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Heat Transfer Engineering

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Experimental Determination of the Heat Transfer

Coefficient of a Plate-Fin Heat Exchanger
a

Michel De Paepe , An Willems & Alexis Zenner

Department of Flow, Heat and Combustion Mechanics, Ghent University, UGent, Ghent,
Belgium
Published online: 21 Aug 2006.

To cite this article: Michel De Paepe , An Willems & Alexis Zenner (2005) Experimental Determination of the Heat Transfer
Coefficient of a Plate-Fin Heat Exchanger, Heat Transfer Engineering, 26:7, 29-35, DOI: 10.1080/01457630590959403
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01457630590959403

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Heat Transfer Engineering, 26(7):2935, 2005

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ISSN: 0145-7632 print / 1521-0537 online
DOI: 10.1080/01457630590959403

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Experimental Determination
of the Heat Transfer Coefficient
of a Plate-Fin Heat Exchanger
MICHEL DE PAEPE, AN WILLEMS, and ALEXIS ZENNER
Department of Flow, Heat and Combustion Mechanics, Ghent University, UGent, Ghent, Belgium

Heat transfer in compact plate-fin heat exchangers is augmented by the introduction of complex fin patterns in the channels.
Kays and London presented a lot of experimental data for several types of fin configurations, and many authors followed
their example with other types of fins. For some fin types, the heat transfer correlation for the Nusselt number cannot be
found in literature. Most of the data are given for large scale model fins in good controlled laboratory environmentslittle
data is available for real heat exchangers.
A test rig was constructed at Ghent University to verify the performance of several fin types. Measurements were done on a
real heat exchanger and not on a large scale model in order to determine the performance under real operational conditions.
The measurement setup consists of a hot water circuit and an air circuit with a fan. In the heat exchanger, 40 thermocouples
are introduced on the air side and the wall. This way, the convection coefficient of the fins can be determined for a broad
range of Reynolds numbers.
In the paper the measurement set-up is discussed and the measurements are presented. An in depth error analysis is
performed on the measurements. This way a heat transfer correlation is provided with a tight error margin for compact
plate-fin air coolers.

INTRODUCTION

graphical form. For louvered fins, an important correlation was

proposed by Davenport [2], and several other authors also refer
to them [35]. New correlations have been proposed, resulting
in a unified form by Chang and Wang [5].
Different experimental techniques are used. Most of them use
a large-scale mock-up of a fin channel. The difference in method
is mostly situated in the determining of the surface temperature:
it is either measured or kept constant. Earlier experiments use
stationary techniques [68]; more recent experiments use transient measurements [4, 9].
In this paper, a real heat exchanger was inserted in a setup.
The heat exchanger served as an air cooler for compressors. The
heat transfer correlation was determined with great precision for
air flowing over one side of the finned plates and compared with
data found in literature.
The derived correlation can be used to design air coolers with
less of a need for oversizing, thus resulting in more cost effective
heat exchangers. As the measurements were done on a real heat
exchanger, the validity of other correlations determined by mock
ups can be tested.
The presented technique for determining the heat transfer
coefficient is relatively simple as it only uses thermocouple

Plate-fin heat exchangers are important heat exchangers in

industry. They are often used because of their compactness and
their high effectiveness. As shown in Figure 1, plate-fin heat
exchangers are constructed out of parallel plates (a). In each
channel created by the plates, thin corrugated plates are inserted
(c). These plates are used as fins to enhance the heat transfer.
Very different fins can be found, such as straight, wavy, louvered,
and corrugated.
Due to the complex geometry and the wide range of fin types,
no general correlation to determine the heat transfer in plate-fin
heat exchangers can be found with good accuracy. For several
fin types, different authors have experimentally determined the
heat transfer characteristics. A relation is established between
the characteristics of the flow (Re number), geometry, and the
heat transfer (Nusselt number or Colburn j factor).
One of the first and generally referenced works is that by Kays
and London [1], who have proposed different correlations in
Address correspondence to Michel De Paepe, Department of Flow, Heat and
Combustion Mechanics, Ghent University, Sint-Pietersnieuwstraat 41, B9000
UGent, Ghent, Belgium. E-mail: michel.depaepe@UGent.be

29

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30

M. DE PAEPE ET AL.

Figure 1 Compact heat exchanger assembly.

measurements, which results in a high degree of precision. The

developed method can be used to test other types of heat
exchangers.

EXPERIMENTAL METHOD
Facility
The tested heat exchanger is placed in a test rig consisting of
an open air channel and a closed water cycle. The experiments
were performed on the air side of the heat exchanger.
The air channel (Figure 2) is made of a radial fan (3), a settling
chamber with a honeycomb (4), the actual test section (6) with
the heat exchanger (7), and an orifice plate to measure the air
flow rate (9). The fan is driven by a frequency-controlled engine;
with this, a flow rate of 0.0560.518 kg/s can be set. To obtain
a uniform flow over the heat exchanger, a settling chamber is
introduced, after which the section of the tube is reduced to
39.7 cm 19.6 cm to allow the measurement of a central part of
the heat exchanger. After the heat exchanger, a second straight
section is inserted. In this part, the flow coming from the heat
exchanger has time to mix, so a uniform exit temperature can
be measured at the end. Finally, the air flows through a long

Figure 3 Water circuit.

tube (8) before entering the orifice plate (9), as described by the
international standard [10].
The heat exchanger itself is placed in a wooden frame. It
is completely insulated, with 7 cm of PUR foam plates. At the
highest operational temperature, the heat losses were determined
as being only 0.25% of the heat transferred in the heat exchanger.
The water circuit (Figure 3) is made of a water tank (1)
with five resistor heaters (7), a circulation pump (2), and several
valves (3). The pump circulates the water through the heating
vessel in closed circuit. The valve (3b) is a bypass valve. By
controlling the valves (3a), (3b), the flow going through the heat
exchanger can be set. The water flow rate is measured by an
electronic flow meter (4).
All temperature measurements were done with thermocouples, which are read by a scanner and a high precision voltmeter.

Placement of the Thermocouples

K-type thermocouples were inserted in the heat transfer surface and into the air channels of the heat exchanger.

Figure 2 Experimental facility.

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M. DE PAEPE ET AL.

The thermocouples placed in the air channels have to be

inserted without obstructing the main flow passage. They are
placed along the water channels and are bent with the heads into
the channels. They are kept in place by two component glue. The
thermocouples have a diameter of 1 mm. At the top of the thermocouple, a plastic cover was placed (leaving the thermocouple
head-free) to prevent contact with the fins and thus assure that
the air temperature was measured.
The wall temperature was measured by inserting thermocouples of 0.5 mm into the wall. A cut was made into the wall; the
head of the thermocouple was smeared with a heat-conducting
paste and then glued into the wall.
The test section was 400 mm (Z) by 214 mm (Y) by 113 mm
(X), as shown in Figure 4. This resulted in fourteen parallel
air channels to be measured. On four different levels in the Zdirection, thermocouples were placed at 35 mm (A), 145 mm
(B), 255 mm (C), and 365 mm (D). On four places in the
X-direction at these levels, four thermocouples were inserted
after 1 and 4 cm, respectively, measured from the front and the
rear surface. At each point, the air and wall temperature were
measured, resulting in 32 thermocouples. Figure 5 depicts the
setup.

31

Figure 5 Placement of the thermocouples on the heat exchanger.

Next to these measurement points, the inlet and outlet air and
water temperature were measured to be able to make the heat
balance.

Experimental Procedure and Data Reduction

Local Heat Transfer Coefficient
Figure 6 shows the position of the thermocouples along an
air channel. To determine the local convection coefficient, four
temperature measurements are taken. The heat absorbed by the
air between the thermocouples placed at 10 mm (A1) and 40 mm
(A2) for example, is given by:
Q = m air c p,air (T A,Air,m12 )(T A2,Air T A1,Air )

(1)

The local convection coefficient at position (A1A2) is then

given by:
h A12 =

Figure 4 Placement of the thermocouples.

heat transfer engineering

Q
A1040 (TAWm12 TA,Air,m12 )

Figure 6 Placement of the thermocouples along an air channel.

vol. 26 no. 7 2005

(2)

32

M. DE PAEPE ET AL.

with the average temperature between two measurement points

being:

Procedure

(T2 + T1 )
(3)
2
The air mass flow rate in Eq. (2) is then calculated, assuming an
even distribution of the air flow rate over the channels.
The local Reynolds and Nusselt numbers are determined by:

The heat exchanger is supplied with two different fluid

streams. The interior channels are heated with water and the
exterior is cooled by air. The water flow rate was kept constant with a constant entrance temperature. Four different water
flow rates were used: 0.058 kg/s, 0.116 kg/s, 0.180 kg/s, and
0.239 kg/s.
For each water flow rate, the air flow rate was varied over
thirty different flow rates, going from 0.145 kg/s to 0.519 kg/s
in equal steps. This way, thirty different Reynolds numbers can
be set. Every time the air flow rate changed, temperature measurements in the heat exchanger were taken every second. The
heat transfer coefficient was determined when, after a certain
time, a stationary situation was reached, as detected by a constant temperature distribution.
The heat balance is given by:

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Tm12 =

Nu A12 =

h A12 Dh12
(T A,m12 )

(4)

Re A12 =

m Dh12
Ac (T A Airm12 )

(5)

The hydraulic diameter is defined as:

Dh =

4Ac L
A

(6)

m air c p,air (Tair,out Tair,in )

Q air
=

m water c p,water (Twater,in Twater,out )

Q water

Heat Transfer Correlation

For the other measuring points, the same method was used.
For each channel, the average convection coefficient can be determined by averaging over the length:


1
h =
h(x)d x
(7)
L
According to Figure 7, this integral can be approximated
by:


A23
31.5 mm
h A12 15 mm + h A12 +h
1
2
h A =
(8)
A34
93 mm + h A23 +h
31.5 mm + h A34 15 mm
2
The Colburn factor can be defined as:
j=

Nu 1/3
Pr
Re

(9)

In general, the Colburn factor is given by a general function:

j = C Re x

(10)

RESULTS
In Figure 8, the heat transfer coefficients for the four different
test series, are presented.
For all the measurement series a correlation can be derived:

Water flow rate 0.058 kg/s:

Water flow rate 0.116 kg/s:
Water flow rate 0.180 kg/s:
Water flow rate 0.239 kg/s:

j
j
j
j

= 0.407 Re0.444
= 0.275 Re0.395
= 0.217 Re0.367
= 0.223 Re0.369

This correlation can be averaged over the different water flow

rates, resulting in:
j = 0.267 Re0.391

heat transfer engineering

(12)

In Figure 9, the deviation of the measured data compared to the

j calculated with Eq. (12) is shown: it can be seen that 93% of the
measurements lie within 100% 7%. The averaged correlation
is thus useful for actual design calculations.

The coefficient C and the exponent x have to be determined by

measurements.

Figure 7 Integration of the convection coefficient.

(11)

Figure 8 Measurement results.

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M. DE PAEPE ET AL.

33

Figure 9 Measurement versus general correlation.

ERROR ANALYSIS
All measurement instruments are liable to errors. In order
to indicate the quality of the measurements, a thorough error
analysis was made.

The error on the Nusselt number, Reynolds number, and j

factors given by:



 2 
N u 2
h
Dh 2
=
+
Nu
h
Dh


Instrumentation Errors
To measure the air flow rate, an orifice plate was used. The
error on the manometer was 0.5 Pa, with a 0.6% relative error
on the measurement. This resulted in a relative error of 1.4% on
the air mass flow rate. The relative error for the electronic water
flow meter was 1%.
The error on the thermocouples was evaluated by a calibration
measurement. Ten arbitrary temperatures were measured with
all the thermocouples, and the average error was determined.
This resulted in an error of 0.02 K.
The relative error on the determination of the surface area is
2%.

Error on the Measurements

The local value of the convection coefficient is a function
of mass flow rate, temperatures, heat transfer area, and heat
capacity.
The relative error is given by:






2
h A12 2
2T
m 2
=
+
h A12
T A2air T A1air
m

+

2 T
T AW m12 TAairm12

2
+

A1040
A1040

2

heat transfer engineering

Re
Re

2
=

m
m

2
+

Dh
Dh

2


+

Ac
Ac

2






j 2
Nu 2
Re 2
=
+
j
Nu
Re
For each flow rate, the relative error is different. In Table 1,
the relative errors are given for the different calculated values.
Curve-Fitting Error
For linear regression Y = Ax + B, of n pairs of experimentally determined couples (xexp , yexp ), the error on A and B is
given by:
n
1 
(A)2 =
(yexp Axexp B)2
n 2 i=1
n
n
2
n
2
n i=1 xexp
i=1 x exp
Table 1 Error on measurement

Water flow rate (l/s)

h
(%)
h

Nu
(%)
Nu

Re
(%)
Re

j
(%)
j

0.058
0.116
0.180
0.239

1.17
1.16
1.17
1.19

2.02
2.00
2.01
2.10

2.28
2.28
2.28
2.28

3.04
3.03
3.04
3.10

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34

M. DE PAEPE ET AL.

(B)2 =

n
1 
(yexp Axexp B)2
n 2 i=1

n

2
i=1 x exp
n
2
n
2
n i=1 xexp
i=1 x exp

The curve fitting of j can be linearized by:

ln ( j) = ln (C) + x ln (Re)

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This way, the relative errors on x and C can be calculated, taking

into account that
C = (ln(C))C
and

j
j

2
=

C
c

2
+ x2

Re
Re

Figure 10 Comparison of Davenport and measured correlation.

2
+ (x ln(Re))2

x
x

2

The calculated errors are given in Table 2 for the four flow
rates and the averaged correlation (12). This means that the error
on the average correlation is less then 13%.
Using a simpler approach, as in [5], the mean deviation can be
defined as:

jcorrelation jexp

1
mean deviation =
n i=1
jexp
This results for all measurements taken together in 3.72%.
The error analysis shows that the derived correlation has a good
accuracy.

COMPARISON WITH EXISTING DATA

Davenport [2] published a correlation for louvered fins:
 1.1
ll
0.42 0.33 0.26
j = 0.249Relp
lh Hl
(13)
Hl
for 300 < Re < 4000.
This correlation can be transformed to the louvered fin characteristics of the studied heat exchanger, taking into account that
Davenport calculates the Reynolds number with fin pitch, and
in this paper hydraulic diameter is used. This gives:
j = 0.339Re0.42

(14)

Table 2 Error on curve fitting

Water flow rate (l/s)

x
(%)
x

C
(%)
C

j
(%)
j

0.058
0.116
0.180
0.239
Averaged correlation

1.94
2.17
1.74
0.87
2.1

7.41
8.98
7.54
3.76
8.74

10.9
13.2
11.2
5.7
12.9

heat transfer engineering

In Figure 10, these two correlations are compared. The two

curves have a similar shape. At the maximum distance, the difference is about 10%.
CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, a detailed description of an experimental setup is
given with which the heat transfer correlation of plate-fin heat exchangers can be determined under real operational conditions
not using a large-scale mock-up of the heat transfer channel.
This results in heat transfer data of real heat exchangers under
real operational conditions.
The presented method is relatively simple to implement as
only thermocouples are used.
With this setup, an air cooler was tested. A j-Re correlation is
derived with an error rate less than 13% using local temperature
measurements. This correlation is compared with correlations
found in the literature, and a good comparison is found.
The presented setup is thus suitable for measuring other types
of fins for plate-fin heat exchangers. In the near future, these tests
will be performed on new types of fins, under real conditions as
assembled in the heat exchanger.
NOMENCLATURE
A
cp
Dh
h
Hl
j
L
lh
ll
lp
m
Nu
Pr

area, m2
specific heat, J/kgK
hydraulic diameter, m
convection coefficient, W/m2 K
fin height, m
Colburn j factor
channel length, W/m2 K
louvre height, m
louvre length, m
louvre pitch, m
mass flow rate, kg/s
Nusselt number
Prandtl number
transferred heat, W
vol. 26 no. 7 2005

M. DE PAEPE ET AL.

Re
T

Reynolds number
temperature, K

[8] Dubrovsky, E. V., Experimental Investigation of Highly Effective

Plate-Fin Heat Exchanger Surfaces, Experimental Thermal and
Fluid Science, vol. 10, pp. 200220, 1995.
[9] Stasiek, J. A., Experimental Studies of Heat Transfer and Fluid
Flow across Corrugated-Undulated Heat Exchanger Surfaces, Int.
J. Heat and Mass Transfer, vol. 41, pp. 899914, 1998.
[10] N. N., Measurement of Fluid Flow by Means of Pressure Differential Devices, Part 1: Orifice Plates, Nozzles and Venturi Tubes
Inserted in Circular Cross-Section Conduit Running Full, CEN
EN ISO, 51671, 1995.

Greek Symbols

density, kg/m3
thermal conductivity, W/mK
viscosity, Ns/m2

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Subscripts
c
m
W

35

Michel De Paepe is professor of Applied

Thermodynamics at Ghent University, Ghent,
Belgium. He received his Ph.D. from the same
university in 1999 on the topic of steam-injected
gas turbines. His main topics of research are heat
exchangers, numerical heat transfer, gas turbines,
cogeneration, and HVAC. He has published about
thirty papers in international journals and conference proceedings.

cross-section
average
wall

REFERENCES
[1] Kays, W. M., and London, A. L., Compact Heat Exchangers, 3rd
ed., McGraw-Hill, New York, 1984.
[2] Kuppan, T., Heat Exchanger Design Handbook, Marcel Dekker
Inc., New York, 2000.
[3] Sahnoun, A., and Webb, R. L., Prediction of Heat Transfer and
Friction for the Louver Fin Geometry, ASME Journal of Heat
Transfer, vol. 114, pp. 893900, 1992.
[4] Leong, K. C., and Toh, K. C., An Experimental Investigation of
Heat Transfer and Flow Friction Characteristics of Louvered Fin
Surfaces by Modified Single Blow Technique, Int. J. Heat and
Mass Transfer, vol. 35, pp. 5363, 1999.
[5] Chang, Y. J., and Wang, C. C., A Generalised Heat Transfer Correlation for Louver Fin Geometry, Int. J. Heat and Mass Transfer,
vol. 40, pp. 533544, 1997.
[6] Beziel, M., and Stephan, K., Temperature Distribution in the Outlet
of Cross-Flow Heat Exchangers, Int. J. Heat and Mass Transfer,
vol. 38, pp. 371380, 1995.
[7] Kim, S. Y., Peak, J. W., and Kang, B. H., Flow and Heat Transfer
Correlations for Porous Fin in a Plate-Fin Heat Exchanger, ASME
Journal of Heat Transfer, vol. 122, pp. 572578, 2000.

heat transfer engineering

An Willems is a mechanical engineer who received her masters degree at Ghent University
in Ghent, Belgium, in 2002. She is now completing her masters degree in Nuclear Engineering from the joint Nuclear Education program in
Flanders. She is currently employed by Electrabel
and is working in a nuclear power plant in Doel,
Belgium.

Alexis Zenner is a mechanical engineer who received his masters degree at Ghent University in
Ghent, Belgium, in 2002. In 2003, he obtained
his masters degree in General Management at
Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School in
Ghent, Belgium. He is currently employed by
Exxon Mobil at the Virton plant in Belgium.

vol. 26 no. 7 2005