5-1

EXPERIMENT 5 CROSS-FLOW HEAT EXCHANGER

5.0

OBJECTIVES

To understand heat transfer characteristics for flow across cylinders including single cylinder, tube bundles with and without fins.

5.1

LEARNING OUTCOME

Students will be able to study the effect of flow rate on the heat transfer coefficient.

5.2

INTRODUCTION

While the engineer may frequently be interested in the heat-transfer characteristics of flow systems inside tubes or over flat plates, equal importance must be placed on the heat transfer that may be achieved by a cylinder in cross flow. Because many heat-exchanger arrangements involve multiple rows of tubes, the heat-transfer characteristics for tube banks are of important practical interest. The equipment consists of a rectangular duct through which air flows. The air flow rate and temperature can be measured. The air flow rate can be controlled by manipulating the iris opening where air discharged. The body under test can be inserted into the duct and its temperature measured. From the air and body temperature, surface area and flow rate, the heat transfer coefficient, h, can be calculated. There are two tube bundles with and without fins, one circular tube and one finned tube equipped with temperature sensor and electrical heater. Circular tube or fin tube can be inserted into the tube bundle at different positions to study the variation in heat transfer coefficient of tube with its position inside the bundle. The equipment also comes together with a primary control panel and a computer system to retrieve data.

5.3 5.3.1

THEORY Single Cylinder in Cross Flow

Local heat transfer coefficient for a single cylinder subjected to the cross flow of air is given by:

Nu f
where Re f

hD kf
DV
f f

C Renf Pr1/3 f
and Pr f C pf kf
f

(5.1)

(5.2)

The physical properties are evaluated at the film temperature, T f parameters C and n are given in Table 5.1.

Ts T . The values of the 2

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TABLE 5.1: The C and n values for a single tube in a transverse air stream Ref 0.4 to 4 4 to 40 40 to 4 000 4 000 to 40 000 40 000 to 400 000 C 0.989 0.911 0.683 0.193 0.0266 n 0.33 0.385 0.466 0.618 0.805

A comprehensive relation is given by Churchill and Bernstein, which is applicable over the complete range of available data:

Nu f

0.3 1

0.62 Re1/2 Pr1/3 f f 0.4 Pr f

2/3 1/4

Re f 282, 000

5/8 4/5

(5.3)

For 102 < Ref < 1 0 7 , ( R e P r ) f > 0.2 5.3.2 Tube Bundles in Cross Flow

Closely spaced cylindrical tube bundle are commonly used in heat exchangers. In this situation, the wakes from the upstream influence the heat transfer and flow characteristics at downstream tubes. Variation occurs from tube to tube for the first tubes. Tube arrangement is another influencing factor. For the SE350, the tube arrangement is of the staggered configuration as shown in Figure 5.1.

=D

FIGURE 5.1: Staggered arrangement of tubes in a tube bank

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The average heat-transfer coefficient for bundles at least 10 tubes deep in the flow direction is given by

Nu f

hD kf

C1 Remax
Vmax D
f

(5.4)

where

Remax

(5.5)

and the parameters, C1 and n for more than 10 tubes deep in flow direction are given in Table 5.2. The maximum velocity Vmax occurs at the minimum flow passage. Referring to the shaded unit cells of Figure 5.1, we see the minimum passage for staggered bundles is the smaller of (a diagonal), and Vmax is V a / 2 divided by this smaller value. Hence,

D) / 2 and

a 2

b2

D (the

Vmax

V a/2 ( a D) / 2

or

Vmax

V a/2 a 2
2

b2

which ever value is larger. TABLE 5.2: The C1 and n values for tube bundles in staggered arrangement in a transverse air flow a/D 1.25 b/D 0.6 0.9 1.0 1.125 1.25 1.5 2.0 3.0 C1 n C1 1.5 n C1 0.446 0.497 0.518 0.451 0.404 0.310 0.556 0.568 0.572 0.592 0.505 0.460 0.416 0.356 0.558 0.554 0.562 0.568 0.580 0.478 0.519 0.452 0.482 0.440 0.565 0.556 0.568 0.556 0.562 0.518 0.522 0.488 0.449 0.421 0.560 0.562 0.568 0.570 0.574 2 n 0.571 C1 0.213 0.401 3 n 0.693 0.581

For tube bundles having less than 10 tubes in the flow direction, the correction factors are given in Table 5.3, where h10 is given by equation (5.4). TABLE 5.3: The ratio of h for N rows (< 10) deep to that for 10 rows deep in staggered-arrangement No. of Tubes, N h/h10 1 0.68 2 0.75 3 0.83 4 0.89 5 0.92 6 0.95 7 0.97 8 0.98 9 0.99

5-4

f,

1/ 2

3/ 2 c

h kAp

FIGURE 5.2: Efficiencies of fin types 5.3.3 Fin Efficiency

To indicate the effectiveness of a fin in transferring a given quantity of heat, a parameter called fin efficiency is defined by

fin efficiency,

actual heat transferred heat that would be transferred if entire fin area were at base temp

The fin efficiency can be obtained from Figure 5.2, where Lc = Corrected fin length = L + t/2 Ap = Profile area = Lt k = thermal conductivity of fin

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5.4

EXPERIMENTS

EXPERIMENT 1: Steady state determination of heat transfer, temperature difference and surface heat transfer coefficient for a single tube in a transverse air stream 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Install the single tube plate onto the vertical air duct. Insert the tube heater into the slot. Switch ON the air blower and then switch ON the heater. Set the inlet air velocity by turning the iris control to no 1. Set the heater power to 15 W. Once the steady state is reached, record V, Ts, and Tinlet. Repeat step 3 to 5 for various iris settings 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. Switch OFF the heater and fan. (Note: Allow the heater to cool down before switching off the air blower.)

Calculations a) Calculate h from the Newtons law of cooling. b) Calculate Ref and Prf from equation (5.2) and Nuf from equation (5.1). c) Plot In Nuf / Prf1/3 versus In Ref. From the best-fit line, find the intercept which is ln C and the slope which is the value of n. Then calculate h from equation (5.1). d) Calculate the average heat transfer coefficient. This can be obtained by taking the average values of all six heat transfer coefficients. e) Calculate the average temperature difference driving force.

EXPERIMENT 2: Steady state determination of the mean surface heat transfer coefficient for tubes in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th rows of a cross flow heat exchanger 1. Install the tube bundle plate onto the vertical air duct. 2. Switch ON the air blower and then switch ON the heater. 3. Insert the tube heater into the slot in the first row. 4. Set the inlet air velocity by turning the iris control to no 1. 5. Set the heater power to 5 W. 6. Once the steady state is reached, record V, Ts, and Tinlet. 7. Repeat step 4 to 6 for various iris settings 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. 8. Repeat steps 3 to 7 for tubes heater positions of 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. (Note: Reduce the heater power to minimum, wait for the heater to cool to about 40C before taking out the heater and inserting it in the subsequent row) 9. If no further experiment is required, switch OFF the heater and fan. (Note: Allow the heater to cool down before switching off the air blower.) Calculations a) For each row of tubes, calculate Re max from equation (5.5) and actual h from the Newtons law of cooling. Use correction factor from table 5.3 to calculate h10. Then calculate Nuf using h10. Plot In In Nuf versus Remax. Find the intercept which is In C1 and the slope which is the value of n. b) Calculate the average heat transfer coefficient. This can be obtained by taking the average values of all six heat transfer coefficients (at different iris setting).

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EXPERIMENT 3: Steady state determination of the mean surface heat transfer coefficient for finned tubes in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th rows of finned-tube cross flow heat exchanger 1. Install the finned tube plate onto the vertical air duct. 2. Switch ON the air blower and then switch ON the heater. 3. Insert the finned tube heater into the slot in the first row 4. Set the inlet air velocity by turning the iris control to no 1. 5. Set the heater power to 5 W. 6. Once the steady state is reached, record V, Ts, and Tinlet. 7. Repeat step 4 to 6 for various iris setting 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. 8. Repeat steps 3 to 7 for tubes heater positions of 2, 3 and 4. (Note: Reduce the heater power to minimum before taking out the heater and inserting it in the subsequent row.) 9. If no further experiment is required, switch OFF the heater and fan. (Note: Allow the heater to cool down before switching off the air blower.) Calculations a) For each row of tubes, calculate Remax from equation (5.5) and actual h from the Newtons law of cooling. Use the correction factor from Table 5.3 to calculate h10. Then calculate Nuf using h10. Plot In Remax versus In Nuf. Find the intercept which is In C1, and the slope which is the value of n. Calculate the average heat transfer coefficient. This can be obtained by taking the average values of all six heat transfer coefficients (at different iris setting). Find the fin efficiency using Figure 5.2.

b) c)

5.5 1. 2. 3. 4.

REFERENCES Holman, J. P. (2010). Heat Transfer, 10th Edition. McGraw Hill. Coulson & Richardson's Chemical Engineering, Volume 6, Elsevier. Butterworth Heinemann. Kern, D. Q. (1950). Process Heat Transfer. McGraw Hill. Incropera, F. P. and D. P. De Witt (2007). Fundamentals of Heat and Mass Transfer, 6th Edition. John Wiley and Sons. APPENDIX Value

5.6

Parameter D (circular cylinder tube diameter) a (vertical distance between tubes) b (horizontal distance) r1 (tabe radius) r2 (fin radius) l (tube length) t (fin thickness) L (fin length)