The experimental procedure for determining the boiling heat transfer phenomena

of compact heat exchangers requires a specially designed Vapour Cycle System test rig. Our
objective is analyzing compact heat exchangers fin geometry through CFD Technique.
Experimental studies will give accurate results but requires more time and high cost.
Experimental studies cannot be done at preliminary stage of the design, can be done after
complete design and manufacturing of the product. Our attempt is to analyze the boiling heat
transfer phenomena for phase transformation application using CFD technique. This is done
by using commercially available package ANSYS CFX 12. We have taken a typical compact
heat exchanger fin geometry of 30 FPI and analyzed through CFD Technique, compared with
experimental data, thus validating our model. The working fluid used in the model is
Refrigerant R134a. This project work gives focus on analyzing and predicting boiling heat
transfer phenomena through CFD Technique.

CFD TOOL USED:- ANSYS CFX 12

GENERAL SYSTEMS
ENVIRONMENTAL CONTOL SYSTEMS (ECS)

HYDRAULIC SYSTEMS

FUEL SYSTEMS

SECONDARY POWER SYSTEMS

RADAR COOLING SYSTEM
AGGREGATES

ENVIRONMENTAL CONTOL SYSTEMS (ECS)

& LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEM

Bleed air control system

Cold air generation system
Temperature control system
Windscreen and canopy demist system
Avionics bay cooling system
RADAR cooling system
RADAR Pressurization system
Cabin sealing system
Cabin pressure control system
Cabin ventilation system
Cabin air distribution system
Air supply for fuel tank Pressurization
Ground cooling system for avionics & cabin
System controls, monitoring & indications

Objective of the study

To study the regimes of boiling and analyze.
Numerical prediction of boiling heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop characteristics of
strip fins used in heat exchanger.
Validation of CFD results with experimental data.
Outline of Thesis
This thesis is organized into 8 chapters beginning with the Introduction and concluding with the
results and discussions. The seventh and last chapter forms the conclusion and future scope of work.
Chapter 2, the current chapter, presents a brief introduction to the subject of compact heat
exchangers; classification, plate fin surfaces and defines the geometrical variables, and brings out the
relationship between the input and performance parameters. Chapter 3 contains detailed review of available
literature. It covers books and papers of general interest in the area of heat exchangers with special emphasis
on compact heat exchangers for boiling and outlines the objectives of the thesis.
Chapter 4 explains about the Numerical methods, the governing equations of CFD CFX solver and
HyperMesh. Chapter 5 contains Description of problem and geometry, the boundary conditions enforced and
convergence criteria. Chapter 6 focuses on the validation of the numerical results with experimental values.
Chapter 7 deals with the results and discussion of the present investigation.
Chapter 8 provides conclusion from the current study and recommendation for further research .

1.INTRODUCTION
Boiling and Compact Heat Exchangers for Phase Change
Boiling heat transfer can be applied to heat exchange processes and energy conversion. The
requirements for smaller flow passages, such as that of minichannels and microchannels,
arise from the need for heat transfer enhancement. The increased heat flux dissipation in
microscale devices and the rapid emergence of Microscale devices and heat exchangers that
need cooling are overwhelming the industry
Two-phase cooling with phase change allows much larger increases in heat dissipation than
single-phase cooling. The main advantage of having a boiling flow system than a single phase
flow system is that larger amounts of thermal energy can be carried through the latent heat of
vaporisation than by the specific heat capacity of the liquid alone.
Applications
The traditional areas of compact heat exchanger applications such as aerospace, automotive,
cryogenics continue to demand for even higher heat transfer with further shrinking of available
space, there is large number of new areas coming up in the usage of compact heat
exchangers.
These include areas such as cooling of electronic equipment, cooling of LASER and related
technologies, cooling technology for fuel cells etc. A number of traditional industries have also
turned towards compact heat exchangers including chemical process industry, power industry,
and food & beverages industry. The usage of compact heat exchangers for multi-phase flow
is another area in which a lot of attention has been paid in the recent years

Boiling Phenomena
Heat transfer primarily combines one or several of the following mechanisms:
conduction, convection, radiation, condensation, and boiling. In this review we are primarily
concerned with the boiling mechanism.
Boiling is defined as the process of phase changing the state of a substance from liquid to vapour by
heating it past its boiling point. Different types of boiling can be defined according to the geometric
situation and to the mechanism occurring.
1.Geometry

Pool Boiling: where the heat is transferred to a stagnant fluid.

Flow boiling: where the fluid has a velocity relative to the heating surface.
2. Heat Transfer Mechanisms

Nucleate Boiling: where heat is transferred by means of vapor bubbles nucleating, growing and
finally detaching from the surface.

Convective boiling: where heat is conducted through the liquid and this one evaporates at the
liquid- vapor interface without bubble formation.

Film boiling: where the heat is transferred by conduction and radiation through a film of vapor that
covers the heated surface and the liquid vaporizes at the vapor liquid interface.

Nucleate boiling and film boiling may occur in both pool boiling and flow boiling, while forced
convective boiling occurs only in flow boiling.

In addition, if the temperature of the liquid is below the saturation temperature, the process is called
subcooled boiling, whereas if the liquid is maintained at the saturation temperature the process is
known saturated boiling.

Pool Boiling

Fig: Typical Boiling Curve and heat transfer mechanism for Water at 1 Atm Pressure

Pool boiling is defined as boiling from a hot solid surface submerged in an extensive volume
of liquid which, apart from any convection induced by the boiling process, is stagnant. The
relationship between heat flux q and the wall superheat is known as the boiling curve, and
qualitatively illustrated for saturated pool boiling in Figure

Flow Boiling and Two Phase Flow

Fig: Illustration of forced convective boiling with qualitative temperature profile for a uniform heat flux
boundary condition.
Region I being identified as forced convection, where an increase in the heat transfer coefficient occurs with
increasing flow velocity. During the fully developed nucleate boiling region of the curve, different flow regimes
can exist in the bulk such as bubbly, slug, plug and annular flows, see Figure These flow regimes, as
illustrated in Figure are typical inside and along the length of macrochannels. In annular flows, when the
liquid film at the wall becomes very thin, nucleate boiling is restrained and the heat removal is by evaporation
at the thin liquid film. The critical heat flux (CHF) occurs when this thin liquid film dries out, also known as
the dry-out condition.

Flow Patterns

Fig: Illustration of flow patterns observed in a vertical up flow inside a macrochannel

During flow boiling in a

macroscale
channel,
several flow patterns exist
depending on the applied
heat flux to the channel and
inlet flow conditions
There has been a lot of
experimental
work
performed in the literature
on flow pattern analysis in
macrochannels.
The
identification of flow patterns
in
macrochannels
is
important, as the basis for a
model
and
also
for
predicting particular liquid
flow and heat transfer
phenomena.

Bubbly flow: The gas phase is dispersed in the form of discrete bubbles in the continuous liquid
phase. The bubbles may vary widely in size and shape but are typically nearly spherical and smaller
than the diameter of the tube.
Intermittent or slug flow: Bubble collision and coalescence at increased void fraction results in larger
bubbles that will eventually fill the tube diameter and become elongated. These bubbles, bullet shaped
with a hemispherical nose and a blunt tail end, are commonly known as Taylor bubbles.
Annular flow: The liquid flows in a thin film on the wall while the gas flows as a continuous phase in
the center of the tube. The interface is disturbed by high frequency waves and ripples and liquid may
be entrained in the gas core as small droplets.

R134a Refrigerant Boiling

HFC refrigerant R-134a is one of the most widely used refrigerant in many home,
automobile and aircraft air conditioning systems. With the increasing demand for energy
conservation and space saving, the design of more efficient and compact air conditioning
systems is increasingly important, resulting in wide applications of minichannels
evaporators not only in high-tech sects such as aeronautical and aerospace fields, but
also in conventional industries.
Consequently, flow boiling heat transfer in minichannels has received considerable
investigations in the last 20 years and is still an intense research spot. A number of
correlations for flow boiling hear transfer have been proposed, among which most are
empirically formulated from data analysis.
However, flow boiling heat transfer of R-134a in minichannels remains a problem
unsolved and controversial opinions are not uncommon. The main objective of this thesis
is to develop a better flow boiling heat transfer correlation for R-134a in minichannels.

2.COMPACT HEAT EXCHANGERS

A heat exchanger is a device that is used to transfer thermal energy (enthalpy) between
two or more uids, between a solid surface and a uid, or between solid particulates and
a uid, at dierent temperatures and in thermal contact. In heat exchangers, there are
usually no external heat and work interactions.
Compact plate fin heat exchangers are widely used in aerospace, automobile, cryogenic
and chemical industries. They are characterized by high effectiveness, compactness (high
surface area density), low weight and moderate cost. Although these exchangers have
been extensively used around the world for several decades, the technologies related to
their design and manufacture remain confined to a few companies in developed
countries. Recently efforts are being made in India towards the development of small
plates fin heat exchangers for cryogenic and aerospace applications. This thesis
constitutes a part of this overall effort. Its focus, however, is on the boiling heat transfer
applicable to all plate fin heat exchangers.
Typical applications involve heating or cooling of a uid stream of concern and
evaporation or condensation of single- or multicomponent uid streams. In other
applications, the objective may be to recover or reject heat, or sterilize, pasteurize,
fractionate, distill, concentrate, crystallize, or control a process uid. In a few heat
exchangers, the uids exchanging heat are in direct contact. In most heat exchangers,
heat transfer between uids takes place through a separating wall or into and out of a
wall in a transient manner.

Compact plate fin heat exchangers

A compact plate fin heat exchanger is an exchanger consisting of a block of alternating

layers of corrugated fins and flat separators known as parting sheets. A schematic view of
such an exchanger is given in fig
The corrugations serve both as secondary heat transfer surface and as mechanical support
against the internal pressure between layers. Streams exchange het by flowing along the
passages made by the corrugations between the parting sheets. The edges of corrugated
layers are sealed by sidebars. Corrugations and sidebars are brazed to the parting sheets
on both sides to form rigid pressure containing voids. The first and last sheets called cap
sheets are usually of thicker material than the parting sheets to support the excess pressure
over the ambient and to give protection against physical damage. Each stream enters the
block from its own header via ports in the sidebars of appropriate layers and leaves in a
similar fashion. The header tanks are welded to the side bars and parting sheets across the
full stack of layers.

Merits and drawbacks

High thermal effectiveness and close temperature approach.

Large heat transfer surface area per unit volume.
Low weight
Multi-stream operation

Disadvantages

Limited range of temperature and pressure.

Difficulty in cleaning of passages, which limits its application to clean and relatively
non-corrosive fluids
Difficulty to repair in case of failure or leakage between passages.

Materials

Plate fin heat exchanges can be made in variety of materials. Aluminium is preferred in
cryogenic and aerospace applications because of low density, high thermal conductivity
and high strength at low temperature.
The maximum design pressure for brazed aluminium plate fin heat exchangers is
around 90 bars. At temperatures above ambient, most aluminium alloys lose
mechanical strength.
Stainless steels, nickel and copper alloys have been used at temperatures up to 500
C. The brazing material in case of aluminium exchangers is an aluminium alloy of lower
melting point, while that used in stainless steel exchangers a nickel based alloy with
appropriate melting and welding characteristics.

Manufacture

The basic principles of plate fin heat exchanger manufacture are the same for all
sizes and all materials. The corrugations, sidebars, parting sheets and cap sheets are
held together in a jig under a predefined load, place in a furnace and brazed to form
the plate fin heat exchanger block.
The header tanks and nozzles are then welded to the block, taking care that the
brazed joints remain intact during the welding process.
The methods in common use are salt bath brazing and vacuum brazing.

Applications

Boiling
Refrigeration systems
Exchange of heat between gases, liquids or both.
Condensation, including partial and reflux condensation.
air-conditioning

Flow arrangement
(i) parallel flow,
(ii) counter flow
(iii) cross flow.
Thermodynamically, the counter flow arrangement
provides the highest heat (or cold) recovery, while
the parallel flow geometry gives the lowest.

Plate fin surfaces

The performance of the plate fin heat
exchanger is determined, among other
things, by geometry of the fins. The most
common fin configurations are (i) Plain
(straight and uninterrupted ) fins with
rectangular, trapezoidal or triangular
passages, (ii) uninterrupted wavy fins and
(iii) interrupted fins such as offset strip,
louvered, perforated and pin fins.

Fig: (a) Plain Rectangular fin (b) Plain Trapezoidal fin (c) Wavy
fin
(d) Lanced & Offset fin (e) Louvered fin (f ) Perforated

This is the most widely used fin geometry in high performance plate fin heat exchangers. It consist of
a type of interrupted surface, which may be visualized as set of plain fins cut normal to the flow
direction at regular intervals, each segment being offset laterally by half the fin spacing in the fig.
Surface interruption enhances heat transfer by two independent mechanisms. First, it prevents the
continuous growth of thermal boundary layer by periodically interrupting it. The thinner boundary layer
offers lower thermal resistance compare to continuous fin types. Above a critical Reynolds number,
interrupted surfaces offer an additional mechanism of heat transfer enhancement.
The heat transfer performance of offset strip fin is often as much as 5 times that of plain fin surface of
comparable geometry, but at the expense of higher-pressure drop. For specified heat transfer and
pressure drop requirements.
An undesirable characteristic of this type of fin is that at high Reynolds numbers the friction factors
remains nearly constant, while the heat transfer performance goes down. Therefore offset fins are
used less frequency in very high Reynolds number applications.
In the other hand, they are extensively used in air separation, boiling and other cryogenic applications
where mass velocities are low and high thermal effectiveness is essential.

3.LITERATURE SURVEY
1.Compact heat exchangers for phase change by Wadekar VV [2]
2.CFD simulation of forced convective boiling in heated channels by Botjan Konar,
Eckhard Krepper [3]
3.Three-dimensional simulation of saturated film boiling on a horizontal cylinder by
Gihun Son, Vijay K. Dhir [4]
International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer
4.Numerical analysis of vapor bubble growth and wall heat transfer during flow boiling of
water in a microchannel by Abhijit Mukherjee, Satish G. Kandlikar [5]
Proceedings of ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition
5.Correlating Evaporation Heat Transfer Coefficient Refrigerant R-134a in a Plate Heat
Exchanger by Vincent D. Donowski and Satish G. Kandlikar [6]
6.Analysis of heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics in an offset strip n heat exchanger
by H. Bhowmik, Kwan-Soo Lee [7]
7.Flow boiling heat transfer of ammonia/water mixture in a plate heat exchanger.
Francisco Taboas a, Manel Valle`s b, Mahmoud Bourouis b,*, Alberto Coronas b
International Journal of refrigeration.

8.Two-phase pressure drop of refrigerants during flow boiling in small channels: an

experimental investigation and correlation development.
T.N. Trana,*, M.-C. Chyub, M.W. Wambsganssa, D.M. Francec
International Journal of Multiphase Flow.
9.Refrigerant R134a vaporization heat transfer and pressure drop inside a small brazed plate
heat exchanger.
G.A. Longo*, A. Gasparella
International Journal of refrigeration.
10. An experimental study of flow boiling in a rectangular channel with offset- strip fins.
Byongjoo Kim a,*, Byonghu Sohn b
International Journal of Heat and Fluid Flow.
11. Review of saturated flow boiling in small passages of compact heat-exchangers.
Barbara Watel
International Journal of Thermal Sciences.
12. Experimental heat transfer coefficients during refrigerant vaporization and condensation
inside herringbone-type plate heat exchangers with enhanced surfaces.
G.A. Longo a,*, A. Gasparella a, R. Sartori b
International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer.

Summary of literature

It was concluded from the existing literature is that very few work has been
done for understanding the boiling heat transfer phenomena for evaporation
application and effective usage of Compact Heat Exchangers.
The literature survey reveals that R134a is the best suitable refrigerant for
our problem and desired test rig.
Computational methods and numerical methods are well established and
are reliable to carry out fluid flow analysis
The present work is carried out in order to investigate the boiling heat
transfer coefficient of R134a for offset strip fins
The aim of this work is to report Numerical determination of the flow boiling
heat transfer coefficient as a function of mass flux and heat flux for offset fin
geometry using ANSYS CFX 12.

4.Numerical Methods

Fluid dynamics deals with the dynamic behavior of fluids and its mathematical
interpretation is called as Computational Fluid Dynamics. Fluid dynamics is governed
by sets of partial differential equations, which in most cases are difficult or rather
impossible to obtain analytical solution. CFD is a computational technology that
enables the study of dynamics of things that flow.
The Physical aspects of any fluid flow are governed by three fundamental principles:
Mass, Momentum and Energy is conserved. These fundamental principles can be
expressed in terms of mathematical equations, which in their most general form are
usually partial differential equations. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is the
science of determining a numerical solution to the governing equations of fluid flow
whilst advancing the solution through space or time to obtain a numerical description
of the complete flow field of interest.
Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) thus provides a qualitative (and sometimes
even quantitative) prediction of fluid flows by means of Mathematical modeling (partial
differential equations) Numerical methods (discretization and solution techniques)
Software tools (solvers, pre- and post processing utilities) CFD enables scientists and
engineers to perform numerical experiments (i.e. Computer simulations) in a virtual
flow laboratory real experiment CFD simulation.

Governing Equations in CFD

There are mainly three equations we solve in computational fluid dynamics problem.
They are Continuity equation, Momentum equation (Navier Stokes equation) and
Energy equation. The flow of most fluids may be analyzed mathematically by the use
of two equations. The first, often referred to as the Continuity Equation, requires that
the mass of fluid entering a fixed control volume either leaves that volume or
accumulates within it. It is thus a "mass balance" requirement posed in mathematical
form, and is a scalar equation. The other governing equation is the Momentum
Equation, or Navier-Stokes Equation, and may be thought of as a "momentum
balance".
The Navier-Stokes equations are vector equations, meaning that there is a separate
equation for each of the coordinate directions (usually three).

Continuity Equation
It defines that as a radius of the pipe decreases the speed of fluid flow must increase
and visa-versa. A continuity equation expresses a conservation law by Equating a
net flux over a surface with a loss or gain of material within the surface. Continuity
equations often can be expressed in either integral or differential form as shown
below.

V dA
dA 0

cs

cv

This is a statement of the principle of mass conservation for a steady, one-dimensional

flow, with one inlet and one outlet.

Momentum (Navier Stokes) Equations

The momentum equation is a statement of Newton's Second Law and relates the
sum of the forces acting on an element of fluid to its acceleration or rate of change of
momentum. The Newtons second law of motion F = ma forms the basis of the
momentum equation.

Energy Equation
In situations where the fluid may be
treated as incompressible and
temperature differences are small,
the continuity and momentum
equations are sufficient to specify
the velocities and pressure (that is,
four equations (Continuity + 3Momentum)

Introduction to CFX
Capability of CFX Solver

This software has various modelling capabilities that can be used in numerous kinds
of analysis and application. Among its capabilities are listed below (CFX Manual
Program Capabilities 2004):
Flows in 2D or 3D geometries are using unstructured solution-adaptive
triangular/tetrahedral, quadrilateral/hexahedral, or mixed (hybrid) grids that include
prisms (wedges) or pyramids.
Incompressible or compressible flows
Steady-state or transient analysis
In viscid, laminar, and turbulent flows
Newtonian or non-Newtonian flow
Convective heat transfer, including natural or forced convection
Coupled conduction/convective heat transfer
Radiation heat transfer
Two-phase flows, including cavitations

CFX solver formulations

Segregated
Coupled implicit
Coupled explicit
ANSYS CFX uses a coupled solver, which solves the hydrodynamic
equations (for u, v, w, p) as a single system. This solution approach uses a
fully implicit discretization of the equations at any given time step. For
steady state problems, the time-step behaves like an acceleration
parameter, to guide the approximate solutions in a physically based manner
to a steady-state solution. This reduces the number of iterations required for
convergence to a steady state, or to calculate the solution for each time step
in a time-dependent analysis

Coupled solver Solution Loop

The flow chart shown below illustrates the general field

solution process used in the CFX-Solver.
The solution of each set of field equations shown in the flow
chart consists of two numerically intensive operations. For
each time step:
Coefficient Generation: The non-linear equations are
linearized and assembled into the solution matrix.
Equation Solution: The linear equations are solved using an
Algebraic Multigrid method.
When solving fields in the CFX-Solver, the outer (or time
step) iteration is controlled by the physical time scale or time
step for steady and transient analyses, respectively. Only one
inner (linearization) iteration is performed per outer iteration
in steady state analyses, whereas multiple inner iterations
are performed per time step in transient analyses.

Steps involved in solving problem

First create the grid of appropriate dimensions and with appropriate step length to
specify the problem domain in Hypermesh.
Create geometries like Vertices at appropriate grid points.
Create lines joining two vertices.
Create Areas selecting all the lines.
Create Boundary Mesh around the cylinder.
Create Face Mesh to rest of the model.
Give the Boundary Conditions for entire domain.
Save it and export it to mesh file.
Read the file in CFX and check the mesh and scale the model.
Enter values for boundary conditions, operating conditions etc.
Selecting the appropriate solver to solve the problem.
Solve the problem by initializing from velocity inlet and specifying the number of
iterations.
Solve the problem and note down the results.

The Thermal Phase Change Model

This model describes phase change induced by interphase heat transfer; it

may be used to simulate boiling and condensation, or melting and
solidification. For example, it may be used to model condensation of
saturated vapor bubbles in sub-cooled liquid, or evaporation of saturated
bubbles in superheated liquid.
It is essential to consider the heat transfer processes on each side of the
phase interface. Hence, the Two Resistance model for interphase heat
transfer must be used in conjunction with the Thermal Phase Change
model. For details, see The Two Resistance Model In this case, the
sensible heat flux to phase from the interface is

and the sensible heat flux to phase from the interface is:

h and h are the phase and phase heat transfer coefficients respectively.
The interfacial temperature is determined from considerations of thermodynamic equilibrium. Ignoring effects
of surface tension on pressure, assume Ts=Tsat, the saturation temperature.

In the case of interphase mass transfer, the interphase mass transfer is

determined from the total heat balance, as follows.
Total heat flux to phase from the interface:

Total heat flux to phase from the interface:

denotes mass flux into phase from phase .

and

represent interfacial values of enthalpy carried into and out of

the phases due to phase change

Wall Boiling Model

Wall boiling starts when the wall temperature achieves a temperature which is sufficiently
large to initiate the activation of wall nucleation sites. This activation temperature is
typically a few degrees above the saturation temperature. However, at this stage, the
average temperature of the liquid in the vicinity of the heated wall is still well below the
saturation temperature, hence in the sub-cooled boiling regime.
Evaporation starts in the microscopic cavities and crevices, which are always present on
the solid surface. Liquid becomes supersaturated locally in these nucleation sites, leading
to the growth of vapor bubbles at the sites. The bubbles become detached from the sites
when they are sufficiently large that external forces (inertial, gravitational, or turbulent)
exceed the surface tension forces that keep them attached to the wall. As the bubbles
depart from the wall, they are displaced by superheated liquid in the vicinity of the
nucleation sites, after which the nucleation site is free to create another bubble. In regions
of the wall not affected by bubble growth, the wall heat transfer to the liquid may be
described by single phase convective heat transfer.
The first and most well-known model of this kind was formulated by Kurul and Podowski
(1991), from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. It is known as the RPI model. In this
model, a number of the sub-models of the overall mechanistic model were taken from
correlations originally developed for exploitation in one-dimensional thermo-hydraulic
simulation methods. This model was implemented in CFX-4, with the near-wall distance
taking the place of the centerline wall distance in the one-dimensional models.
Unfortunately, this lead to results that were strongly mesh-dependent.
In the implementation in CFX-5.7.1, Egorov et al. formulated modifications of the onedimensional correlations with the aim of restoring mesh independence to the results.

PROCEDURE COMPUTATIONAL METHOD

The steps to obtain a proper solution for the flow of a fluid in CFX are
Pre Processing: Consisting in the construction of geometry, the generation of the mesh on
the surfaces or volumes. This stage is done with the software HyperMesh, linked to CFX.
The geometry can be also imported from other CAD softwares like CATIA. For creating the
mesh there are different options that HyperMesh provides. For 3D there are structured
meshes of quadrilateral faces and other faces easier to develop like the triangles.
Transporting the problem to 3D, hexahedral and pyramidal (tetrahedral) volumes can be
carried out.
Definition of boundary conditions and other parameters, initial conditions, before starting a
simulation in CFX, the mesh has to be checked and scaled and modified if necessary. The
physical models have to be tackled. This includes the choice of compressibility, viscosity,
heat transfer considerations, laminar or turbulent flow, steady or time dependant flow. The
boundary conditions have to be clear because they specify the information of the state of
the flow in the determined zones: walls, symmetries, inlet air, outlet air, etc.
Resolution of the problem, which is done through iteration until the convergence of the
variables is obtained. First of all, the variables of the flow have to be initialized and set to
be computed from a certain part specified by the user. In this stage the equations of the
flow are solved. The values of the pressures are constantly updated and corrected through
iterations. The convergence is checked until it reaches the criterion value set by the user.
Post Processing or analysis of the results computed. There are lots of choices: Contours,
X-Y plots, velocity vectors, path lines. In them, several variables can be analyzed: velocity,
pressure, turbulence, forces, density and others.

5.COMPACT HEAT EXCHANGER CFD

ANALYSIS
Description of problem and geometry

The system consists of the major components such as variable speed

reciprocating compressor, condenser, evaporator, cooling system, data
acquisition and processor system with suitable instrumentation and digital
display. R134a will be used as refrigerant. Lanced-offset fins of 30FPI are
used on both refrigerant and water side.
The R134a coming out of the evaporator will be in the form of full vapor, in
case the fluid is not in full vapor, the same should be converted to full vapor
in the super heater. It is required to ensure that the refrigerant is fully
converted to vapor form before entering into compressor.

Bleed less Vapor Cycle

System

Lanced and offset strip fin channel dimensions

Table shows the three-dimensional section of the geometry that was considered for the
present study. Each fin has lance length (I), thickness (t), height (h), spacing (s). Table 2.1
summarizes the flow channel dimensions for the baseline heat exchanger design. The
dimensions that were chosen for the baseline heat exchanger geometry were based upon
some initial sensitivity studies that were performed based on the thermal design.

Since the heat exchanger geometry is different from those reviewed in the literature and due to the
other constrains the analytical correlations that are derived in the literature do not suit the heat
exchanger calculations under study. Hence, it was decided to use CFD techniques to perform the
overall performance and optimizations analysis of the heat exchanger. The fluid flow and heat
transfer of the heat exchanger were performed using ANSYS CFX, a finite volume code based on a
set of governing equations and boundary conditions.

Geometric Model Creation

Geometric Model of Compact Heat exchanger

Geometric Model of Compact Heat exchanger sector 1o-Isometric

View

Total No of elements= 1 millions

CFD Domain Mesh

Close View of Heat exchanger channel mesh

Boundary conditions
Following are the assumptions incurred on the present analysis:
1.Flow is Turbulent
2.Flow is steady
3.Coupled implicit solver

Convergence Criteria

The iterative process is repeated until the change in the variable from one iteration to the next becomes so small that the
solution can be considered converged.
At convergence:
All discrete conservation equations (momentum, energy, etc.) are obeyed in all cells to a specified tolerance.
The solution no longer changes with additional iterations.
Mass, momentum, energy and scalar balances are obtained.
Residuals measure imbalance (or error) in conservation equations.The convergence of the simulations is said to be
achieved when all the residuals reach the required convergence criteria. These convergence criteria are found by
monitoring the in the drag. The convergence criterion for the continuity equation is 1E-4 and it is set to 1E-3 for the
momentum, k and equations.

Grid Independence study

The main objective of the grid independence study

1) Verification of mesh correctness for the problem
2) Examination of the solution sensitivity from the mesh changes (refinement
and coarsening) and
3) Selection of the optimal mesh for the problem under consideration.

6.RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

Contours of Pressure at mid plane

The pressure drop is 22.59 Pa to 16.45 Pa at the mid plane is shown

Contours of Velocity at mid plane

The velocity at the mid plane is 0.05m/s 0.07 m/s as shown in fig

Liquid Temperature

The temperature of R134a (liquid) is almost constant and same as inlet, about -3C (270K) and slight variation
around 3C (273.54K) can be observed from fig

Vapour Temperature

The temperature of R134a (vapor) is constant throughout the channel. Heat transfer took place through
latent heat of vaporization at constant temperature

Liquid volume fraction

The inlet quality of R134a is 1(liquid) and outlet is 0.98. It is observed in fig
By modelling the full heat exchanger it can be clearly observed that liquid converting into vapor, i.e. quality 1-0. Modelling and analysis of
complete heat exchanger is not possible because of computation limitation and other constraints.

Vapour volume fraction

The inlet quality of R134a is 1(vapor) and outlet is 0.99.

Boiling Heat Transfer coefficient

For modeling purposes, accurate heat transfer correlations are needed to properly
design heat exchangers. The boiling heat transfer coefficient is defined as:

where q is the heat flux from the wall of the solid substrate into the fluid, Tw is the wall
temperature, and Tfluid is the bulk fluid temperature, which in saturated boiling is Tsat, the
saturation temperature at the prevailing pressure P.

Input test points

Test case

Reduced

Refrigerant

Mass flow

Wall Heat Flux

Heat Transfer

no.

pressure(bar)

temperature

Q m3/s

W/m2

Coefficient

TC

W/m2K

1
2
3
4

2.5-4.8

-3C(270K)

0.044

2000

347.42

3000

421.04

4000

535.39

5000

685.65

The value of boiling heat transfer coefficient h b obtained from

experiment and CFD analysis is 590 w/m2k and 535.39w/m2k
respectively
for
heat
flux
of
4000
w/m2

7. VALIDATION OF NUMERICAL
RESULTS

Boiling of R134a in a plate-fin heat exchanger having offset fins

experiment was conducted by Dr.Ch.Ranganayakulu1 at Institute of Thermodynamics,
Helmut Schmidt University of the Federal Armed Forces, Holstenhofweg, Hamburg,
Germany. This paper presents experimental results on boiling heat transfer of R134a
in a compact plate fin heat exchanger. He has conducted experiments on lance &
offset fin having geometry, fin density of 30 FPI, fin height 2.54 mm, fin thickness
0.1016mm and serration length of 1.588mm The exchanger is made of aluminum
and has high density offset fins (30 fins/inch). The results are presented for heat
fluxes up to 5500 W/m2 and mass fluxes up to 20 kg/(m2s) with water side flow rate
varying from 0.033 to 0.17 kg/s for water temperatures of 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 C.

The CFD analysis carried out using Ansys-CFX software for the above fin geometry.
The heat transfer coefficient was generated for refrigerant side by keeping water side
as constant heat flux boundary condition. The CFD results have been compared with
the experimental results conducted by Dr. C Ranganayakulu1. The comparison results
of CFD and experimental are shown in the graph-7.1.

From the above results it is observed that CFD results are in close agreement with
experimental results. The overall error is about 10%, which is acceptable. It is also
observed that the percentage increase in heat transfer coefficient for 2000w/m 2 3000w/m2 is 21% and for 3000w/m2 -4000w/m2 is 27%.

8.CONCLUSION AND FUTURE

SCOPE OF WORK

CONCLUSION

CFD analysis has been carried out using ANSYS CFX software for study of boiling heat transfer
coefficient of compact plate fin heat exchanger for real and ideal cases using thermal phase
change model which has latent heat application. This is compared with experimental results
conducted by Dr. C. Ranganayakulu1 at Institute of Thermodynamics, Helmut Schmidt University
of the Federal Armed Forces, Holstenhofweg, Hamburg, Germany. It is observed from graph that,
with increase in heat flux, the heat transfer coefficient also increases.
The heat transfer coefficient was generated for refrigerant side by keeping water side as
constant heat flux. This is done using function calculator of ANSYS CFX software. For validation
of numerical investigation it is compared with experimental result and the error is noticed about
15%.
The heat transfer coefficient increases from 21% - 27 % in the heat flux range of 3000w/m 2
-4000w/m2, where as in the heat flux range of 4000w/m 2 -5000w/m2 the heat transfer coefficient
increases from 27% - 28 %.
From above results it is conclude that CFD analysis shall give fair results for boiling heat transfer
analysis, hence the expensive experiments cost and time may be avoided.

THE SCOPE OF FUTURE WORK

Generation of data for boiling heat transfer 'hb' & friction factor 'f 'and correlation using
further CFD analysis.
Development of wavy fin correlation for refrigerant R134a and other fluids.

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Thank You