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Heat transfer and pressure drop properties of high viscous solutions in plate heat exchangers.

Author(s) : WARNAKULASURIYA F. S. K., WOREK W. M.

Type of article: Article

Summary

Heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of an absorbent salt solution in a commercial plate heat exchanger serving as a solution sub-cooler in the high loop of triple-effect absorption refrigeration cycle was investigated. The main objectives of this research were to establish the correlation equations to predict the heat transfer and pressure drop and to analyze and optimize the operating parameters for use in the design of absorption systems. In order to conduct above studies, a single-pass cross-corrugated ALFA-LAVAL plate heat exchanger, Model PO1-VG, with capacity of 14,650 W was used. In order to evaluate the performance, hot solution inlet temperatures from 55 to 77°C, and inlet temperature differences from 14 to 20°C were used. The cold side of the heat exchanger was operated to match the equal heat capacity rate of hot side. Based on the empirical models proposed in the literature, a program was developed and experimental data were curve fitted. From the best-fitted curves, the power-law equations for heat transfer and pressure losses were established and the performance was evaluated. In the hot salt solution side, the Reynolds number was varied from 250 to 1100 and the resulting Nusselt number varied from 7.4 to 15.8. The measured overall heat transfer coefficient U(overall) varied from 970 to 2270 W/m2.°C and the Fanning friction factor in the absorbent side of the heat exchanger varied from 5.7 to 7.6. The correlation equations developed to predict the heat transfer and friction factor perfectly agree with the experimental results. Those equations can be used to predict the performance of any solution with Prandtl numbers between 82 and 174, for heat exchangers with similar geometry. [Reprinted with permission from Elsevier. Copyright, 2007].

Details

  • Original title: Heat transfer and pressure drop properties of high viscous solutions in plate heat exchangers.
  • Record ID : 2008-1253
  • Languages: English
  • Source: International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer - vol. 51 - n. 1-2
  • Publication date: 2008/01

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