Heat Transfer Coefficient in Helical Heat Exchangers under Turbulent Flow Conditions

Abstract

This study involved the determination of convective heat transfer coefficient in both helical and straight tubular heat exchangers under turbulent flow conditions. The experiments were conducted in helical heat exchangers, with coils of two different curvature ratios (d/D = 0.114 and 0.078), and in straight tubular heat exchangers at various flow rates (1.89 x 10-4 - 6.31 x 10-4 m3/s) and for different end-point temperatures (92 - 149 °C). The results show that the overall heat transfer coefficient (U) in the helical heat exchanger is much higher than that in straight tubular heat exchangers. In addition, U was found to be larger in the coil of larger curvature ratio (d/D = 0.114) than in the coil of smaller curvature ratio (d/D = 0.078). The inside (hi) and outside (ho) convective heat transfer coefficients were determined based on the overall heat transfer coefficient and a correlation to compute the inside convective heat transfer coefficient (hi) as a function of NRe, NPr, and d/D was developed.