Experimental Validation of Thermal Performance of Compact Heat Exchanger

IPASJ International Journal of Mechanical Engineering (IIJME)
Web Site: http://www.ipasj.org/IIJME/IIJME.htm

Email: editoriijme@ipasj.org
ISSN 2321-6441
A Publisher for Research Motivation........
Volume 3, Issue 7, July 2015
Experimental Validation of Thermal

performance of Compact Heat Exchanger
Omkarsing Bhosale1*, Dipak Patil2 , Dipak Pawar3
1*, 2G.H Raisoni College of Engineering & Management, Pune, India
3Kirloskar Pneumatic Company Limited, Pune, India
ABSTRACT
Todays competitive industrial market puts aggressive demands on compressor for flow rate, pressure ratio and efficiency. One
of the key factor that plays significant role in compressor performance is effectiveness of inter-stage heat exchanger. Highly
effective heat exchanger with strict control on space and cost is todays need. Quick, accurate as well as optimum performance
prediction of heat exchanger is critical for overall design of compressor. Various analytical methods can quickly predict
thermal performance but on conservative side. No design cycle is complete without experimental validation of result. This
paper describes analytical calculation methodology of plate fin type compact heat exchanger based on Kerns method.Results of
analytical calculations are validated by experimental measurements carried out on heat exchanger of air compressor system.
Keywords:Compact heat exchanger, NTU, effectiveness, Kern method
1. INTRODUCTION
Basic objective of heat exchanger designer is to have desired thermal performance i.e. desired outlet conditions of one
fluid with given inlet conditions of other fluid with minimum pressure drop of working fluid. Other constrains that
influence the heat exchanger design are space available for installation & cost. Designer tries to achieve heat exchange
objective with trade-off among these factors.
In compressor applications, heat exchanger is used as intercooler to remove heat of compression between stages & also
as after cooler to cool the gas before its final application. Inter stage cooling in compressors saves the work required for
compression in subsequent stage by lowering temperature of hot gas compressed by pervious stage. Power saving due to
intercooling stage cooling is partly offset by pressure drop of hot gas in heat exchanger. For particular flow rate of
compressor, Pressure drop is inversely proportional to volume provided for hot gas cooling i.e. higher the volume lower
the pressure drop. Hence it is necessary to strike a balance between space requirement & outlet temperature of hot gas
for given set of operating conditions.[2],[5]
A plate-fin heat exchanger is a type of heat exchanger that uses tubes and plate type fins to transfer heat between fluids.
It is often categorized as a compact heat exchanger to emphasize its relatively high heat transfer surface area to volume
ratio. The plate-fin heat exchanger is widely used in many industries. [5]
2. ANALYTICAL CALCULATIONS OF THERMAL PERFORMANCE OF HEAT EXCHANGER

There are three rating methods to calculate thermal performance of plate fin type heat exchanger:
2.1 Kern method
This method is a simplified approach suitable for shell side flow without baffles.[1]
2.2 Taborek method
The Taborek version of the Delware method is most accurate, reliable and complete method available in open
literature.[4]
2.3 Bell Delaware method
This method is most complex but accurate way of rating aheat exchanger withbaffles.[4] In this paper Kern method
(1950) is used.Thismethod is based on experimental work on commercial exchangers with standard tolerances and will
give a reasonably satisfactory prediction of the heat-transfer coefficient for standard designs. The prediction of pressure
drop is less satisfactory, as pressure drop is more affected by leakage and bypassing than heat transfer. The shell-side
heat transfer and friction factors are correlated in a similar manner to those for tube-side flow by using a hypothetical
shell velocity and shell diameter. The method is simple and more explanative. [1],[3],[6],[7]
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Figure 1 Typical Plate fin & tube compact heat exchanger
Figure 2 Arrangement of heat exchanger

Figure 1 shows typical plate fin & tube type heat exchanger used in air compressor application. Hot air flows on fin side
and cooling water flows through the tubes. Figure 2 shows line diagram of air and water flow heat exchanger.
Following sections describe the analytical calculation methodology using Kern method:
2.1.1Nomenclatures
Inlet air temperature at compressor ( )
Inlet air pressure at compressor ( )
Air relative humidity (RH%)
Air flow rate ( )
Inlet air temperature of heat exchanger (
Outlet air temperature from heat exchanger (T2)
Inlet air pressure of heat exchanger ( )
Specific heat of dry air (
)
Specific heat of vapour ( )
Cooling water inlet temperature ( )
Specific heat of water (
)
No. of Tubes (Nt)
2.1.2Total Heat load (Q)
(1)
Sensible heat load (Qs)
(2)
Latent heat load (QL)
(3)
Mass flow rate of dry air (da)
(5)
Air Pressure ( )
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ISSN 2321-6441

(6)
Relative humidity (RH%)
(7)
Saturated pressure of water vapour (Pswv)
(8)
2.1.3Geometry of tube bundle

Geometrical and material details of heat exchanger are provided below:
Table 1: Geometrical and material details of heat exchanger
Tube details
Fin details
Material
copper
No. of tubes
156
Tube
diameter
3/8''
Thickness
0.9m
m
Material
Fin
density
Aluminium
22
fins/inch
Thickness
0.15mm
Layout
4 pass
Figure 3 Tube Layout

Qair = Qwater
From Qwater, mass flow rate of cooling water is calculated as below:
Mass flow rate cooling water )
Cooling water flow rate ( )
Flow area of single pass of heat exchanger is decided from geometry of tube bundle and by using volume flow rate and
area water velocity is calculated as below:
Cooling water flow velocity ( )
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2.1.4Tube side heat transfer coefficient

From water velocity calculated by equation 11 and using following chart from Kern tube side heat transfer coefficient is
determined:
By using Kern chart Fig.25,
Figure 4 Kern chart: velocity v/s heat transfer coefficient

2.1.5Shell side heat transfer coefficient
Air heat transfer coefficient tabulated by using air velocity ( ) [1],[3],[5]
Dry air heat transfer coefficient =

Wet air heat transfer coefficient =
2.1.6Overall heat transfer coefficient (U)

Overall heat transfer coefficient is calculated as below [8]
where Uo= the overall coefficient based on the outside area of the tube, W/m2C,
ho= outside fluid film coefficient, W/m2 C,
hi= inside fluid film coefficient, W/m2 C,
hod= outside dirt coefficient (fouling factor), W/m2 C,
hid= inside dirt coefficient, W/m2 C,
kw= thermal conductivity of the tube wall material, W/m C,
di= tube inside diameter, m,
do= tube outside diameter, m.
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2.1.7Log mean temperature difference (
Figure 5 LMTD Correction factor (F)

2.1.8Required heat transfer area (
Area ratio
2.1.9Pressure drop air side (PD)
2.1.10 Pressure drop water side (
Where Np = number of tube passes

= tube side velocity
L = length of one tube
= friction factor
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3. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
Test measurements points (a, 1, 2, 3, 4)
Figure 6 Experimental measurement set up

Table 2: Comparison of analytical and experimental results
Thermal Performance test of Heat Exchanger
Sr.
No.
Heat Exchanger Air

in Temperature
Heat Exchanger Water inlet

temperature
Air out temperature from Heat

Exchanger
Analytical
Experimental
Analytical
Experimental
150.0
32.0
32.3
41.8
45.4
150.0
33.0
33.0
42.5
46.4
150.0
34.0
33.8
43.4
46.6
150.0
35.0
35.2
44.3
47.1
150.0
36.0
36.2
45.0
47.9
150.0
37.0
37.4
45.8
48.4
150.0
38.0
38.0
46.7
48.8
150.0
39.0
39.1
47.5
50.5
150.0
40.0
40.2
48.3
50.8
Figure 7 Effect of cooling water Inlet Temperature v/s Air outlet Temperature
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ISSN 2321-6441
An Accurate prediction of thermal performance of heat exchanger for various operating conditions of compressor is
done in this paper.
4. CONCLUSION
Analytical calculation method presented in this paper can be used for quick estimation of thermal performance of
compact plate fin type heat exchanger with reasonably good accuracy.Analytical method can be used quick study of
effect of various parameters on performance of heat exchanger.Analytical method provides good basis for optimization
of heat exchanger.Results of experimentation and analytical calculations match within 10% of accuracy.Hence if we
overdesign by 10% extra margin on area calculated by analytical method, heat exchanger thermal performance in field
can be ensured as per design without need for extensive testing.Accurate experimental data for following factors will
ensure better agreement in analytical & experimental results. Fin efficiency is assumed 100%. Experimental data is
required for correct values of fin efficiency.Radiation and convection heat exchange from and to heat exchanger outer
surface are not accounted for.Seal leakage losses internal to heat exchanger are not accounted as exact data for this is
not available.
References
[1] Kern D. Q., Process Heat Transfer, Tata McGraw Hill, New Delhi, 1997.
[2] Manjunath M. B., Jagadish S. B. Analysis comparing performance of a conventional shell and tube heat
exchanger using Kern, Bell, and Bell Delaware method, IJRET, 2014, vol. 3, pp. 486-496.
[3] Yusuf Ali Kara, Ozbilen Guraras, A computer program for designing of shell-and-tube heat exchangers,
Applied Thermal Engineering, 2004, vol. 24, pp. 17971805.
[4] Anand K., Pravin V. K., Experimental Investigation of Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger Using Bell Delaware
Method, IJRASET, 2014, Vol. 2 Issue I, pp. 73-85.
[5] Uttam H. Patel, Kedar N. Bhojak, An Overview of Shell & Tube Type Heat Exchanger Design by Kerns
Method, IJIERE, 2015, vol. 2, pp 61-65.
[6] Veena P., Anand K., Experimental Investigation of Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger Using Kern Method,
IJPRET, 2014, vol. 2, pp. 64-82.
[7] Kuppan T., Heat Exchanger Design Handbook, Marcel Dekker Inc., New York, 2000.
[8] Sinnott R. K., Chemical Engineering Design, 5th ed., Vol. 6, Pergamon Press, New York, 2009, pp. 511-618.
Water Flow meter

Heat Exchanger
Photograph of Experimental Set Up
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AUTHOR
Omkarsing Bhosale graduate in B.E Mechanical engineering and pursuing Post Graduation (M. E.) in Heat Power from G.H.
Raisoni College of Engineering & Management, Pune, India.
Dipak Patil Associate Professor, Department of mechanical, G.H. Raisoni College of Engineering & Management, Pune, India.
Dipak Pawar Kirloskar Pneumatic Company Limited, Pune, India.
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IPASJ International Journal of Mechanical Engineering (IIJME)

Web Site: http://www.ipasj.org/IIJME/IIJME.htm

A Publisher for Research Motivation........

Volume 3, Issue 7, July 2015