Mohsin, Zaki (2020-06). Experimental Investigation of Plastic Heat Exchanger for Single Phase and Condensation Heat Transfer. Master's Thesis. Thesis uri icon

abstract

  • A comprehensive experimental investigation of plastic shell and tube heat exchangers (PHX) was performed under single phase and condensation modes. The performance tests were conducted for four prototypes consisting of 61 tubes arranged in a triangular layout. The PHX considered in the study consisted of different baffle configurations including continuous helical, trisection, quadrant and a conventional segmental baffle. The experimental results show that both the heat transfer rate, effectiveness and pressure drop increases with the shell side volume flow rate for all schemes. Furthermore, the segmental baffle HX configuration was found to perform better than the continuous helical, trisection and quadrant baffle HX configurations. However, the continuous helical, trisection and quadrant baffle HX configurations were more energy efficient than the segmental baffle HX configuration when taking into account heat transfer rate and pumping power simultaneously. The plastic HX with segmental baffle and continuous helical baffle configurations depicted highly effective heat transfer performance under condensation conditions. Moreover, the PHX showed good agreement with the Braun model for condensers. In summary, PHX have a great potential as condensing units.

publication date

  • June 2020