NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF ANTIFREEZING CHARACTERS OF THE AIR-WATER CORRUGATED PLATE HEAT EXCHANGERS

摘要

Heating the air below 0°C, the present tube-fin type air-water heat exchanger applied to the fresh handing unit of the air condition is often iced in the north of china, which made the heater work abnormally. The corrugated plates of air-water PHE which made by stamping or embossing a wavy surface on sheet metal formed the 3-D complex flow passages. In these narrow and tortuous passages, water which is highly interrupted made the turbulent flow come into being in a low velocity. Thus swirling turbulent flow can prevent the water from freezing. The courses of water being iced in the static or dynamic were simulated and analyzed by the Solidification/Melting Model of the CFD software Fluent. The results show that the corrugated passages of the PHE are anti-frozen structures for flowing water.