Experimental Comparison of Heat Transfer Enhancement Methods in Heat Exchangers

Abstract

This paper presents an experimental comparison of four different types of heat transfer enhancement techniques or methods in heat exchangers: two insert devices (a displacement device and a swirl flow device), extended surfaces, and obstruction devices. The objective of these experiments is to assist undergraduate mechanical engineering students in understanding the basic heat transfer processes and the methods and devices that can be implemented to enhance the heat transfer. The experimental setup and apparatus required to carry out these experiments are relatively simple. The apparatus includes five tube-within-a-tube heat exchangers with three thermocouples at each end, two rotameters, a heating element, a water pump, and a data acquisition device. Four of the five heat exchangers are modified by one type of the above-mentioned heat transfer enhancement techniques. The equipment is relatively inexpensive and available in almost all undergraduate heat transfer laboratories.