EXAMPLE 8.

1-1: Conductance of a Cross-Flow Heat Exchanger

A finned, circular tube cross-flow heat exchanger is shown in Figure 1. The width and height of
the front face of the heat exchanger are W = 0.20 m and H = 0.26 m, respectively. The fins are
made of copper with a thickness thfin = 0.33 mm and a fin pitch pfin = 3.18 mm. Ten rows of
tubes (Nt,row = 10) in two columns (Nt,col = 2) are connected in series. The vertical and horizontal
spacing between adjacent tubes is sv = 25.4 mm and sh = 22 mm, respectively. The length of the
heat exchanger in the direction of the air flow is L = 0.06 m. The tubes are made of copper with
an outer diameter Dout = 1.02 cm and a wall thickness th = 0.9 mm. The roughness of the inner
surface of the tube is e = 1.0 μm.

Treated water enters the tube with mass flow rate m H = 0.03 kg/s and inlet temperature TH,in =
60°C. Clean dry air is forced to flow through the heat exchanger perpendicular to the tubes (i.e.,
in cross-flow) with a volumetric flow rate VC = 0.06 m3/s. The inlet temperature of the air is TC,in
= 20°C and the air is at atmospheric pressure.

W = 0.2 m L = 0.06 m
m H = 0.03 kg/s
TH ,in = 60°C Nt,row = 10 tube rows
VC = 0.06 m /s
3
Nt,col = 2 tube columns
TC ,in = 20°C
D = 1.02 cm
H = 0.26 m
th = 0.9 mm
e = 1 μm

sv = 25.4 mm sh = 22 mm
front view side view

thfin = 0.33 mm pfin = 3.18 mm

Figure 1: Schematic of a plate fin heat exchanger.

a.) Determine the conductance of the heat exchanger.

The inputs are entered in EES:

"EXAMPLE 8.1-1: Conductance of a Cross-Flow Heat Exchanger"

$UnitSystem SI MASS RAD PA K J
$Tabstops 0.2 0.4 0.6 3.5 in

"Inputs"
D_out=1.02 [cm]*convert(cm,m) "outer diameter of tube"
th = 0.9 [mm]*convert(mm,m) "tube wall thickness"
N_t_row=10 [-] "number of tube rows"
N_t_col=2 [-] "number of tube columns"
H=0.26 [m] "
W=0.2 [m] "width of heat exchanger face"
L=0.06 [m] "length of heat exchanger in air flow direction"
V_dot_C=0.06 [m^3/s] "volumetric flow rate of air"
P=1 [atm]*convert(atm,Pa) "atmospheric pressure"
T_C_in=convertTemp(C,K,20 [C]) "inlet air temperature"
T_H_in=convertTemp(C,K,60 [C]) "inlet water temperature"
m_dot_H=0.03 [kg/s] "water flow rate"
s_v=25.4 [mm]*convert(mm,m) "vertical separation distance between tubes"
s_h=22 [mm]*convert(mm,m) "horizontal separation distance between tubes"
th_fin=0.33 [mm]*convert(mm,m) "fin thickness"
p_fin=3.18 [mm]*convert(mm,m) "fin pitch"
e=1.0 [micron]*convert(micron,m) "roughness of tube internal surface"

The total thermal resistance between the water and the air, Rtot, is the inverse of the conductance
(UA). The total resistance can be found by summing all of the resistances in series:

1
Rtot = =R +R +R +R (1)
(UA ) in f ,in cond out
where Rin is the convection resistance between the water and the inner surface of the tube, Rf,in is
the fouling resistance that occurs on the internal surface of the tube as a result of deposits that
accumulate from the flowing fluid. (The fouling on the external surface is expected to be
negligible since there should be no build-up associated with clean dry air.) Rcond is the resistance
to conduction through the tube wall, and Rout is the resistance between the air and the surface of
the plate fins and the outer tube surface. (This resistance is due to both convection and the
conduction resistance of the fins.)

The resistance between the liquid and the inner surface of the tube can be represented as:

1
Rin =
hin π Din Ltube

where hin is the average heat transfer coefficient between the water and the tube wall, Din is the
inner diameter of the tube

Din = Dout − 2 th ,

and Ltube is the total length of all of the tubes:

Ltube = N t ,col N t ,row W

"Internal flow through the tube"

D_in=D_out-2*th "tube inner diameter"
L_tube=N_t_row*N_t_col*W "total tube length"

The average convective heat transfer coefficient on the water-side can be determined using an
internal forced convection flow correlation, as explained in Chapter 5. The process is simplified
by the use of the PipeFlow procedure. The PipeFlow procedure is the dimensional form of the
PipeFlow_ND procedure that was introduced in Chapter 5. The use of the PipeFlow procedure
frees us from having to compute fluid properties, Reynolds number, etc., that would be necessary
to use the dimensionless version of the function.

T_avg=(T_H_in+T_C_in)/2 "average temperature"

call PipeFlow('Water',T_avg,P,m_dot_H,D_in,L_tube,e/D_in:h_bar_T_H, &
h_bar_H_H ,DELTAP_H, Nusselt_bar_T_H, f_bar_H, Re_H)
"access correlations for internal flow through a tube"
h_bar_in=h_bar_T_H "average heat transfer coefficient on water side"
R_in=1/(pi*D_in*L_tube*h_bar_in) "resistance to convection on water-side"

Note that the PipeFlow procedure provides outputs other than hin , but they are not needed for this
calculation. The value of hin is taken to be the average heat transfer coefficient predicted for a
constant temperature (as opposed to constant heat flux) boundary condition. The heat transfer
coefficient for a constant temperature boundary condition is generally smaller than for a constant
heat flux boundary condition, leading to a conservative estimate of UA. If the flow is turbulent,
then the two answers are the same.

Also note that the determination of the heat exchanger conductance is necessarily an iterative
process when the outlet fluid temperatures are not known. The heat transfer coefficients depend
on the outlet temperatures as a result of the temperature dependent properties of the fluids. For
example, the temperature that should be provided to the PipeFlow procedure is an average of the
inlet and outlet water temperatures. The methods required to completely solve the heat
exchanger problem and therefore predict the outlet fluid temperatures are presented in Sections
8.2 and 8.3. As a reasonable first guess, the average water temperature is taken to be the average
of the inlet water and inlet air temperatures.

The fouling resistance on the inner surface of the tube can be expressed in terms of its fouling
factor, R"f ,in :

R"f ,in
R f ,in =
π Din Ltube

The fouling factor can be estimated using an appropriate handbook reference or, more simply,
with the FoulingFactor function.

"Fouling resistance"
R``_f_in=FoulingFactor('Closed-loop treated water') "fouling factor on inner surface of tube"
R_f_in=R``_f_in/(pi*D_in*L_tube) "fouling resistance on inner surface of tube"

The resistance of the tube wall is probably not worth calculating because it is small in
comparison with the others in Eq. (1). However, it is easy to include. The resistance for a
cylindrical tube was derived in Section 1.2.4.
 ⎛D ⎞
ln ⎜ out ⎟
= ⎝ in ⎠
D
Rcond
2 km π Ltube

where km is the conductivity of the tube, obtained using EES' built-in property routine.

"Conduction resistance"
k_m=k_('Copper',T_avg) "tube conductivity"
R_cond=ln(D_out/D_in)/(2*pi*k_m*L_tube) "tube resistance"

The resistance between the air and the outer surface of the finned tube can be expressed in terms
of an overall surface efficiency, ηo , as discussed in Section 1.6.6.

1
Rout = (1)
ηo hout Atot ,out

where Atot,out is the sum of the total surface area of the fins (As,fin,tot) and the un-finned tube wall
surface (As,unfin) and hout is the average heat transfer coefficient between the air and these
surfaces. The overall surface efficiency is related to the fin efficiency, η fin , as discussed in
Section 1.6.6:

(1 −η )
As , fin ,tot
ηo = 1 − fin (2)
Atot

The total fin area is the total surface area of the plates (both sides) less the cross-sectional area
that is occupied by the tubes.

W ⎛ π Dout
2
⎞
As , fin ,tot = 2 ⎜ H L − N t , row N t , col ⎟
p fin ⎝ 4 ⎠

where dimensions H, L, and W are shown in Figure 1. The total un-finned tube wall surface is:

⎛ th ⎞
As ,unfin = π Dout Ltube ⎜1 − fin ⎟⎟
⎜ p fin
⎝ ⎠

The total surface area is:

Atot = As , fin ,tot + As ,unfin

"External resistance"
A_s_fin_tot=2*(W/p_fin)*(H*L-N_t_row*N_t_col*pi*D_out^2/4) "total fin area"
A_s_unfin=pi*D_out*L_tube*(1-th_fin/p_fin) "total un-finned area"
A_tot=A_s_fin_tot+A_s_unfin "total air-side surface area"

In order to determine the fin efficiency, it is first necessary to estimate the heat transfer
coefficient on the air-side. The best method to determine hout is not apparent, since the flow of
the air through the heat exchanger core is actually very complex, combining aspects of internal
flow through the passages formed between adjacent fins with external flow over the tubes. The
heat transfer coefficient hout can be calculated using the techniques discussed for external flow
over a bare cylinder, as presented in Section 4.9.3. On the other hand, the fins provide channels
for the air flow, so perhaps hout should be calculated using the techniques discussed in Section
5.2.4 for internal flow in a rectangular channel. Here, we will estimate hout both ways and
compare the results. In EXAMPLE 8.1-2, the value of hout will be determined using a compact
heat exchanger correlation that is based on experimental data for this particular geometry.

The average velocity of the air in the core (um) is determined by dividing the volumetric flow rate
by the cross-sectional area that is available for the air flow (Ac).

VC
um =
Ac

where

⎛ th ⎞
Ac = ( H − N t ,row Dout ) W ⎜1 − fin ⎟
⎜ p fin ⎟⎠
⎝

The surface temperature, required by the External_Flow_Cylinder procedure, is assumed to be the

average of the air and water inlet temperatures. Note that External_Flow_Cylinder provides
additional outputs that are not used here.

A_c=(H-N_t_row*D_out)*W*(1-th_fin/p_fin) "cross-sectional area available for flow"

u_m=V_dot_C/A_c "frontal velocity for external flow calculation"
"Heat transfer coefficient with external flow over tube"
Call External_Flow_Cylinder('Air', T_C_in, T_avg, P, u_m, D_out: &
F_d\L, h_bar_out_ext, C_d, Nusselt_bar_out_ext, Re_out_ext) "external flow correlation"

This calculation provides one estimate for hout that is based on modeling the flow as external
flow over tubes, hout ,ext = 47.7 W/m2-K.

The air flow through the core can also be modeled as an internal flow through rectangular
channels. The effective channel width (Wch,eff) is taken to be the space between the adjacent fins:

W − N fin th fin
Wch,eff =
N fin
where Nfin is the number of fins:

W
N fin =
p fin

The effective channel height (Hch,eff) is taken to be the height of the heat exchanger:

H ch ,eff = H

The effective hydraulic diameter of the channel is: