In fin-and-tube heat exchangers operating at high temperatures such as Carbon Dioxide gas coolers, the heat transfer between neighboring tubes due to fin conduction affects the heat exchanger performance. In this research, a segment-by-segment heat exchanger model has been developed that can account for tube-to-tube conduction in two dimensions. The new model has been validated against experimental data for a gas cooler at 36 test conditions with total heat load varying between 6kW and 12kW. The refrigerant temperatures were measured at 27 locations on the different U-bends in the coil. The predicted heat load agreed within 3% and the refrigerant temperatures, agreed within 3.3K of measured values. The model is capable of simulating a heat exchanger that has both continuous and discontinuous i.e. cut fins. This paper investigates the effect of fin cuts on the performance of a Carbon Dioxide gas cooler through an exhaustive search method. In this approach, tubes are progressively separated through incremental fin cuts, and the change in overall heat load is studied. Further, the affect of fin cuts on refrigerant temperature profile through the heat exchanger is also studied.
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