Experimental Investigation of Three Pass Helical Coil Heat Exchanger Keeping Constant Mass Flow Rate of Tube Fluid

Abstract

Heat exchanger is an adiabatic steady flow, open system in which two flowing fluid exchange or transfer heat without loosing or gaining any to the ambient. Heat exchangers are the important engineering systems with vast variety of applications including power generation, heating ventilation and air conditioning systems, nuclear, heat recovery systems, food and paper industries and many more. Helical coil structure configuration is very effective for heat exchangers because it can enhance and provide a large heat transfer area in a smaller space, with high heat transfer coefficients and effectiveness for better performance result. Improving the heat transfer by the use of helical coils structural design has been researched by many scholars because of the fluid dynamics inside the pipes of a heat exchangers offers some advantages over a design of straight tubes, shell and tube heat exchanger, in terms of better thermal and heat transfer performance enhancement. The centrifugal force due to the structural design curvature of the tube results in the secondary flow development which enhances the efficiency of heat transfer. The variation of the pressure drop is maximum for minimum inclination angle and it is improved as the helical angle increases. From experimental analysis, heat transfer rate, log mean temperature difference, overall heat transfer coefficient, thermal efficiency, Reynolds number, Nusselt number and Friction factor is investigated.