Numerical Investigation of Air-Side Heat Transfer and Pressure Drop Characteristics of a New Triangular Finned Microchannel Evaporator with Water Drainage Slits

Brice Rogie*, Wiebke Brix Markussen, Jens Honore Walther, Martin Ryhl Kærn

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

    204 Downloads (Pure)

    Abstract

    The present study investigated a new microchannel profile design encompassing condensate drainage slits for improved moisture removal with use of triangular shaped plain fins. Heat transfer and pressure drop correlations were developed using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and defined in terms of Colburn j-factor and Fanning f-factor. The microchannels were square 2.00 × 2.00 mm and placed with 4.50 mm longitudinal tube pitch. The transverse tube pitch and the triangular fin pitch were varied from 9.00 to 21.00 mm and 2.50 to 10.00 mm, respectively. Frontal velocity ranged from 1.47 to 4.40 m·s−1. The chosen evaporator geometry corresponds to evaporators for industrial refrigeration systems with long frosting periods. Furthermore, the CFD simulations covered the complete thermal entrance and developed regions, and made it possible to extract virtually infinite longitudinal heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics. The developed Colburn j-factor and Fanning f-factor correlations are able to predict the numerical results with 3.41% and 3.95% deviation, respectively.
    Original languageEnglish
    Article number205
    JournalFluids
    Volume4
    Issue number4
    Number of pages23
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2019

    Keywords

    • Microchannel
    • Evaporator
    • Water drainage
    • Heat transfer
    • Pressure drop
    • CFD

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Numerical Investigation of Air-Side Heat Transfer and Pressure Drop Characteristics of a New Triangular Finned Microchannel Evaporator with Water Drainage Slits'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this