Investigation of Heat-Transfer Process in Plate Heat Exchanger in Two Fluid-Flow Configurations

In this study, the thermal behavior of a plate heat exchanger (PHE) in two fluid-flow configurations (cocurrent and countercurrent) is investigated. A numerical analysis of the heat exchanger (HX) thermal effectiveness is carried out. For both considered fluid-flow configurations, a one-dimensional mathematical model based on the steady flow energy balance for a differential length of the device is developed, resulting in a set of N first-order differential equations with boundary conditions where N is the number of channels. For both cases, for specific HX geometry and operational parameters, the problem is numerically solved using the shooting method. The simulation allows the prediction of the temperature map in the HX and, hence, the evaluation of its performances. A parametric analysis is performed to evaluate the influence of the R-parameter on the epsilon-number of transfer unit (NTU) values. All results of the two simulation programs corresponding to the two fluid-flow configurations considered in this study are discussed and compared. It was found that, in the two fluid-flow configurations and for a specified value of R parameter, the effectiveness of the PHE monotonically increases with an increase of NTU. Nevertheless, this increase is more pronounced in the countercurrent configuration where PHE effectiveness is always higher for fixed values of NTU and R parameter. The results of the simulation are broadly in agreement with those from the literature.