Comparative Numerical Study on Global Heat Transfer Process in Micro-Channel Gas Coolers with Different Structures

Yang, D.; Wang, N.; Xie, J.; Wang, J.

doi:10.47176/jafm.15.02.33180

Comparative Numerical Study on Global Heat Transfer Process in Micro-Channel Gas Coolers with Different Structures

Document Type : Regular Article

Authors

D. Yang ¹^{, 2}^{, 3}^{, 4}
N. Wang ¹^{, 2}^{, 3}^{, 4}
J. Xie ¹^{, 2}^{, 3}^{, 4}
J. Wang ¹^{, 2}^{, 3}^{, 4}

¹ College of Food Science and Technology, Shanghai Ocean University, China

² Shanghai Professional Technology Service Platform on Cold Chain Equipment Performance and Energy Saving Testing Evaluation, China

³ Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Aquatic Product Processing & Preservation

⁴ National Experimental Teaching Demonstration Center for Food Science and Engineering (Shanghai Ocean University), China

10.47176/jafm.15.02.33180

Abstract

A numerical simulation of global heat transfer process in three types of micro-channel heat exchangers was investigated in this paper: spiral double-pipe micro-channel heat exchanger (DPHE), cross-plate micro-channel heat exchanger (CPHE), and shell and tube micro-channel heat exchanger (STHE). The inner tubes of all three heat exchangers have a diameter of 1 mm and are charged with CO₂ as refrigerant. A detailed analysis of the heat exchanger's global heat transfer process was carried out, which is entirely different for different structures. The heat transfer characteristics of supercritical CO₂ were analyzed by considering the operating pressure, the refrigerant mass flux, the cooling water mass flux, and the heat exchanger refrigerant inlet temperature. The relationship between the CO₂ heat transfer coefficient (h_CO2) and CO₂ bulk temperature (T_b,CO2) was analyzed in detail. The pseudo-critical temperature (T_pc) mainly determines where the peak CO₂ heat transfer coefficient occurs. When T_b,CO2< T_pc , the rise in T_b,CO2 is accompanied by an increase in the heat transfer coefficient, which reaches a maximum when T_b,CO2 is a little bit higher than the pseudo-critical temperature, the heat transfer coefficient curve begins to decline as T_b,CO2 continues to rise. Higher peak heat transfer coefficients can be achieved at higher pressures. Increased refrigerant mass flux always results in larger heat transfer coefficients. The influence of the refrigerant inlet temperature of the heat exchanger in the T_b,CO2< T_pc region on the heat transfer coefficient is more significant than expected. In this study, different flow patterns on heat transfer due to different structures were compared. The best heat transfer was achieved using a spiral double-pipe micro-channel heat exchanger (DPHE). It consistently reaches the highest heat transfer and the lowest outlet temperature under the same operating conditions‎.

Keywords

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Comparative Numerical Study on Global Heat Transfer Process in Micro-Channel Gas Coolers with Different Structures

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Volume 15, Issue 2 - Serial Number 63
March and April 2022
Pages 579-589

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Volume 15, Issue 2 - Serial Number 63March and April 2022Pages 579-589

Volume 15, Issue 2 - Serial Number 63
March and April 2022
Pages 579-589