Spray cooling of air-cooled compact heat exchangers

摘要

This paper investigates the technical feasibility of air-cooled compact heat exchangers with liquid-droplet spray in a fine mist as a more effective heat rejection system between a condensing vapor or hot fluid system and ambient air. Both water and ethylene glycol are sprayed. Three automotive radiator cores with 3[middle dot]94 fins per cm are tested in a wind tunnel. One unit is plain-finned, the second unit louvered, and the third perforated. At essentially no change in the friction coefficient, a good improvement in heat-transfer performance is observed by spraying 1[middle dot]26 to 2[middle dot]52ml/s of liquid.