Numerical and experimental investigation of a multi-pass heat-pipe-based heat exchanger

Abstract

Theoretical, numerical and experimental investigations have been successfully carried out to characterise the thermal performance of an air-to-water multi-pass heat exchanger equipped with thermosyphon technology. Air and water are the heat source and the heat sink on the evaporator and condenser, respectively. Evaporator and condenser are connected by six thermosyphons, through which thermal energy is transferred. The investigation was performed for two multi-pass configurations at various inlet conditions: a range of air inlet temperatures (100, 150, 200 and 250°C) and mass flow rates (0.05, 0.08, 0.11 and 0.14 kg/s). The water inlet conditions were kept constant (a temperature of 15°C and a mass flow rate of 0.08 kg/s). The theoretical model was built by applying the thermal resistance analogy with the aid of convection, boiling and condensation correlations found in the literature. It was found that the thermal resistances in the first pass act in parallel mode along the ones in the second pass. Similarly, in the case of three passes. Also, the external convective thermal resistance were found to be the major contributor to the overall thermal resistance in the entire heat exchanger. ANSYS Fluent was the numerical tool used to investigate the shell-side convective heat transfer for two multi-pass configurations. The CFD model has been experimentally validated. The two-phase change processes inside the thermosyphons were not modelled during the simulation. Instead, the thermosyphons were treated as solid rods with a constant thermal conductivity, which was calculated. The overall rate of heat transfer was obtained by both CFD and a theoretical model, and the results lay within 15% of the experimental data. The numerical predictions demonstrated that the 𝐾−𝜀 Realizable turbulence model with scalable wall function is a reliable tool for predicting heat transfer and fluid flow in such types of heat exchangers. This investigation will add a great knowledge to the academia in terms of both experimentation and modelling in the area of multi-pass thermosyphons-based heat exchangers. Also, it provides the industries with a cost effect design tool for future modelling of similar heat exchanger systems.