Published 8 issues per year
ISSN Print: 1065-5131
ISSN Online: 1563-5074
Indexed in
A Study of the Deposition of Fine Particles in Compact Plate Fin Heat Exchangers
ABSTRACT
The main purpose of this study was to investigate the performance of plain fin heat exchangers (PFHE) under particulate fouling for a wider application potential. A simulated PFHE was subjected to accelerated fouling tests with aluminium oxide (6 μm) and ferric oxide (3 μm) particles suspended in water. Both plain fin and wavy fin corrugations were used. Experimental tests were performed under non-heating (30°C) and heating (105°C) conditions. In all tests, the deposition/time curves showed an asymptotic behaviour. Deposition rates were higher under heated conditions. Under isothermal conditions, the deposition appeared to be governed by mass transfer from the bulk suspension to the wall surfaces and the particle deposition was mainly due to the effect of Brownian diffusion. The theoretical predictions of mass transfer coefficients from a convective mass transfer correlation were in general in reasonable agreement with the mass transfer coefficients obtained from experimental data. The effect of surface temperature was to increase the bulk temperature, therefore the diffusivity of the depositing species. Increasing the bulk temperature from 8°C to 60°C also increased the deposition rate. The wavy fin heat exchanger showed higher deposit weights compared with the plain fin and the pressure drop was also higher. Increasing the fluid flow velocity (Re up to 2500), increased the deposit weight onto the plain fin geometry. For the wavy fin geometry, beyond Re > 1500, the deposit weight started to decrease.
-
Eckert E.R.G., Goldstein R.J., Ibele W.E., Simon T.W., Kuehn T.H., Strykowski P.J., Tamma K.K., Bar-Cohen A., Heberlein J.V.R., Davidson J.H., Bischof J., Kulacki F., Kortshagen U., Heat transfer — a review of 1996 literature, International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 43, 8, 2000. Crossref
-
Abu-Khader Mazen M., Plate heat exchangers: Recent advances, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 16, 4, 2012. Crossref
-
Saha Sujoy Kumar, Ranjan Hrishiraj, Emani Madhu Sruthi, Bharti Anand Kumar, Fouling on Various Types of Enhanced Heat Transfer Surfaces, in Introduction to Enhanced Heat Transfer, 2020. Crossref
-
Saha Sujoy Kumar, Ranjan Hrishiraj, Emani Madhu Sruthi, Bharti Anand Kumar, Introduction, in Heat Transfer Enhancement in Plate and Fin Extended Surfaces, 2020. Crossref