Heat Transfer Performance and Flow Characteristics of Helical Baffle-Corrugated Tube Heat Exchanger

Heat exchangers are widely used in petrochemical and other industries. Improving the efficiency of heat exchangers to increase energy utilization is crucial. Passive enhanced heat transfer technology is widely studied in heat exchanger research due to its low energy consumption and simple operation. Helical baffle-corrugated tube heat exchangers have not been extensively studied as a promising new class of these devices. This paper investigates the key structural parameters of a helical baffle-corrugated heat exchanger through numerical simulation. This study focuses on the factors affecting heat transfer and flow resistance performance. The results show that reducing the helical angle from 28.42 degrees to 10.81 degrees increases the total heat transfer coefficient by approximately 20%. The overall performance of the heat exchanger is evaluated using the efficiency evaluation coefficient (EEC). Optimal levels of each structural factor are determined for different working conditions based on this evaluation.