A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF ENHANCED HEAT EXCHANGER TECHNOLOGIES

摘要

A comparative study of the performance of several enhanced heat transfer technologies recently studied for use in heat exchangers is presented. A Reynolds number range from 100 to 50,000 is considered for gas-side heat exchange in plate and shell-and-tube exchangers. A volumetric performance measure has been developed and used to evaluate the comparative performance of the different technologies. The performance parameter, based on the heat transfer rate per unit pumping power, is suitable for different geometries, Reynolds numbers, and fluid properties. Modern technologies can achieve significant heat transfer enhancement, but comparison reveals that recent advances offer only marginal improvements that are often associated with significantly more complex technology. Care must be exercised because the best performing technology is not necessarily the preferred choice since construction, retrofit, and maintenance costs may significantly alter the economic viability. Besides an intrinsic interest in the performance of different technologies, the adopted performance evaluation methodology may prove useful for future comparisons of very different technologies.