Cryogenics 46 (2006) 3748 www.elsevier.

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PIV experimental investigation of entrance conguration on ow maldistribution in plate-n heat exchanger

Jian Wen *, Yanzhong Li *, Aimin Zhou, Ke Zhang, Jiang Wang
Department of Refrigeration and Cryogenics Engineering, School of Energy and Power Engineering, Xian Jiaotong University, Xian 710049, China Received 30 March 2005; received in revised form 5 September 2005; accepted 21 October 2005

Abstract Flow characteristics of ow eld in the entrance of plate-n heat exchanger have been investigated by means of particle image velocimetry (PIV). The velocity elds were measured using the two-frame cross-correlation technique. A series of velocity vector and streamline graphs of dierent cross-sections are achieved in the experiment. The experimental results indicate that performance of uid maldistribution in conventional entrance conguration is very serious, while the improved entrance conguration with punched bae can eectively improve the performance of uid ow distribution in the entrance. Based on the analysis of the uid ow maldistribution, a bae with small holes is recommended to install in the entrance conguration in order to improve the performance of ow distribution. When the punched bae is proper in length, the small holes is distributed in staggered arrangement, and the punched ratio gradually increases from central axis to the boundary along with the bae length, the performance of ow distribution in plate-n heat exchanger is eectively improved by the optimum design of the entrance conguration. The ow maldistribution parameter S in plate-n heat exchanger has been reduced from 1.21 to 0.209 and the ratio of the maximum velocity to the minimum h is reduced from 23.2 to 1.76 by installing the punched bae. The results validate that PIV is well suitable to investigate complex ow pattern and the conclusion of this paper is of great signicance in the optimum design of plate-n heat exchanger. 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Plate-n heat exchanger; PIV; Entrance conguration; Optimum design

1. Introduction Plate-n heat exchangers are widely used in cryogenic plants such as air separation industries to exchange heat energy among more than two uids with dierent supply temperatures because of their high eciency, more compact structure and lower costs than two-stream heat exchanger networks [14]. The use of multi-stream platen heat exchangers is more cost-eective and can oer signicant advantages over conventional two-stream heat exchangers in certain applications, especially for cryogenic plants. The longitudinal wall heat conduction, the nonuni* Corresponding authors. Tel.: +86 29 8266 3725; fax: +86 29 8266 8725 (J. Wen), tel.: +86 29 8266 8725; fax: +86 29 8266 8789 (Y. Li). E-mail addresses: wenjian@mailst.xjtu.edu.cn (J. Wen), yzli-epe@mail. xjtu.edu.cn (Y. Li).

formity of temperature eld and uid ow could be coupled, which is the main reason that causes the deterioration of heat exchanger eciency, especially for the compact heat exchanger. The eect of uid ow nonuniformity on heat exchanger eciency is of rst-order importance because it can intensify longitudinal wall heat conduction and the maldistribution of interior temperature. The uid ow maldistribution in plate-n heat exchangers may be caused by many factors, such as the improper entrance conguration, various manufacturing tolerances, the heat transfer process and so on. Most of previous works mainly investigated the eect of ow nonuniformity on the heat exchangers performance deterioration based on their own ow maldistribution model. Fleming [5] set up a ow maldistribution model in paired-channel heat exchangers and investigated the eect of ow maldistribution on the performance deterioration.

0011-2275/$ - see front matter 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.cryogenics.2005.10.010

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J. Wen et al. / Cryogenics 46 (2006) 3748

Nomenclature A A0 A1 A2 A3 D1 D2 L N R R1 Re area of header outlet (mm2) area ratio of medium-size holes total area of small-size holes (mm2) total area of medium-size holes (mm2) total area of big-size holes (mm2) diameter of header inlet tube (mm) diameter of pipe in the wind path (mm) length of the header (mm) the number of cross-sections radius of small holes (mm) radius of header (mm) Reynolds number S v Z d h ow maldistribution parameter uid ow rate (m/s) distance from the header central axis (mm) punched ratio velocity ratio

Subscripts ave average value ch channel i serial number of passage max maximum value min minimum value

Chiou [6] set up a continuous ow distribution model and studied the thermal performance deterioration in cross-ow heat exchangers. The combined eects of wall longitudinal heat conduction, inlet ow nonuniformity and temperature nonuniformity on compact plate-n heat exchangers using nite element method have been investigated by Ranganayakulu and Seetharamu [7]. In fact, a ow distribution model that can precisely describe the real ow distribution in plate-n heat exchanger does not exist. A few literature of experimental investigation on ow maldistribution in plate heat exchangers can be found in the recent years, Lalot and Florent [8] etc. investigated the eect of ow nonuniformity on the performance of plate heat exchangers. They also found the optimum location of perforated grid in header and reverse ow could occur with poor inlet header design. The literature of improved conguration to enhance the ow uniformity in plate-n heat exchanger is limited in recent years. Jiao [9] investigated experimentally and analyzed theoretically the combined eects of distributors inlet angle and mass ow rate on ow maldistribution. Some distributors with dierent inlet angles were studied under similar conditions and the optimum performance had been obtained at inlet angle of 45. Zhang [10] proposed a structure of two-stage-distribution and the numerical investigation shows the ow distribution in plate-n heat exchanger is more uniform if the ratio of outlet and inlet equivalent diameters for both headers is equal. Wen [11] employed CFD technique to simulate and analyze the performance of uid ow distribution and pressure drop in the header of plate-n heat exchanger. A bae with small-size holes is recommended to install in the header in order to improve the performance of ow distribution. Although some work has been carried out to study of the eects of entrance conguration, more detailed information in the entrance part of a heat exchanger is still unknown. The characteristics and phenomena of ow eld are needed to master for the improvement of ow distribution. On the basis of numerical simulation [11], ow pat-

terns of ow eld in the header of plate-n heat exchanger have been investigated by means of particle image velocimetry (PIV) in this paper. The velocity elds were measured using the two-frame cross-correlation technique. A series of velocity vector and streamline graphs of dierent cross-sections are achieved. PIV is an instantaneous whole-eld measurement technique, which uses a pulsed light-sheet to illuminate a gas ow seeded with tracer particles. Four to six successive images of the tracer particles are recorded photographically and the pictures digitized. It can potentially provide more information about ow mechanism than that from conventional measurement techniques. PIV has already had quite a lot of applications in studies of uid mechanics, marine hydrodynamics and aerodynamics [1216]. It has broken through some limitations of single point measurement of conventional measuring technology. It is able not merely to measure the instantaneous velocity eld of uid from low-speed to supersonic range, but also succeeds in applying to the measurement of multiphase ow, thermouid and turbulent structures, etc. So in this paper PIV technology is used to study the characters of uid distribution in the header of plate-n heat exchangers and get better header conguration. The dierence of ow characteristic between air and low-temperature uids is limited. The eect of entrance conguration on ow eld uniformity has little correlation with the uid species for that we mainly investigate the eect of conguration changes on the uid eld uniformity, which is a relative quantity. It concentrates on the qualitative comparison of uid eld before and after the conguration improvement in this paper. So the air of room temperature is adopted as the working uid in the experiment of this paper. 2. Experimental system and evaluation of ow maldistribution Fig. 1 shows the schematic drawing of experimental system, which consists of wind path system and PIV system.

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39

Header Test Section

R1=150 D1=200

Orifice Flow Meter

! P
D2=200

Fan

Laser
326

2000

2000

300

Camera

Synchronizer

PC

Velocity data

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of experimental system.

And the arrangement of them is also illustrated in the diagram. 2.1. Wind path system In the wind path system, the air is supplied by a upstream fan and the ux is measured by an orice ow meter installed in the pipeline. Radial pressure port is used in the pressure measurement. The upstream pressure port is one diameter far away from the orice, while the downstream pressure port is 1/2 diameter from the orice. The straight pipes before and after the orice ow meter should be enough long to guarantee the correct measurement of the ow. Think of the symmetry of header conguration, half the header length is measured in the experiment. Eleven crosssections are measured from the central axis to the end boundary along the direction of header length (z-direction). The ow eld of only four typical cross-sections is analyzed in the paper as illustrated in Fig. 2. Cross-section 1 is located at the central axis, straightly facing the inlet tube. Cross-sections 2 and 3 are deviated from the central axis and the distance increases gradually. And cross-section 4 is in the out end of header and is the farthest away from the central axis of header. 2.2. Header congurations It has been found that the best position for the punched bae is midway between the inlet tube and the core of the

Fig. 2. Schematic diagram of test section location.

header [8]. So a bae with small holes is put forward to install at the 1/2 height of the header symmetrically, which is demonstrated in Fig. 3. The ow maldistribution of the outlet along the header length (z-direction) for the conventional header (denoted as conguration A) is very serious. Because the header has larger dimension comparing to the inlet tube diameter, the uid tends to go preferentially into the channels in the center. The velocity distribution is basically symmetrical and decreases from the axis line to the both ends. They are higher in the center and lower in the boundary. So for the uniformity of ow distribution, dierent ow area should be selected to the uid eld according to the velocity distribution. Small ow area should be applied to high-speed ow zone and large ow area should be applied to low-speed uid. Under ideal condition, the dot product v.dA should be a constant value for each innitesimal area. Thus the total ow eld will be distributed more uniformly if the integral of v.dA is equal to constant. A bae with small holes according to this designing idea is put forward to meet the distribution requirement. The small holes are spotted in the bae according to the velocity distribution of conventional header of CFD simulation and the punched ratio is gradually increasing in symmetry from the central axis to the boundary [11]. Three dierent kinds of holes in diameter are punched on the dierent bae congurations. There are spotted symmetrically small (2R = 10 mm), medium (2R = 20 mm) and big (2R = 30 mm) holes from the axial line to the boundary on the bae. And the punched zone of the small-size holes (2R = 10 mm) is the center where it is corresponding to the cross-section of the inlet ow pipe. The baes shown in Figs. 46 have the dimension of 600 260 5 mm3 (length width thickness), and the holes are distributed with in-line arrangement. The total area of big-size holes on the bae shown in Fig. 4 (denoted as conguration B) is the largest. And it decreases gradually shown in Fig. 5 (denoted as conguration C) and Fig. 6 (denoted as conguration D). The dimension of baes shown in Figs. 7 and 8 is 670 260 5 mm3 (length width thickness). The small holes shown in Fig. 7 are distributed with in-line arrangement (denoted as conguration E), while in Fig. 8 they are distributed in staggered arrangement (denoted as conguration F).

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Baffle

Fig. 3. Denition of the bae position in the header.

Fig. 4. Schematic drawing of bae construction of conguration B.

Fig. 5. Schematic drawing of bae construction of conguration C.

Fig. 6. Schematic drawing of bae construction of conguration D.

The experimental model used in PIV experiment must be made of transparent materials in order to let the laser sheet illuminate the area of the measured velocity eld and help

CCD camera to capture the pictures. So the melon peel structure of header was made of lucite cylinder with the thickness of 8 mm. The outlet microchannels and the

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41

Fig. 7. Schematic drawing of bae construction of conguration E.

Fig. 8. Schematic drawing of bae construction of conguration F.

punched baes were made of lucite plate of 5 mm. All the above test models were made according to the original size, guaranteeing the performance of the prototype can be reected as accurate as possible by the models. Because the size of the model is large, the pulsed laser light-sheet of PIV system is not too large to illuminate the whole test section. And the area of measured velocity eld captured by CCD camera is only about 150 mm 150 mm. Due to the limitation of the laser light-sheet width and the minimum object size that the CCD camera can capture, so half the header cross-section is chosen as the measured section (shown in Fig. 1). Fluid distribution conditions of dierent position of header cross-sections along the direction of header length (z-direction) are measured by PIV system in the experiment. 2.3. PIV system The measurement of the velocity eld in the header was carried out with a two-dimensional PIV equipment, which consists of illumination system, image acquisition system, synchronous controlling system and image processing sys-

tem. Light source is supplied by a large power harmonic Nd-YAG twin laser system (wavelength k = 532 mm, pulse energy = 50 MJ). The pulsed laser and the light-sheet optics are part of the illumination system. The light-sheet optics includes cylindrical and spherical lenses. The cylindrical lens diverges the laser beam in one direction but keeps it the same thickness as the laser beam in the other direction. This gives a light-sheet that has some height but is thin. The spherical lens controls the light-sheet thickness. For the measurements, a light-sheet thickness of less than 1 mm is desired. The spherical lens creates a beam waist at its focal distance. Moving away from the focal distance, the light-sheet is thicker. With the proper selection of light-sheet optics, the laser light-sheet can be set to the correct size for experiment. The ow in a PIV experiment is illuminated with the pulsed laser light-sheet of a thickness of 1 mm. The camera usually is focused near the light-sheet waist, at the focal length of the spherical lens. The image signal acquisition is carried out by PIVCAM30 of type 630046, whose resolution factor is 1018 1018 pixel. The fastest acquisition speed is 30 frames per second. The CCD camera is a combination of cross-frame and

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J. Wen et al. / Cryogenics 46 (2006) 3748

rapid-output of image signal matrix that enabled capturing two images with minimum time separation of 1 ls. Synchronizer is used to control the output of laser pulse and the sequence of image acquisition, which guarantees all parts are coordinated and gone on according to the regular order. The software of controlling PIV system and data analysis is Insight NT. It can capture 1000 frame pictures in succession. Two-frame cross-correlation and fast Fourier transforms are adopted in the data processing. Instantaneous velocity vector eld and some other parameters distribution also can be obtained swiftly through batch processing. The selection and seeding of tracer particles is one of the key problems of success or failure for PIV system measurement, especially for the case where air is adopted as the working medium. Accompanying characteristic, scattering characteristic and uniformly sowing are the three aspects that the tracer particles should be considered of at the same time. The density of tracer particles should be proper in order to realize the ow eld measurement by particle image. That is to say, the number of tracer particles should be abundant, but limited not to form the scattered spot within certain area of the measured velocity eld. In this experiment, Rosco1600 fog generator is used to generate tracer particles and fuming liquid especially used for air system is supplied by TSI Ltd. The average diameter of spherical drops is between 1 lm and 2 lm, which meets the demands of PIV system for tracer particles. In order to ensure the uniformly scattering of tracer particles and reduce their interference to original ow eld, the seeding of tracer particles is performed at the fan inlet, which is far away from the test area. Thus, tracer particles and air enter the pipeline at the same time and have a uniform mixing at the test section. 2.4. Evaluation of ow maldistribution Two parameters are introduced in this paper to evaluate the maldistribution, namely, ow maldistribution parameter S and velocity ratio h, which are dened as follows: v u N u 1 X St 1 V i V ave 2 N 1 i1 V max h V min 2

3. Experimental results and discussion 3.1. The comparison of ow patterns 3.1.1. The experimental results of conventional header (conguration A) Cross-section 1 shown in Fig. 9 is located at the central axis and facing the inlet tube. The ow maldistribution is serious in the y-direction of the cross-section. The velocity is high and the upstream streamlines ow to the export in parallel, where the spot is facing the inlet tube of header in the y-direction. While at the spot which is deviated from the inlet tube, uid mainly ows from upstream and vortex is generated. A dead zone is formed for the reverse ow, thus uid is distributed very nonuniformly in the y-direction. It is because of the suddenly enlargement of uid boundary geometry that ow behavior varies rapidly and the main ow separates from the surface to form vortex. The vortex can result in the loss of mechanical energy by converting mechanical energy into thermal energy. There is also mass transfer between the vortex and the main stream besides friction, so the energy loss is much. The cross-section 2 (shown in Fig. 10) and cross-section 3 (shown in Fig. 11) is deviated from the inlet tube. As the distance from the inlet tube increases, small vortex enlarges gradually into large-scale vortex. So it can be concluded that this portion of uid in the header are mainly distributed by the diusion of vortex. It is because that uid ows to the two sides of the header by the transverse pressure gradient at the outlet cross-section. Minority of the uid reaches micro-channels and goes through, while the majority impacts on the boundary and is blocked. The uid separates from the surface to form vortex and diuses all around. As the distance from the inlet tube further

150 140 130 120 110 100

Y mm

90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 50 100 150

They disclosure the dispersion degree of experimental results and reect the ow maldistribution conditions under dierent working conditions, dierent kinds of header conguration parameters and so on. The smaller the absolute value is, the more uniform the distribution is. Where N stands for the passage number, Vi stands for the velocity of each passage and Vave stands for the average velocity of all the passages. Vmax and Vmin are the maximum velocity and minimum velocity of all the passages, respectively.

X mm
Fig. 9. Velocity vectors and streamlines of cross-section 1.

J. Wen et al. / Cryogenics 46 (2006) 3748

140 130 120 110 100 90

43

150 140 130 120 110 100 90

Y mm

80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 50 100

Y mm
X mm

80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 50 100 150

Fig. 10. Velocity vectors and streamlines of cross-section 2.

X mm
Fig. 12. Velocity vectors and streamlines of cross-section 4.

140 130 120 110 100 90

Y mm

80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 50 100 150

uid vortex and transverse pressure gradient that result in the uid distribution in the conventional header. Thus the velocity near the inlet tube is high, while the velocity is low at the boundary. Besides the uid distribution nonuniformly, the energy loss caused by the vortex is high. So the header conguration should be improved to make the uid distributed more uniformly. 3.1.2. The experimental results of improved header (Conguration F) The uid from the inlet tube ows in front of the punched bae. The circulation area expands suddenly and it causes the pressure reduction. Two kinds of factors cause the pressure drop, one is the irreversible eect, the other is the velocity variation. There are two kinds of condition that uid reaches the bae: (1) uid reaches the small holes and goes through directly, which is the throttling expansion; (2) uid reaches the bae wall and is blocked. According to the Bernoulli equation, pressure rises and transverse pressure gradient is formed, which results in uid owing all around and going through from other small holes. And the dierent diameters of small holes are of great benet to uid uniform distribution. The small-size holes in the center part reduce the ux going through from the micro-channels adjacent to the central line. And the medium-size and large-size holes augment the ux that ows from the two side micro-channels. Thus the uid is distributed evenly before it reaches the header outlet. As shown in Fig. 13, the uid is distributed more uniformly in the y-direction and the dead zone vanishes in the cross-section 1 after the improvement of header conguration. In the y-direction, the velocity facing the inlet tube decreases signicantly, while that deviated from the inlet

X mm
Fig. 11. Velocity vectors and streamlines of cross-section 3.

increases, the vortex shrinks for the viscous dissipation with all around uid (shown in Fig. 11). The cross-section 4 illustrated in Fig. 12 is at the boundary of the header and is the farthest away from the inlet tube. The majority of uid has been branched o before it reaches the section and uid kinetic energy is consumed by vortex, which results in the decrease of uid velocity. So the uid ux through the micro-channels nearby is very low and the section becomes the low-speed zone of the header. And for the viscous dissipation between the uid and the boundary, vortex vanishes and the streamlines are parallel to the outlet micro-channels. Based on the analytical and experimental investigations presented above, it can be concluded that it is mainly the

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150 140 130 120 110 100

J. Wen et al. / Cryogenics 46 (2006) 3748

140 130 120 110 100 90

Y mm

Y mm
50 100 150

90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10

80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10

X mm
Fig. 13. Velocity vectors and streamlines of cross-section 1.

50

100

X mm
Fig. 14. Velocity vectors and streamlines of cross-section 2.

tube increases, comparing to that of conventional header conguration A. The diameter of small holes is the smallest in the center of the bae, which creates much resistance to the uid and transverse pressure gradient is formed to oblige uid ow all around. In the same way, the diameter of the holes at the edge of the bae is larger so that the branch uid can get through with no trouble. So the uid of these cross-sections is distributed more uniformly in the y-direction. And the vortex in front of the punched bafe vanishes compared to that of conventional header conguration A. That is because the addition of bae, which halves the header height and the space is too narrow to form vortex. There are some vortices behind the punched bae, facing the small holes. The velocity of the uid increases after going through the small holes and it initiates viscous shear with around low-speed uid, so the vortexes are formed. The cross-section 2 in Fig. 14 is deviated from the inlet tube. There is a big vortex in front of the bae and the uid is distributed uniformly after going through the bae. Fluid from upstream is obstructed by the header wall and separates from the surface, thus an obvious vortex creates. For the cross-section does not face the inlet tube, so there are only medium-size and big-size holes in the punched bafe. Thus the resistance of bae to uid is low and the uid is easy to go through. And uid is distributed more uniformly after branched o by the small holes in the bae. The cross-section 3 as shown in Fig. 15 is far away from the inlet tube and there is no bae. The vortex vanishes for the viscous dissipation with around low-speed uid. For the resistance of bae wall, all the uid going through from the bae is less comparing to that of conventional header conguration A, which results in more uid owing from the cross-section and the velocities increase.

140 130 120 110 100 90

Y mm

80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 50 100 150

X mm
Fig. 15. Velocity vectors and streamlines of cross-section 3.

As illustrated in Fig. 16, the velocities in cross-section 4 also increase and the uniformity of uid distribution is improved greatly after the addition of the punched bae. The streamlines are perpendicular to the outlet micro-channels. And uid goes through the micro-channels directly. That is to say, the uid is distributed more uniformly for the increase of ux far away from the center axis with the addition of punched bae. The results of experiment illustrates that the uid is distributed more uniformly. With the addition of punched bae, uid is distributed by the bae and then ows to the header outlet. Not only in the axial direction (z-direc-

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130 120 110 100 90 80

45

70 60 50 40 30 20 10 50 100

X mm
Fig. 16. Velocity vectors and streamlines of cross-section 4.

tion), but also in the y-direction, the condition of uid distribution is improved greatly. The number of big vortex decreases compared to that of conventional header conguration A. So the energy loss caused by turbulent dissipation reduces, which can compensates for some of the pressure loss caused by the addition of the punched bae. As simulated from reference [11], the pressure loss induced by the bae is about 400 Pa as its maximum, which is acceptable for a plate-n heat exchanger. 3.1.3. The comparison of uid distribution Eleven cross-sections are measured in the PIV experiment and the header conguration is symmetrical. So it is presumed that uid in the header is distributed symmetrically and then the serials number is 21. Fig. 17 shows the uid distribution condition in the axial direction (z-direction) of the two headers, which is at the same inlet Rey-

nolds number (Re = 6.0 104), where the average value for the y-direction is adopted. The uid distribution is eectively improved for the improved header conguration with punched bae. The ow maldistribution of the outlet along the header length for the conventional header conguration A is very serious. The velocities decrease from the axis line to the boundary, they are high in the center part and low in the boundary. Because the ow header has larger dimension comparing to the inlet tube diameter, the uid tends to go preferentially into the channels in the center. The velocities in the two sides of the header are lower for the uid has been branched o before it reaches the end of the header. The ratio of the maximum velocity to the minimum h (stated in Eq. (2)) is equal to 23.2 and the ow maldistribution parameter S (stated in Eq. (1)) is equal to 1.21. While for the improved header conguration F, the velocities of center outlet decrease and that of two sides increase obviously, which uniform the uid distribution in the header. So the velocity ratio h is reduced to 1.76 and the ow maldistribution parameter S is reduced to 0.209. Not only in the y-direction, but also in the direction of header length (z-direction), the uid distribution is improved greatly for the improved header conguration with punched bae. It can be concluded from above investigation that it is mainly the header improper conguration that results in the ow maldistribution. So the conventional header conguration A should be improved to enhance the uniformity of ow distribution in plate-n heat exchangers. 3.2. Improvement of header conguration For the improved header congurations, the velocities increase in the zone of two ends of header and decrease in the zone near the axial line. Thus, the uid ow is distributed more uniformly. Unfortunately, the pressure drop may increase for the uid resistance added by the bae wall, which is inevitable but not anticipated. So it is obliged to get the suitable bae conguration, such as the dimension, the area ratio of dierent holes and so on, for getting the optimum point of ow uniform distribution. 3.2.1. The eect of total area ratio The velocities near the center are large and that near the boundary are small for the conventional header conguration A. So the punched zone of the small-size holes (2R = 10 mm) is the center where it is corresponding to the cross-section of the inlet ow pipe. It is concentrated on the relationship between the total area of medium-size holes (2R = 20 mm) and that of big-size holes (2R = 30 mm) in the following. The dimension of conguration B, conguration C and conguration D is 670 260 5 mm3 and the number of medium-size holes increases gradually. A1, A2 and A3 are denoted as the total area of small, medium and big-size holes, respectively. And the area ratio A 0 is dened as follows:

Y mm

3.5 3.0 2.5

configuration A configuration F

Velocity (m/s)

2.0 1.5 1.0 0.5 0.0 0 5 10 15 20 25

Serials number
Fig. 17. Velocity distribution of dierent headers at Re = 6.0 104.

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J. Wen et al. / Cryogenics 46 (2006) 3748

A0

A2 A1 A2 A 3

3.0

The area ratio A 0 of the conguration B, C and D is 0.26, 0.33 and 0.40, respectively. The experimental results of the eect caused by parameters A 0 are illustrated in Fig. 18, where the average inlet Reynolds number is equal to 6.0 104. As the area ratio increases, the maldistribution parameters S of the three congurations are 0.381, 0.306 and 0.384 respectively, which are close to each other. The uniformity of ow distribution of conguration C (area ratio A 0 = 0.33) is the best. As the area ratio increases, the total area of medium-size holes increases while that of big-size decreases, so the number of holes increases and the inuence of the bae on ow distribution increases. On the other hand, the increase of area ratio results in the decrease of punched ratio and the ow resistance increases, so a combinative consideration of distribution uniformity and ow resistance should be done together. For the header with conguration C, it is suitable when area ratio is equal to 0.33, namely the total area of medium-size holes takes up 1/3 of the whole area of all the holes. 3.2.2. The eect of bae dimension In the experiment, the location where the bae is installed has been determined to the 1/2 height of the header, and the thickness of the bae is determined to 5 mm, so the bae is 260 mm in width. The diameters of the three kinds of holes are the same as described above. Fig. 19 shows the ow distribution performance along with the change of bae length at Re = 6.0 104, where conguration C is 2/3 of the header length and conguration E is 3/4 of the header length. The ow maldistribution parameter S of conguration C is 0.306 and that of conguration E is reduced to 0.279. As the bae length increases, the eect of bae on ow distribution is strengthened, so uid is distributed more uniformly. But on the other hand, the bae length increase may result in the increase of ow resistance and
3.0

2.5

Configuration C Configuration E

Velocity (m/s)

2.0

1.5

1.0

0.5

0.0 0 5 10 15 20 25

Serials number
Fig. 19. Velocity distribution versus bae length at Re = 6.0 104.

bring about the increase of pressure drops. The inuence of bae on ow distribution is signicant along with the increase of bae length since the maldistribution parameter S decreases and the ow is distributed more uniformly. Combinative consideration of the two factors, the bae length is selected as 670 mm in length, which is just 3/4 of the header length. 3.2.3. The eect of holes distribution The distribution characteristic of ow velocity and their dierences of conguration E and conguration F is shown in Fig. 20 to compare the eects of dierent holes distribution. The small holes in conguration E is in-line arrangement, while that of conguration F is in staggered arrangement. The inlet conditions are the same for dierent headers at Re = 6.0 104. When the small holes distribution is changed from inline arrangement to in staggered arrangement, the uniformity of ow distribution is enhanced eectively. The velocities of center outlet decrease and that of two sides

2.5

Configuration B, Configuration C, Configuration D,

A = 0.26 A = 0.33 A = 0.40

3.0

2.5

Velocity (m/s)

2.0

Configuration F Configuration E

1.5

Velocity (m/s)
0 5 10 15 20 25

2.0

1.5

1.0

1.0

0.5

0.5

0.0

0.0 0 5 10 15 20 25

Serials number
Fig. 18. Velocity distribution versus area ratio of medium-size holes at Re = 6.0 104.

Serials number
Fig. 20. Velocity distribution versus small holes arrangement at Re = 6.0 104.

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increase obviously. It is easily understood that the variation of small holes distribution increase the number of small holes in the bae, which intensies the eect of bae on the ow uniformly distribution. And when the holes distribution in bae is changed from in-line arrangement to in staggered arrangement, the punched ratio on bae will increase from 47% to 53%, which leads to the increase of ow area on the bae and the ow resistance brought about by bae necessarily decreases. It can be concluded from above investigation that the bae with staggered arranged holes is suitable to improve the ow distribution in header. The ow distribution is more uniform and the pressure drops are smaller. The improvement of header conguration with a stagger arranged bae should be selected rstly. 3.2.4. The eect of punched ratio When the bae conguration is determined as conguration F, the uid is distributed more uniformly than that of conventional header, the highest uid velocity decreases and the lowest velocity is enhanced greatly. For conguration F, the velocity distribution is mostly concentrated in the range of 1.0 and 1.5 m/s, which takes about 72.0% of the whole passages at Re = 6.0 104. The percentage of velocities between 0.8 and 1.0 m/s is 23.8%. And the velocity ratio h is 1.76. While for conguration A, the velocity distribution is concentrated between 0.1 and 1.0 m/s, which takes about 66.7% of the numbers of whole passages. The velocity ratio h is 23.2. From above discussion, the eect of header congurations on ow maldistribution is prominent. The ow velocity of the passages near the boundary can be enhanced eectively by changing the header conguration from A to F. The uid distribution of conguration F gives the most uniform result among the cases considered in this paper. From above discussion, it can be concluded that the determination of bae conguration has the relationship with the diameter of inlet tube, the length and diameter of header, the diameters and distribution of holes when the bae installation location has been dened. Fig. 21 shows the distribution of punched ratio, in which the staircase curve is drawn according to the realistic condition (conguration F) and the smooth curve is simulated from the former. The correlation of punched ratio along with the position in the direction of bae length (z-direction) under the ideal situation should be established as follows:  2 Z d 47:75 4 100 where d stands for the punched ratio (%) and Z stands for the Z position along with the bae length (mm). In practical condition, if the holes on bae can be punched according to the simulated smooth curve, we can get v.dA = const and the ow can be distributed more uniformly than the conguration F used here. In a word, the improved header installed with bae can eectively enhance the ow uniformity. It is noticeable that

70

Actual curve Expected curve

60

Punched ratio (%)

50

40 -400

-300

-200

-100

100

200

300

400

Z position (mm)
Fig. 21. Punched ratio versus z position along with the bae length for conguration F.

the bae conguration has the relationship with header conguration and uid ow condition, which must be in consideration in the optimization of bae conguration. It can be foreseen that uid ow can be distributed uniformly when the bae is suitable in length, the holes punched on it are distributed in stagger arrangement and the punched ratio increases gradually from the axial line to the boundary. 4. Conclusions Flow characteristics of ow eld in the header of platen heat exchanger have been investigated by means of particle image velocimetry (PIV), which breaks through the shortages of conventional measurement of single point, high workload and so on. The velocity elds were measured using the two-frame cross-correlation technique, which is carried out swiftly, reliably and correctly. A series of velocity vector and streamline graphs of dierent crosssections are achieved in the experiment. The experimental results indicate that performance of uid maldistribution is very serious in conventional header used in industry due to poor header conguration, while the improved header conguration with punched bae can eectively improve the performance of uid ow distribution in the header both in the axial direction (z-direction) and in the y-direction. When the bae is proper in length, the holes are distributed in staggered arrangement, and the punched ratio gradually increases from central axis along with the bae length, the ow maldistribution parameter S in plate-n heat exchanger has been reduced from 1.21 to 0.209, and the velocity ratio h is reduced from 23.2 to 1.76 by installing the bae. The uid ow distribution in plate-n heat exchanger is more uniform by the optimum design of the header conguration. The number of vortex decreases compared to that of conventional header conguration and then the energy loss caused by turbulent dissipation reduces, which can compensates for some of the

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J. Wen et al. / Cryogenics 46 (2006) 3748 [5] Fleming RB. The eect of ow distribution in parallel channels of counter-ow heat exchangers. Adv Cryog Eng 1967(December):352. [6] Chiou JP. The combined eects of maldistributions of inlet air temperature and the induced ow nonuniformity on the performance of radiator. Heat and oil cooler int cong SAE paper 850037, 1985. [7] Ranganayakulu Ch, Seetharamu KN. The combined eects of wall longitudinal heat conduction, inlet uid ow nonuniformity and temperature nonuniformity in compact tube-n heat exchangers: a nite element method. Int J Heat Mass Transfer 1999;42:26373. [8] Lalot S, Florent P, Lang SK, Berglles AE. Flow maldistribution in heat exchangers. Appl Therm Eng 1999;19:84763. [9] Jiao AJ, Li YZ, Chen CZ, Zhang R. Experimental investigation on uid ow maldistribution in plate-n heat exchanger. Heat Transfer Eng 2003;24(4):2531. [10] Zhang Z, Li YZ. CFD simulation on inlet conguration of plate-n heat exchanger. Cryogenics 2003;43(12):6738. [11] Wen J, Li Y. Study of ow distribution and its improvement on the header of plate-n heat exchanger. Cryogenics 2004;44:82331. [12] Weterweel J. Fundamentals of digital particle image velocimetry. Meas Sci Technol 1997;8(12):13927. [13] Funes-Gallanzi M. High accuracy measurement of unsteady ows using digital PIV. Opt Laser Technol 1999;30(3):4959. [14] Otsuka T, Wolanski P. Particle image velocimetry (PIV) analysis of ame structure. J Loss Prevent Process Indus 2001;14:5037. [15] Moreno D, Mendoza Santoyo F, Funes-Gallanzi M, Fernandez Orozco S. An optimum velocimetry data display method. Opt Laser Technol 2000;32:1218. [16] Eillert C, Rael M, Kompenhans J, Stasicki B, Kahler C. Recent applications of particle image velocimetry in aerodynamic research. Flow Meas Instrum 1996;7(3/4):24756.

pressure loss caused by the addition of the punched bae. The results validate that PIV is well suitable to investigate complex ow pattern. The bae is lower in cost and convenient in assembly, while the eect of the uid ow distribution uniformly by the improved conguration is obvious. The conclusion of this paper is of great signicance in the improvement of plate-n heat exchanger. Acknowledgements The paper is supported by the Doctor Foundation of Xian Jiaotong University (DFXJTU2004-02). The authors would like to thank the Ministry of Education, PR China and Xian Jiaotong University for their nancial support. References
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