Modelling of Spiral Coil Heat Exchanger:

Model with Easy Simulation Using Ms-

Excel

N. A. Khan, A. M. Khan & M. Kamil

Journal of The Institution of

Engineers (India): Series E
Chemical and Textile Engineering

ISSN 2250-2483

J. Inst. Eng. India Ser. E

DOI 10.1007/s40034-014-0030-4

1 23
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 Author's personal copy
J. Inst. Eng. India Ser. E
DOI 10.1007/s40034-014-0030-4

ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTION

Modelling of Spiral Coil Heat Exchanger: Model with Easy

Simulation Using Ms-Excel
N. A. Khan • A. M. Khan • M. Kamil

Received: 21 March 2013 / Accepted: 17 April 2014

 The Institution of Engineers (India) 2014

Abstract A theoretical model has been presented for the M Mass flow rate per coil, kg/s
measurement of heat transfer characteristics of a spiral coil n Number of coil turns
heat exchanger under wet conditions. The solution is Pr Prandtl number
obtained using Ms Excel and the simulated results have r Tube radius, m
been compared with the experimental data reported in open Rc Coil characteristics, kg C/kJ
literature. It has been found that there is a good agreement Rn Average radius of curvature of each coil turn, m
between the simulated and experimental values. It is also T Temperature, C
observed that air mass flow rate and inlet air temperature U Overall heat transfer coefficient, W/m2 C
have significant effect on the increase of the outlet water a Radius change per radian, m/radian
temperatures. Further outlet air and water temperature Cp Specific heat, kJ/kg C
decreases with increasing water mass flow rate. De Dean number
Ew Humidity effectiveness
Keywords Heat transfer coefficient  Spiral coil  HD Mass transfer coefficient, kg/m2s
Heat exchanger ifg Enthalpy of condensation, kJ/kg
J Number of segments
Le Lewis number
List of symbols
m Total mass flow rate, kg/s
A Area, m2
Nu Nusselt number
D Tube diameter, m
Q Heat transfer rate, W
Gmax Mass flux based on minimum free flow area,
Rmin Minimum coil radius, m
kg/m2s
Re Reynolds number
h Heat transfer coefficient, W/m2 C
t Tube thickness, m
hr Combined conductance through tube surface and
x Humidity ratio
water inside tube, W/m2 C
i Enthalpy, kJ/kg
J Colburn j factor
k Thermal conductivity, W/m C
Introduction

Heat exchangers are devices that are commonly used to

N. A. Khan  A. M. Khan
Department of Chemical Engineering, A.M.U., Aligarh 202001, transfer heat between two or more fluids of different tem-
U.P., India peratures. They are used in a wide variety of applications,
e.g., refrigeration and air-conditioning systems, power
M. Kamil (&) engineering and other thermal processing plants. There are
Department of Petroleum Studies, A.M.U., Aligarh 202001,
U.P., India many different kinds of compact heat exchangers. These
e-mail: sm_kamil@rediffmail.com units offer distinct advantages over shell-and-tube heat

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 Author's personal copy
exchangers. Their design provides the advantages of high
turbulence, high heat-transfer coefficients and high fouling
resistance. High heat-transfer coefficients allow smaller
heat-transfer areas compared to traditional shell-and-tube
heat exchangers used for the same duty. This ultimately
results in significant size reductions and weight savings as
less material is needed to construct the unit. This is espe-
cially important when working with expensive corrosion
resistant metals (e.g. titanium) and Hastelloys.
Compared to the other type of compact heat exchangers,
relatively little work has been done on spiral coil heat
exchanger. The single-phase heat transfer characteristics in
spirally coiled heat exchangers have rarely been investi-
gated. A spiral-coil heat exchanger has been developed
consisting of a number of horizontal layers of spirally
wound, finned tubes connected to vertical manifolds at the
inner and outermost turns of each coil, which is a theo-
retical model predicting the thermal performance of the
spiral-coil heat exchanger as a cooling and dehumidifying
unit [1]. Experiments on a laboratory model of the spiral-
coil unit were conducted and the results obtained confirmed
the theoretical predictions. The researchers used the rele-
vant correlations of the tube-side and air-side heat transfer
coefficients in the simulation to determine the thermal
performance of the spiral-coil heat exchanger under cool-
ing and dehumidifying conditions [2–4]. Experiments were
performed to verify the simulation results. An expression
has been obtained for the effectiveness of a spiral coil heat
exchanger which consists of a number of horizontal layers
of spirally wound finned tubes. The effect of the various
design parameters on the effectiveness of the spiral coil
heat exchanger has been studied [2]. Recently, an average
in-tube heat transfer coefficient in a spirally coiled tube
was proposed by previous literatures [5]. The test section
was a spirally coiled heat exchanger consisting of six layers
of concentric spirally coiled tubes. The experiments were
performed under cooling and dehumidifying conditions and
considered the effects of inlet conditions of both working
fluids on the in-tube heat transfer coefficient. The results
obtained from experiments were compared with those
calculated from other correlations. A new correlation for
the in-tube heat transfer coefficient for spirally coiled tube
was proposed as follows:
Nu ¼ 27:358D0:287
e P0:979
r for 300  De  2200; Pr  5
A mathematical model has been developed to determine the
performance and heat transfer characteristics of spirally coiled
finned tube heat exchangers under wet-surface conditions
[6, 7]. In addition, the heat transfer characteristics and
performance of a spirally coiled heat exchanger under
dry surface conditions were studied theoretically and
experimentally. The calculated and measured results were in
reasonable agreement. The average tube-side and air-side heat
123
N. A. Khan et al.
transfer coefficients in a spirally coiled finned tube heat
exchanger under dry- and wet-surface conditions were also
experimentally investigated [8]. The effects of the inlet
conditions of both working fluids flowing through the heat
exchanger on the heat transfer coefficients were discussed.
New correlations based on the data gathered during the work
for predicting the tube-side and air-side heat transfer
coefficients for the spirally coiled finned tube heat exchanger
were proposed for both dry-surface and wet-surface
conditions.
A mathematical model based on mass and energy con-
servation was developed by the researchers [9] and solved
by using the Newton–Raphson iterative method to deter-
mine the heat transfer characteristics of a spiral coil heat
exchanger under cooling and dehumidifying conditions.
The heat exchanger consists of a steel shell and a spirally
coiled tube unit. Air and water were used as working fluids.
The chilled water entering the outermost turn flows along
the spirally coiled tube, and flows out at the innermost turn.
The hot air enters the heat exchanger at the centre of the
shell and flows radially across spiral tubes to the periphery.
The effects of various inlet conditions of working fluids
flowing through the spiral coil heat exchanger were dis-
cussed. The most recent effort was made by investigating
effect of curvature ratios on the heat transfer and flow
developments in the horizontal spirally coiled tubes [10].
The turbulent flow and heat transfer developments are
simulated by using the k–e standard turbulence model. A
finite volume method with an unstructured non-uniform
grid system was employed for solving the model. The
simulated results were validated by comparing with the
experimental data. The results reveal that the centrifugal
force has significant effect on the enhancements of heat
transfer and pressure drop. An experimental investigation
of convective heat transfer has been developed for elec-
trolytes using spiral plate heat exchanger [11]. Scientists
have studied the overall heat transfer coefficient and
effectiveness for water using spiral coil heat exchanger
[12]. A physical model of the spiral coil heat exchanger
was designed, built, and instrumented by them for tem-
perature measurements. The mass flow rate of hot fluid was
varied from 0.049 to 0.298 kg/s and the mass flow rate of
cold fluid was varied from 0.029 to 0.225 kg/s. Experi-
ments were conducted by varying combination of the mass
flow rates of cold and hot water.
A parametric study of laminar flow and heat transfer
characteristics of coils made of tubes with several different
cross-sections like square, rectangular, half-circle, trian-
gular and trapezoidal has been carried out by the scientist
[13]. For the purpose of ease of comparison, numerical
experiments were carried out based on a square-tube
Reynolds number of 1,000 and a fixed fluid flow rate while
length of the tube used to make coils of different diameter
 Author's personal copy
Modelling of Spiral Coil Heat Exchanger

and pitch was held constant. Simulations were carried out The latent heat component arises due to transfer of water
for the case of constant wall temperature as well as con- vapour from the moist air and its subsequent condensation
stant heat flux. In order to allow reasonable comparison on the surface. The heat released is given by the following
between the two different boundary conditions constant latent heat transfer rate:
wall temperature and constant wall heat flux were tested. dQL ¼ dMwv ifg ð3Þ
The uniform heat flux boundary condition was computed
by averaging the heat transferred per unit area of the tube The mass transfer rate of the water vapour due to its
for the corresponding constant wall temperature case. diffusion from the bulk air to the condensing surface is
given by
dMwv ¼ hD dAo ðxa;in  xsat;s Þ ð4Þ
Mathematical Modelling
Substituting Eqs. (2)–(4) into Eq. (1) gives
  
The heat transfer characteristics of the compact spiral coil ho dAo
1

heat exchanger under wet-surface conditions can be dQT ¼ Cp;m Ta;in  Ts þ xa;in  xsat;s ifg
Cp;m Le
determined from the conservation equations of mass and ð5Þ
energy. The mathematical model is based on the following
assumptions: where Le, the Lewis number is defined as Le = ho/hDCp,m
Cp;m ¼ Cp;a þ xa Cp;wv ð6Þ
Assumptions
Substituting Eq. (6) into Eq. (5) and assuming Le is
(a) Flows of air and water are steady. approximately equal to 1, we get
 
(b) There is no heat loss between the system and ho dAo

surroundings. dQT ¼ ia;in  isat;s ð7Þ
Cp;m
(c) Air-side convective heat transfer coefficients at each
section of a coil turn in horizontal plane is equal. Water-Side Heat Transfer
(d) Water-side convective heat transfer coefficient at
each section of a coil turn in horizontal plane is equal. The heat transfer rate in terms of the water flow rate can be
(e) Thermal resistance of liquid film is neglected. given as
(f) Each completed coil turn is approximately circular. dQT ¼ Mw Cp;m dTw ð8Þ
(g) Thermal conductivity of the spirally coiled tube is
constant. The heat transfer rate to the water is controlled by the
(h) After flowing over each coil turn, the air is mixed resistance of the tube wall and the water side convective
uniformly at some mean temperature. heat transfer coefficient, can be expressed as
dQT ¼ hr dAo ðTs  Tw Þ ð9Þ
Air-Side Heat Transfer where hr the combined conductance through the tube
surface and water inside tube is defined as
When the surface temperature of the spirally coiled heat 1 tdAo dAo
exchanger is below the dew-point temperature of the in- ¼ þ ð10Þ
hr kAave dAi hi
coming air, a portion of the vapour in the humid air stream
is condensed on the coil surface and removed as liquid. The Energy Balance
coil surface is assumed to be covered with a thin film of
water. The thermal resistance of this water film itself is Considering the energy balance over the control volume for
generally small compared to the air-side and water-side each segment of Fig. 1, we get
thermal resistances and can be assumed to be negligible. ho dAo
By considering the control volume of each segment in ðia;in  isat;s Þ ¼ hr dA0 ðTs  Tw Þ ð11Þ
Cp;m
Fig. 1, the total heat transfer rate is determined from the
sum of latent and sensible heat as follows: Rearranging gives
dQT ¼ dQS þ dQL ð1Þ ho ðTs  Tw Þ
¼ ¼ Rc ð12Þ
The sensible heat transferred between the moist air and hr Cp;m ðia;in  isat;s Þ
the water film surface is given by
where isat,s may be given by quadratic equation known as
dQs ¼ ho dAo ðTa;in  Ts Þ ð2Þ Goodman Equation [14].

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N. A. Khan et al.

Fig. 1 Schematic diagram of

simulation approach and control
volume of each segment

isat;s ¼ 10:90748 þ 1:22045Ts þ 0:05652Ts2 ð13Þ On rearranging, we get

1  

Rc is the coil characteristic and constant for a particular Tw;in ¼ ½b þ 1Tw;out þ b Ts;out þ Ts;in ð16Þ
ð b þ 1Þ
flow condition and coil size. Substituting Eq. (13) into
Eq. (12) and rearranging, we get a closed form equation where
which can be used to solve for the wet surface temperature hr dAo
at a particular point along the coil turn. b¼ ð17Þ
  2Mw Cp;w
2 1
0:05652Ts þ 1:22045 þ Ts The wet surface temperature at the outlet of an elemental
 Rc
Tw segment Ts,out can be computed using Eq. (14) with
þ 10:90749  ia:in  knowledge of coil characteristics and entering air state, and
Rc
¼0 ð14Þ an assumed value of outlet water temperature, as given
below:
The energy balance over the control volume for each  
2 1
segment may be written in terms of the water flow rate as 0:05652Ts;out þ 1:22045 þ Ts;out
 Rc
follows: Tw;out
  þ 10:90749  ia:in 
Ts;out þ Ts;in Tw;out  Tw;in Rc
hr dAo  ¼0 ð18Þ
2 2
¼ Mw Cp;w ðTwout  Tw;inÞ ð15Þ Eq. (14) can also be written in term of Ts,in, as follows

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Modelling of Spiral Coil Heat Exchanger

 
2 1 19

Outlet water temperature ,°C

0:05652Ts;in þ 1:22045 þ Ts;in
 Rc 17
Tw;in 15
þ 10:90749  ia:in 
Rc 13
¼0 ð19Þ
11
Naphon & Wongwises (2005)
Substituting Eq. (16) into Eq. (19) we get 9
  7
2 1 b Present model
0:05652Ts;in þ 1:22045 þ þ Ts;in þ 5
Rc Rcðb þ 1Þ
  ð20Þ 0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07
Tw;out b Air mass flow rate, kg/s
10:90749  ia:in  þ Ts;out ¼ 0
Rc Rcðb þ 1Þ
Fig. 2 Variation of outlet water temperature with air mass flow rate
Correlation for Heat Transfer Coefficient at inlet water temperature 11.5 C, inlet air temperature 50 C and
water mass flow rate 0.11 kg/s

In order to solve the model, relevant tube-side and air-side

heat transfer coefficients are needed. The following cor- 3. The calculation begins at the segment of the inner-
relation describes the spirally coiled tube, used to predict most coil turn and then is done segment by segment
tube-side heat transfer coefficients [5]. along the circular coil turn.
hi di 0:949 4. The outlet-water temperature is assumed.
Nui ¼ ¼ 27:358De0:287 Pr ð21Þ 5. Equations (18) and (20) are solved to get Ts,out and
k
Ts,in, the surface temperature at outlet and inlet of the
for 300 \ De \ 2200, Pr C 5 segment 1, respectively.
The air-side heat transfer coefficient correlation of the 6. The chilled water inlet temperature Tw,in is next
spirally coiled heat exchanger for wet-surface conditions computed using Eq. (16).
was also developed [5]. The equation is as follows: 7. The heat transfer rate, (Q), and the outlet-air
ho 2=3 temperature, (Ta,out), are calculated.
J¼ Pr ¼ 0:135Re0:318
o for Reo \6000 8. The computation described above is next performed
Gmax Cp;m
at segment 2 and then the remaining segments in turn
ð22Þ
until the last one. Tw,in for segment 1 taken as Tw,out
for segment 2.
Solution Method 9. The same calculation is performed at next circular
coil.
The spiral-coil unit consists of six layers of spirally coiled 10 The calculation is terminated when the last segment of
tubes. Each coiled tube is divided into five circular coil the outermost coil turn is finished.
turns having the following mean radius: 11. The calculated water temperature at the last segment
of the outer most coil is compared with the known
Rn ¼ fRmin þ 2ðn  1Þapg ð23Þ
value of water inlet temperature if the difference is
Each circular coil turn can be divided into several within 10-4 calculations are ended else different
segments as shown in Fig. 1. The calculation begins at the water outlet temperature is assumed and all the
segment of the innermost coil turn and then is done calculations are repeated until convergence is
segment by segment along the circular coil turn. obtained.

Outline of Iterative Solution Procedure

An outline of an iterative procedure, based upon the
equations developed, to determine the chilled water and air
outlet temperatures are as follows:
1. The initially known parameters are the coil geometry,
air and chilled water flow rates, inlet air and chilled
water properties, material properties of tube.
2. Each circular coil turn is divided into several
segments.
Results and Discussion
Figures 2 and 3 show the variation of the outlet-water
temperature with air mass flow rate obtained for the water
mass flow rate of 0.11 kg/s and 0.19 kg/s. At an inlet-air
temperature of 50 C, inlet-water temperature of 11.5 C
and inlet-air humidity ratio of 0.04, the outlet-water tem-
perature tends to increase as air mass flow rate increases.
Experimental values are also shown [9]. The outlet-water

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N. A. Khan et al.

19
Outlet water temperaute, °C

17

15

13

11

9
Present model
7 Naphon & Wongwises(2005)

5
0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07
Air mass flow rate, kg/s

Fig. 3 Variation of outlet water temperature with air mass flow rate
Fig. 6 Variation of outlet water temperature with air mass flow rate
at inlet water temperature 11.5 C inlet air temperature 50 C and
andinlet water temperature 11.5 C
water mass flow rate 0.19 kg/s

50

45
Outlet air temperature, °C

40

35

30
Naphon & Wongwises
(2005)
25 Linear (Present Model)

20
0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07
Air mass flow rate, kg/s
Fig. 7 Variation of outlet air temperature with air mass flow rate,
Fig. 4 Variation of outlet air temperature with air mass flow rate at
inlet air temperature 50 C and inlet water temperature 11.5 C
inlet water temperature11.5 C inlet air temperature 50 C and water
mass flow rate 0.11 kg/s
rate of 0.11 and 0.19 kg/s. For an inlet-water temperature
of 11.5 C, inlet-air temperature of 50 C, and inlet-air
50
humidity ratio of 0.04, it can be seen easily that outlet-air
Outlet air temperature, °C

45 temperature increase with increasing air mass flow rate.

40 The outlet-air temperature at mw of 0.11 kg/s seems
slightly higher than that at mw of 0.19 kg/s as shown in
35
Fig. 7 which shows the compression between the two water
30
Naphon & Wongwises (2005)
mass flow rates The increase of the heat transfer rate
25 resulted in an increase of the outlet-air temperature which
Linear (Present Model)
has a significant effect on the increase of the outlet-water
20
0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07
temperature as the outlet-air temperature increases, the
Air mass flow rate, kg/s temperature difference between inlet and outlet-air tem-
perature decreases. Thus, the air mass flow rate must be
Fig. 5 Variation of outlet airtemperature with air mass flow rate at
increased for keeping the heat transfer rate equal to the
inlet water temperature 11.5 C inlet air temperature 50 C andwater
mass flow rate 0.19 kg/s water side. Therefore, it can be clearly seen that the outlet-
water temperature increases with increasing air mass flow
temperature at mw of 0.11 kg/s seems slightly higher than rate.
that at mw of 0.19 kg/s as shown in Fig. 6 which shows the In other words, the heat transfer rate absorbed by the
compression between the two water mass flow rates. chilled water is mainly dependent on the mass flow rate and
Figures 4 and 5 show the variation of the outlet-air tem- the outlet-water temperature. Therefore the lower water
perature with air mass flow rate for the water mass flow flow rate gives the higher water-outlet temperature. At a

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Modelling of Spiral Coil Heat Exchanger
specific inlet-water temperature, water and air mass flow
rates, the increase of the outlet-water temperature results in
the increase of the outlet-air temperature and the heat
transfer rate. Again, in order to keep the heat transfer rate
equal to the water-side heat transfer rate, the inlet-air
temperature must be increased.
Conclusions
A theoretical model has been presented for the measure-
ment of the heat transfer characteristics of a spiral coil heat
exchanger under wet conditions. The results obtained from
the developed model are validated by comparing with the
experimental data from the literature. The effects of the
inlet conditions of the working fluids flowing through the
heat exchanger are discussed. The following conclusions
are drawn:
• Air mass flow rate and inlet-air temperature have
significant effect on the increase of the outlet-air and
water temperatures.
• The outlet-air and water temperatures decrease with
increasing water mass flow rate.
• A reasonable agreement is observed between the
experimental data and the developed model having
the maximum error of ±10 %.
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