CFD Analysis of Cross Flow Air To Air Tube Type Heat Exchanger

PHOENICS USER CONFERENCE
2004
The Supercomputing People
CFD ANALYSIS OF CROSS FLOW AIR TO AIR

TUBE TYPE HEAT EXCHANGER
Vikas Kumar1*, D. Gangacharyulu2*,

Parlapalli MS Rao3 and R. S. Barve4
Centre for Development of Advanced Computing,
Pune University Campus, Pune, India
2
Thapar Institute of Engineering & Technology,
Patiala, India
3
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
4
Crompton Greaves Ltd, Kanjur Marg, Mumbai,
India
1
Introduction
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Closed Air Circuit Air Cooled (CACA) electrical motors are used in
various industries for higher rating (500 kW and above) applications
Heat generation due to the energy losses in the windings of motors at
various electrical loads under operating condition
Cold air is circulated in the motor to remove the heat generated
The hot air generated in the motor is cooled by using an air to air tube
type cross flow heat exchangers
The motor designers are interested to know the temperature
distribution of air in the heat exchanger and pressure drop across the
tube bundle at various operating parameters, e.g., different hot & cold
air temperatures and fluid (hot & cold) flow rates
Large Electrical Motor

Heat exchanger
Source: M/S Crompton Greaves Ltd. Mumbai, India
Heat Exchanger Geometry

External
hot air
cooled air
Internal hot air
External
cold air
cooled air
OBJECTIVE

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Predictions of
Pressure
Air flow and
Temperature distributions
in the heat exchangers
Heat Exchanger Geometry

2004

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Table 1: Geometrical details of the heat exchanger

Sl.
No.
Description
Uni Value/Type
t
1.
Overall dimension
m
m
1760 x 100 x 765
2.
Tube
diameter
inner
m
m
22
3.
Tube
diameter
outer
m
m
26
4.
Tube length
m
m
1610
5.
No. of tubes
27
Modeling Considerations
1. Geometry has symmetry in width wise.

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2. A section of heat exchanger consisting of 9 rows & 3 columns

has been considered for analysis. Each column has 9 tubes.
3. Tube is modeled as solid blockage, whereas, the inner volume
of the tube has been modeled as blockage with gaseous
properties to allow the ambient air to pass through it by using
PHOENICS CFD Software.
4. Conduction takes place from the tube wall & convection takes
place from the surface of the tube.
5. The partition plate and baffle participate in heat transfer.
6. Temperature & flow distributions have been considered to be
three dimensional in nature.
7. k- turbulence model has been considered.

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Grid generation for heat exchanger
The distribution of cells in the three directions are given below:

X Direction
:
55
Y Direction
:
48
Z Direction
:
232
The total number of cells in the computational domain is
612,480.

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Fig. 3: Side view of the grid
Table 2: Operating boundary conditions of the heat exchanger

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Sl. No. Input parameters

of
Unit
cold
Value
1.
Temperature
air
35
2.
Temperature of hot air
63
3.
Volumetric flow rate of cfm

388
cold air
(cu.m/m (10.98)
)
4.
Volumetric flow rate of cfm

228.80
hot air
(cu.m/m (6.48)
)

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Results & Discussions

The highest pressure region has been observed
nearby the top of the separating plate, which
may be due to the large change in the
momentum of the cold fluid caused by the plate.
Hot fluid recirculation has been observed at the
top corner of 1st & 4th section.
The temperature drop of the hot air in the 1st
section of the heat exchanger is higher than 4th
section because of the high temperature
difference between the cold air and the hot air.

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Fig. 4:
Pressure distribution in the heat
exchanger

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Fig. 5: Velocity distribution in the heat exchanger

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Fig. 6: Temperature distribution in the heat exchanger

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Fig. 7: Temperature distribution in the tube bundle of the heat

exchanger

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Table 3: Comparison of air temperature prediction at

various outlets
Sl.
No.
Inlet temperature,
o
C
Outlet temperature,
o
C
Remarks
Col
d
air
Hot
air 2nd
sectio
n
Hot
air
3rd
sectio
n
Hot
air
1st
sectio
n
Hot
Cold
air
air
4th
sectio
n
1.
34.
4
63
63
41.9
51.8
46.8
Experiment
al
2.
34.
4
63
63
44.70
49.55
43.6
8
PHOENICS
Simulation
3.
34.
4
61
65
43.68
50.9
44.3
2
PHOENICS
Simulation
Boundary conditions:
cold air temperature : 34.4 Deg.C
hot air temperature: 63 Deg.C
cold air flow rate : 0.18316 cum/s
hot air flow rate: 0.108 cum/s
60
51.8
O utlet temperature, D eg.C

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50
44.7
41.9
Experimental
Simulated
49.55
46.8
43.68
40
30
20
10
0
Hot air outlet temperature
(Ist section)
Hot air outlet temperature cold air outlet temperature

(4th section)
Fig. 8: A comparison
between the results of CFD
Different position of outlets
simulation
&A experiments
Fig. 8:
comparison between CFD simulation & experimental result

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Fig. 9: Temperature distribution in the heat exchanger a case

study

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Fig. 10: Temperature distribution of the heat exchanger (after

modification of central partition plate)
(Sun Ultra SPARC-450, 300 MHz)

350
316.5
Computation time per sweep, s

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300
250
219
200
150
136
100
92.5
72
60
50
0
0
10
12
Number of processors
Figure 10 : Effect of processor on computation time using parallel PHOENICS
Fig. 11:
Effect of number of processors in
computing time using parallel PHOENICS

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Conclusions
A method for predicting the pressure, velocity &
temperature distributions in the tube type heat exchanger
associated with CACA large motor has been developed
using PHOENICS CFD software.
The simulated results predict the temperature distribution
reasonably at different locations of the heat exchanger.
The CFD model may be used to optimize its thermal
performance by varying the location of the baffles & the
partition plate in the heat exchanger and in turn to improve
the performance of electrical motors.
The parallel PHOENICS can be used to reduce the design
cycle of the equipment due to fast computation.

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Acknowledgements
1. M/S Thapar Centre for Industrial Research &
Development, Patiala, India for providing the
necessary facilities to carry out this project
2. M/S Crompton Greaves, Mumbai, India for providing
the funds in addition to drawing, design data and
experimental results
3. M/S CHAM, U.K (support team) for technical help
4. M/S Centre for Development of Advanced Computing
(C-DAC), Pune, India for providing the facility to
use PARAM 10000 for running parallel PHOENICS and
funding for presenting this paper

2004
THANK
YOU

CFD Analysis of Cross Flow Air To Air Tube Type Heat Exchanger

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CFD Analysis of Cross Flow Air To Air Tube Type Heat Exchanger

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PHOENICS USER CONFERENCE

The Supercomputing People