet HX. Experiments were performed for single-phase, con- heat exchanger was capable of transferring up to 5 kW of heat. The

Fig. 1A. Schematic view of a test facility loop: 1 – tested heat exchanger, 2 – mass flow meter, 3 – gear pump, 4 – filter, 5 – sight glass, 6 – fluid supply tank, 7 – thermostatic
bath, 8 – heat exchanger connected with chiller.
 T. Muszynski / Applied Thermal Engineering 115 (2017) 782–792 785

Fig. 1B. Block diagram of LabVIEW application.

whole set was thermally insulated by a thick layer of mineral wool. At the outlet, gauge pressure transducer with the range 0–6 bar
Experimental data were collected during steady-state conditions, and accuracy of 0.5% was installed. Knowing barometric pressure,
in order to exclude the heat capacity effect of the experimental this allows for the exact determination of the parameters of the
setup. Steady state condition was verified by temperature varia- fluid in the measuring point.
tions not exceeding 0.1 K during a 120 s measurement period. All Due to thick insulation with mineral wool applied on heat
measurement points were doubled after 15 min. The amount of exchanger outer surface, power losses to the surroundings are
transferred heat was calculated for each measurement point. neglected and only heat transferred to a cold fluid is taken into
The hydraulic characteristics of the heat exchanger are crucial account in calculating its effectiveness.
for evaluating the feasibility of proposed heat enhancement tech- In all cases, the difference between total heat transfer of two
nique. The flow rate was measured by using a Coriolis type mass fluids, attributed to heat loss and measurement uncertainties were
flow meter. It allowed gathering simultaneous measurements of smaller than 2.5% of transferred heat for lowest mass flow rates.
the mass flow rate, density, and temperature of the circulating liq- Uncertainties were calculated, for all measured and calculated
uid. Maximum mass flow rate measurement error was typically parameters, according to the standard procedures described by
less than 0.1%. Pressure drop measurements were carried out using NIST [28]. Overall, the uncertainty of the calculated heat flux, in
the piezoelectric differential pressure transmitter. Built-in micro- a case of maximum flow rate is lower than 2.5%, and 5% in case
processor control, enables temperature and hysteresis compensa- of overall heat transfer coefficient.
tion, also it provides an extended linear stability, thus reducing
measurement error. The transmitter has a measuring range from 5
to 500 kPa, with ±0.065% accuracy. The pressure at the inlet and 2.3. Research object design
outlet of the heat exchanger was also measured using pressure
transducers (measurement is thus duplicated to capture any hard- The research object was a novel heat exchanger designed for
ware failure). The absolute pressure transducer with a measuring waste heat recovery processes. In which heat transfer is enhanced
range of 0–4 bar and a precision of 0.25% was mounted at the inlet. by means of microjet impingement. Main design parameters of a
heat exchanger are described in Table 1. The heat exchanger was
based on multiple jet impingement on the cylindrical heat transfer
surface. It comprises four coaxial pipes forming a supply channel
and a return channel for both cold and hot fluids. The design of
Table 1
the heat exchanger is based on available on the market standard-
Heat exchanger design and operating parameters.
ized materials i.e. standard copper pipes. Its essential core is a heat
Parameter 77895456477008475345647700Value Unit Uncertainty exchanging surface which is made from copper pipe, with 22 mm
Heat transfer 0.0079 m2 ±0.00005 outer diameter (OD), and two nozzle pipes (14 and 28 mm OD)
area in which ten rows of 57 nozzles of 600 lm in diameter were cre-
No. of jets 570 –
ated by drilling. Heat transfer between the working fluids is per-
Jets nozzle 0.6 mm ±0.01
diameter formed through 1 mm thick copper pipe with heat exchange
Jets radial 36 deg ±1 surface of approx. 79 cm2. Pipes are mounted coaxially with the
spacing leading collector. Microjet geometry can be varied easily by
Jets axial 2 mm ±0.2 exchanging the nozzle pipes. Structural details and a dimensioning
spacing
Temperature 10–90 °C ±0.1
of the tested heat exchanger are shown in Figs. 2 and 3. Fig. 2 pre-
Flow rate 0.028–0.138 kg/s ±0.0005 sents half section view of presented heat exchanger and flow
Pressure drop 1.5–40 kPa ±0.075% arrangement used during tests.
Operating 500 kPa ±0.15 Fig. 3 presents proposed heat exchanger’s main dimensions. As
pressure
mentioned earlier drilled nozzles were introduced in pipes of 14
786 T. Muszynski / Applied Thermal Engineering 115 (2017) 782–792

Inlet Outlet Outlet hot

cold cold

Heat transfer surface Cold fluid orifice pipe

Inlet hot

Hot fluid orifice pipe

Fig. 2. Half section view of microjet HX.

Fig. 3. The schematic view of a heat exchanger.

Total heat transfer rate

A
Cold fluid supply B

Hot fluid
Heat transfer
supply
area

Fig. 4. (A) Possible flow pattern in cylindrical heat exchanger, (B) temperature distribution during jet impingement.

and 28 mm in diameter. The hot fluid was supplied to the center of
the heat exchanger (Fig. 4A), in order to reduce heat loss to sur-
roundings. Due to limitations of available standardized materials,
resulting nozzle to surface distance on the hot side was 3.5 mm
and 3 mm on cold side respectively. Outer casing was made from
a 34 mm diameter copper pipe.
3. Data reduction and thermodynamic analysis
3.1. Total heat transfer rate
Flow arrangement in the developed heat exchanger, allows for
heat transfer enhancement by means of submerged microjets.
 T. Muszynski / Applied Thermal Engineering 115 (2017) 782–792
Therefore in order to validate the design, it is beneficial to compare
results with available literature correlations. In order to determine
heat transfer coefficient transferred heat was calculated based on a
temperature rise of flowing medium. During tests, cold side tem-
perature rise was taken into further consideration. As mentioned
in previous section experiments were carried out under steady
state conditions in order to exclude casing and insulation heat
capacity. Heat absorbed by the cold fluid can be calculated by
the following equation:
Q_ c ¼ m
_ c cpc DT c ð1Þ
where mc is the cold water mass flow rate, cpc is the specific heat for
cold water, DTc is the temperature rise of cold water. According to
the first law of thermodynamic, the heat transfer rejected by the hot
water is given as follows:
Q_ h ¼ m
_ h cph DT h ð2Þ
where similarly, mh is the hot water mass flow rate, cph is the speci-
fic heat, DTh is the temperature drop of hot water. As mentioned
earlier difference between calculated values was typically less than
2.5%.
As shown in Fig. 4A because on both sides fluid flows outwards
from microjet stagnation point, therefore flow arrangement can be
treated as a co-current flow. Thus fluid temperature change along
heat transfer surface can be assumed as on Fig. 4B. Fluid microjets
impinge copper pipe of OD = 22 mm from both sides, with a negli-
gible difference between inner and outer surface area, thus heat
exchange surface is approx. A = 79 cm2. After assuming constant
heat flux on heat transfer surface, thus LMTD (logarithmic mean
temperature difference) can be used as an acting temperature gra-
dient between two fluids, and it can be written as:
ðT h;in  T c;in Þ  ðT h;out  T c;out Þ
LMTD ¼   ð3Þ
ðT T Þ
ln ðT h;in T c;in
c;out Þ
h;out
Then the overall heat transfer coefficient U of the heat exchan-
ger is defined as follows:
Q_
U¼ ð4Þ
A  LMTD
3.2. Heat transfer coefficient calculations
As described in the previous section the flow pattern in tested
heat exchanger is very similar on both sides, especially for wall
jet region. By neglecting the difference between inner and outer
heat exchanging surface, one can write the overall heat transfer
coefficient U simply as:
1 1 1 1
¼ þ þ ð5Þ
U ac kd ah
For selected flow geometry and with an assumption of constant
fluid properties within given temperature range, heat transfer
coefficient of a cold fluid, while maintaining constant flow param-
eters on the hot circuit side, can be written by rearranging Eq. (5),
as:
1 a
¼ þb ð6Þ
U V_ nc
Therefore the heat transfer coefficient can be presented as a lin-
ear function of volumetric flow rate of cold fluid where coefficient
a is functions gradient and the b parameter is an HTC of hot fluid
diminished by a thermal resistance of membrane material [29].
787
3.3. Effectiveness and e–NTU method
The heat exchanger effectiveness can be defined as the ratio of
the actual heat transfer rate Q in a given heat exchanger to the
maximum possible, according to thermodynamics law, heat trans-
fer rate Qmax:
Q_
e¼ _ ð7Þ
Q max
The maximum theoretical heat transfer rate, depends on the
maximal temperature difference between working fluids inlets:
Q_ max ¼ C min ðT h;in  T c;in Þ ð8Þ
where Cmin is the lowest one of the heat capacities of hot (Ch) and
cold working fluids (Cc) and can be calculated by following
relations:
_ c  cpc
Cc ¼ m ð9Þ
and
_ h  cph
Ch ¼ m ð10Þ
The Number of Transfer Units (NTU) Method is often used to in
heat exchanger analysis. The number of heat transfer units, can be
expressed as follows:
UA
NTU ¼ ð11Þ
C min
Based On the NTU method heat exchanger effectiveness rela-
tionships were derived. These relationships are differentiated from
one another depending on the flow type, etc. The effectiveness of a
typical parallel flow heat exchanger, with total dimensions compa-
rable to the presented heat exchanger, can be calculated from the
following equation [30]:
1  exp½NTUð1  C r Þ
e¼ ð12Þ
1 þ Cr
where Cr heat capacity ratio of the two fluids, described as:
C min
Cr ¼ ð13Þ
C max
4. Experimental results and discussion
The present work aims to investigate the performance charac-
teristics of novel microjet heat exchanger by analyzing the heat
transfer rate, heat transfer coefficient, pressure drop and related
pumping power, effectiveness and NTU. Values of the heat transfer
coefficient are crucial in heat exchanger selection and to verify
their applicability in waste heat recovery systems. Literature corre-
lations for arrays of impinging jets were validated against experi-
mental data, in order to supply an additional information to
design and build microjet heat exchangers. In order to clearly pre-
sent the thermal –hydraulic characteristics of the device developed
by the author, it was also compared with standard double pipe
heat exchanger.
4.1. Effect of mass flow rates heat transfer rate and heat transfer
In this section, the effect of mass flow rates on the heat flux,
total heat transfer coefficient is investigated. Due to minor losses
and measurement uncertainty, heat flux calculated by Eqs. (1)
and (2) differed typically less than 2.5%. For further calculations
heat absorbed in the cold circuit was taken into account. During
the experiments, the heat exchanger was capable of transferring
up to 5.1 kW of heat with LMTD of 77 K. The obtained heat transfer
788 T. Muszynski / Applied Thermal Engineering 115 (2017) 782–792

6 20
V_h=0.4 m3/h exp.
V_h=0.3 m3/h Meola
V_h=0.1 m3/h Li & Garimella
16 eq.(17)

4
12

Nu/Pr 0.4 [-]

Q [kW]

8
2

0
0
0 400 800 1200 1600
0 0.2 0.4 0.6
ReD [-]
V_c [m /h] 3

Fig. 7. Comparison of predicted and experimental area averaged Nusselt numbers

Fig. 5. Influence of hot and cold water flow rates on heat transfer rate for
for hot water side.
LMTD = 77 K.

flow rates. In the case of the hot water flow rate of 0.1 m3/h, after
-4
4.0x10 0.3 m3/h heat transfer rate is almost constant.
Fig. 6 present overall HTC experimental data series, grouped for
constant hot fluid velocity, using Wilsons plot method [25]. In lit-
-4
erature describing microjet cooling [23,24,26], inlet fluid parame-
3.0x10 ters at the nozzle are taken into account when calculating
dimensionless parameters. Also, jet nozzle diameter is assumed
U-1 [m2K/kW]

as the characteristic parameter when calculating Reynolds num-

-4 ber. Thus, despite constant fluid flow rate Reynolds numbers can
2.0x10
change considerably with hot water temperature, due to change
physical properties of the liquid with temperature. Experimental
data were gathered for hot water supply of four constant temper-
10
-4 ature levels ranging from 40 up to 90 °C. Liquid properties were
Linear fit Re=160 calculated based on NIST [31] refrigerant properties database.
Linear fit Re=550
Linear fit Re=850
The impinging microjets heat transfer coefficient depends on
Linear fit Re=1200 many experimental parameters. That are usually grouped into fluid
0.0 properties and geometrical characteristics of microjet. The fluid
0 10
0
2x10
0
3x10
0
4x10
0
5x10
0 flow is usually described with the Prandtl and the Reynolds num-
bers. Table 2 presents the correlations, described in the introduc-
wc [(m /s) ]
n 3 n
tion and validated against experimental data. Only correlations
Fig. 6. Effect of varying cold with constant hot fluid flow rate on experimental
with predictions error resulting with the mean absolute deviation
values of total heat transfer coefficient. (MAD) lower than 50% were shown in comparison. Fig. 7 presents
experimentally obtained values of heat transfer coefficient (HTC) in
form of dimensionless Nusselt number compared to selected liter-
rate and heat transfer coefficient, with different experimental con- ature predictions. In order to better compare results with experi-
ditions, are presented in Figs. 5 and 6. Fig. 5 presents three exper- ments, obtained values are divided by Prandtl number
imental data series for constant hot fluid velocity and 90 °C supply accounting for varying temperature and water properties.
temperature. The rate of transferred heat varied from 0.58 kW to Both correlations are using similar parameters to describe heat
5.1 kW. The minimum heat transfer rate was obtained for the transfer, with slight changes in experimental coefficients. The best
water mass flow rates of 0.1 m3/h and LMTD of 30 K. The maxi- consistency was achieved for correlation [24], but obtained results
mum heat transfer rate was obtained for the water flow rate of differ from predictions for Reynolds numbers higher than 800 as
0.4 m3/h and LMTD of 77 K. As can be observed on Fig. 5, the heat can be seen in Fig. 8. Above which obtained heat transfer coeffi-
transfer rate increases slowly with the hot water flow rate of cients are nearly constant, slight scatter of their values can be
0.1 m3/h, this increase is more pronounced for higher hot water attributed to calculations error of Wilson’s graphical method.

Table 2
Literature correlations for area averaged dimensionless Nusselt number.

Source 77895456477008475345647700Correlation Exp. range

Li & Garimella [23]
0:11 d
0:11 4000 6 ReD 6 23; 000 1:59  D  12:5 mm 1 6 H=D 6 5, air, water, FC77
Nu ¼ 0:160Re0:695
D Pr0:4 Dh D
Meola [24]

0:68 0;56 D 0;3 0;15 250 6 ReD 6 98; 000 0:39 6 D 6 50 mm, air, water
Nu ¼ 0:3ReD C F H Ar Pr 0;42
 T. Muszynski / Applied Thermal Engineering 115 (2017) 782–792 789

Table 3
Statistical analysis of literature predictions for Nusselt numbers.

Source MAD Confidence level <10% Confidence level <30%

Full data range Li & Garimella [23] 69% – 5%
Meola [24] 28% 42% 83%
Re < 1000 Li & Garimella [23] 42% – 10%
Meola [24] 8% 80% 100%

0.4 ear relationship between the effectiveness and NTU, and this rela-
MJHX tionship can be expressed as e = NTU – 1.26E-15, with R2 = 0.9997
counter current HX ε=NTU-1.26E-15
confidence. Which is almost e  NTU, thus it can be compared with
paralel flow HX
the case of evaporation or condensation and is an evidence of very
0.3 high heat transfer rates. For developed microjet heat exchanger the
effectiveness varied from 0.0958 up to 0.2628. As can be clearly
seen presented exchanger stands out from standard parallel and
ε [-]

counter flow heat exchangers. That can be attributed to high heat

0.2 transfer coefficients obtained by microjet enhancement. As can
be expected from analysis of Fig. 7. It must be remembered that
this enhancement takes place up to a certain level of flow rate,
therefore additional comparison of hydraulic performance is
0.1 needed.

4.3. Hydraulic performance of tested heat exchanger

0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 In order to present microjet heat exchanger as an alternative to
NTU [-] currently used constructions, a comparison with similar design has
been made. For this, a pipe in pipe heat exchanger of similar geo-
Fig. 8. The relationship between effectiveness and NTU of the tested heat
metrical dimensions has been proposed i.e. made from same cop-
exchanger.
per tubes resulting with 34 and 22 mm diameters of cold and hot
fluid pass.
Best fit function, Eq. (14), was determined on available experi- Thermal and hydraulic characteristics of double pipe heat
mental data with MAD = 12%: exchanger were calculated based on [32]. Results are presented
in Fig. 9. As can be seen, the pressure drop of developed construc-
Nu ¼ 0:433  Re0:405  Pr 0:4 ð14Þ tion is lower than in reference type heat exchanger. That can be
attributed to a fact, that flow arrangement in MJHX causes that
Presented correlation was used to obtain experimental factors not whole of the fluid volume flows through a length of the heat
of the jet to jet contribution factor as a function of array geometri- exchanger. That may be also a reason for constant heat transfer
cal dimensions. The heat transfer coefficient increases with rate after flow rate corresponding to Re = 1000 is obtained. For
increasing liquid jets velocities and gives a similar trend as in liter- given flow rates and available temperature differences, heat trans-
ature predictions. The difference may be attributed to specific ferred in modeled double pipe heat exchanger is presented in
setup in tested heat exchanger, thus different flow pattern than Fig. 10. Experimentally obtained values from MJHX are shown for
in specified test facilities. Constant heat transfer coefficient for
high flow rates may indicate that jets experience influence from
neighboring microjets. Another explanation is flow maldistribution
in leading collector, that lead to lower flow through part of the
nozzles.
The statistical comparison of selected correlations was pre-
sented in Table 3. Nusselt numbers were determined directly from
experimental data, presented in the previous section. Because as
presented in Fig. 7 above Reynolds number higher than 1000
experimental data clearly stands out from predictions, the analysis
is divided into two regimes. From the statistical analysis, it clearly
stands that for a lower range of flow velocities resulting in
Re < 1000, correlation [24] can be successfully used to design sim-
ilar constructions with 10% uncertainty. This result is satisfactory,
particularly due to the possible flow maldistribution in tested heat
exchanger.

4.2. Effectiveness of tested heat exchanger

As can be seen in Fig. 8 the effectiveness of proposed heat

exchanger increases with the increment of transfer units linearly.
Microjet heat exchanger was compared with literature models of Fig. 9. Comparison of pressure drop values in presented and reference type heat
parallel and countercurrent heat exchangers. There was a good lin- exchanger.
790 T. Muszynski / Applied Thermal Engineering 115 (2017) 782–792

10 2
MJHX REF.
REF MJHX

8 1.6

Pp/Qw x10-3[-]
6 1.2
Q [kW]

4 0.8

2 0.4

0 0

0 200 400 600 0 2 4 6 8 10

V [10 m /h]
-3 3 Qw [kW]

Fig. 10. Comparison of heat transferred in presented and reference type heat Fig. 11. Effectiveness of heat removal compared with reference heat exchanger.
exchanger.
   
DPh  mh DPc  mc
Cope ¼ kel  s þ kel  s ð17Þ
comparison. As can be seen, microjet enhancement results in the g  qh g  qc
substantial increase of transferred heat up to 0.2 m3/h water flow
In the investment cost function, CA, n, r and y are the surface
rate. After that flow in double pipe heat exchanger becomes highly
area of cost per unit (90$/m2 for reference and 180$/m2 for micro-
turbulent, what does not only account for a high HTC but also sig-
jet heat exchanger), non-linear exponent (0.6), interest rate (0.1)
nificantly increases the flow related pressure drop.
and depreciation time (10) respectively. The Atot is the total heat
It needs to be noted that microjet enhancement is obtained
transfer area. In the case of described units, it is similar both for
with significantly lower pressure drops (as can be seen on Fig. 9).
hot and cold fluids, and can be expressed as Atot = Ah = Ac. For the
It should also be indicated that the microjet impingement signifi-
operating cost, kel, s and g are the electricity in Poland unit price
cantly improves the efficiency of the heat exchanger. In the case
(180$/MW h), operation hours and pump internal efficiency (0.6),
of the presented novel heat exchanger, there is an increase in the
respectively. It is undeniable that manufacturing the two various
heat load of 30% for lowest water mass flow rate compared to dou-
heat exchangers considering a different geometry causes addi-
ble pipe heat exchanger. Given the aspect of the operating costs of
tional cost. As a simplification, the surface area of cost per unit of
a power plant or WHR installation, it is an essential factor influenc-
microjet heat exchanger is doubled, in order to compensate for
ing their level is consumption of electricity by the circulating
additional elements and orifice drilling. The costs model in this
pumps.
paper adopts assumptions used in [33].
Pressure losses associated with the pumping of water for
Direct comparison of total costs is presented on Fig. 12. Calcula-
selected double pipe heat exchanger geometry and the newly-
tions were made for a volumetric flow rate of 100 dm3/h. Because
developed heat exchanger can be compared directly, after calculat-
of heat transfer enhancement total heat transfer area of the
ing pumping power Pp as the pressure drop DP multiplied by vol-
umetric flow rate V_ for an incompressible fluid, such as water. Heat
exchangers can be compared regardless of the type and size by the
8
pumping power to transferred heat ratio, as can be seen in Fig. 11.
Pumping power associated with water passing through the micro-
jet heat exchanger is significantly lower than in reference type heat
exchanger. Pumping power can be up to 40 times larger in double
6
pipe heat exchanger. This corresponds to much lower operating
costs.
Ctot /Q [$/kW]

Direct comparison of the investment cost is difficult due to

novel character of the presented device. In the previous section,
4
the study contains the detailed heat exchanger geometry to derive
the heat transfer area. Which is similar to both reference and pre-
sented heat exchanger. The annualized cost of the materials man-
ufacturing, and the operating cost, which combines with the
2
electricity cost for the circulating pumps, compose the total annual MJHX Q=const
REF Q=const
cost.
MJHX V=const
C tot ¼ Cinv þ Cope ð15Þ REF V=const
0
where investment cost is defined as:
0 10000 20000 30000 40000 50000
r τ [h]
Cinv ¼ CA  Antot ð16Þ
1  ð1 þ rÞy
Fig. 12. Comparison of total investment costs of microjet and reference heat
and operation cost: exchanger.
 T. Muszynski / Applied Thermal Engineering 115 (2017) 782–792
reference type heat exchanger is 1.5 times larger. Therefore data
is presented in relation to heat transferred in heat exchangers Q
(Q = const.). Because 50% more materials are used to manufacture
microjet heat exchanger, initial investment costs have the negative
impact on it. Lower pumping power requirements of microjet heat
exchanger result in equal expenditures, after 45,000 operation
hours, which is longer than expected system lifespan.
In many applications as described in the introduction, there is a
space limit and other operational costs, i.e. usable space cost, loss
of cargo capacity and additional mass in case of WHR systems in
transportation. In this analysis, they are not taken into account,
because of lack of data. Instead, the additional comparison was
made for a same heat exchanger dimensions (identical volume
V = const.), but with flow parameters adjusted to obtain similar
heat transfer. In order to obtain similar heat flux, the flow rate
through the reference heat exchanger must increase almost 50%,
therefore corresponding pumping power increases. Because as pre-
sented on Fig. 10 heat transfer rate rises almost linearly with vol-
umetric flow rate, operational costs will rise accordingly. Total
cost in that configuration will be equal after  39,000 operation
hours for both heat exchangers.
5. Conclusions
In this work author has designed, fabricated and experimentally
verified a prototype cylindrical microjet heat exchanger for waste
heat recovery applications. The presented experimental research
allows assessing the usefulness of the of incorporated heat
enhancement method in the waste heat recovery systems. Pre-
sented design in authors opinion has a great number of potential
applications in a variety of industrial processes.
The heat transfer coefficients were determined in the laminar
and transition flow regimes of a liquid-to-liquid heat exchanger.
The proposed device is capable of exchanging 5.1 kW of heat at
LMTD of 77 K. The heat transfer coefficient reaches over 12 kW/
m2 K. Detailed heat exchanger characteristics will allow for heat
exchanger modeling and evaluation within WHR systems.
Average Nusselt number predictions of the correlation [24] cor-
responded well with the experiment for Reynolds numbers in the
range 100 < Re < 1000. In the higher flow range, Nusselt numbers
were not well correlated. The heat transfer was significantly lower
than expected. In author’s opinion, the reason for this was due to
flow arrangement in given heat exchanger. This discrepancy may
be caused by nonuniform flow rate through the orifices of the heat
exchanger, resulting in partially lower heat transfer.
A decisive factor describing the increase in its efficiency was the
pumping power to transferred heat ratio. The test results of flow
characteristics presented in the article indicate that a microjet heat
exchanger is characterized by a low-pressure loss. This can signif-
icantly reduce operating costs of energy conversion systems. With
the presented comparison of thermal performance and friction
head loss, the presented device has a large potential of adopting
into energy conversion systems.
The author has presented a comparison of pressure losses asso-
ciated with the pumping of water for selected double pipe heat
exchanger geometry and the developed HX. The pressure losses
associated with water flow through the analyzed heat exchanger
were lower.
The simplified comparison of operation costs of microjet heat
exchanger with double pipe heat exchanger shows that proposed
solutions can be commercially suitable for WHR installations with
strict space limitations.
The design of heat exchanger will be further investigated with
special attention to the spacing and quantity of nozzles to reduce
the flow maldistribution and increase heat transfer rates.
791
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