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Performance of tubular aluminum foam heat exchangers in multiple row bundles

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Abstract

Two sets of aluminum foam cylinders, 5 and 15 mm thick, are being tested in two-row and three-row bundles for their thermo-hydraulic performance. The bundles are formed using fixed transversal and longitudinal pitch distances and subject to airflow between 0.5 and 5.0 at 0.5 m s−1 interval under cross-flow. The effects of foam layer thickness and the number of row under staggered configuration are investigated. Thermo-hydraulic results are benchmarking against those of a conventional finned tube bundle of similar dimensions with pre-determined number of fins and assembled using the same pitch distances.

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Abbreviations

A :

Area (\(\hbox {m}^2\))

\(\bar{c}_{\mathrm{p}}\) :

Specific heat capacity at constant pressure (J kg−1 K−1)

\(d_{\mathrm{f}}\) :

Strut diameter (m)

\(d_{\mathrm{i}}\) :

Core tube internal diameter (m)

\(d_{{\mathrm{o}}}\) :

Core tube external diameter (m)

\(D_{\mathrm{i}}\) :

Foam or fin annulus internal diameter \(= d_{{\mathrm{o}}}\) (m)

\(D_{\mathrm{o}}\) :

Foam or fin annulus external diameter (m)

f :

Friction factor (–)

H :

Dimensional height (m)

h :

Convective heat transfer coefficient (W \(\hbox {m}^{-2}\) K−1])

Kp :

Pressure loss coefficient (–)

k :

Thermal conductivity (W m−1 K−1)

L :

Dimensional length (m)

\(\dot{m}\) :

Mass flow rate (kg s−1)

Nu :

Nusselt number (–)

P :

Pressure (Pa)

\(\dot{Q}\) :

Heat transfer rate (W)

R :

Thermal resistance (K W−1)

Re :

Reynolds number (–)

\(S_{\mathrm{L}}\) :

Longitudinal pitch distance (m)

\(S_{\mathrm{T}}\) :

Transversal pitch distance (m)

\(t_{\mathrm{f}}\) :

Fin thickness (m)

\(t_{\mathrm{p}}\) :

Fin pitch (m)

T :

Temperature (K or \(^\circ\)C)

\(\vec {u}\) :

Air velocity (m s−1)

U :

Universal heat transfer coefficient (W \(\hbox {m}^{-2}\) K−1)

W :

Dimensional width (m)

\(\hat{X}_{\mathrm{L}}\) :

Ratio of longitudinal pitch to core diameter \(= S_{\mathrm{L}}/d_{\mathrm{o}}\) (–)

\(\hat{X}_{\mathrm{T}}\) :

Ratio of transversal pitch to core diameter \(= S_{\mathrm{T}}/d_{\mathrm{o}}\)(–)

FS:

Full scale

HTC:

Convective heat transfer coefficient (W \(\hbox {m}^{-2}\) K−1)

LMTD:

Log mean temperature difference (K or \(^\circ\)C)

NTU:

Number of transfer unit (–)

PID:

Proportional–integral–derivative feedback control

PPI:

Pores per inch [technically in\(^{-1}\), treated as (–)]

RTD:

Resistance temperature detector

TCR:

Thermal contact resistance (K/W)

\(\Delta\) :

Differential of

\(\epsilon\) :

Heat exchanger efficiency (–)

\(\eta\) :

Surface efficiency of aluminum foam (–)

\(\mu\) :

Dynamic viscosity (Pa s)

\(\rho\) :

Mass density (kg \(\hbox {m}^{-3}\))

\(\phi\) :

Porosity (–)

\(\Omega ^*\) :

Efficiency function of foam

a :

Of the air

c :

Of the colder fluid taking up heat

h :

Of the hotter fluid losing heat

i :

Of inside surface

max:

The largest value

min:

The smallest value

o :

Of outside surface

s :

Of a surface

t :

Overall, total

\(\infty\) :

Of the bulk air free flow stream

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Acknowledgements

The principal author is grateful to QGECE for its financial support to this study. Both authors also express their gratitude to the following individuals: Professor Thomas Rösgen for setting up the PIV facility, giving initial tutorials, and providing supervision on related works in his lab at the Institut Für Fluiddynamik, ETH-Zurich; Mostafa Odabaee for his help in sourcing test specimens; Dr Morteza Khashehchi, who helped process PIV data for velocity check; Joy Wang and Peter Bleakley for helping with data logging instrument; Douglas Malcolm for helping with wind tunnel operation and air velocity PID control program; and lastly Berto Di Pasquale for general fabrication of in-house parts and accessories.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Queensland Geothermal Energy Centre of Excellence School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, 4072, Australia

    A. Chumpia & K. Hooman

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  1. A. Chumpia
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  2. K. Hooman
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Correspondence to K. Hooman.

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Chumpia, A., Hooman, K. Performance of tubular aluminum foam heat exchangers in multiple row bundles. J Therm Anal Calorim 135, 1813–1822 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-018-7348-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-018-7348-y

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