Thermal-hydraulic characteristics of plate-fin heat exchangers with corrugated/vortex-generator plate-fin (CVGPF)

Plate-fin heat exchangers (PFHEs), after tubular heat exchangers, are the most common types of heat exchange instruments in thermal engineering applications. In the present work, a new design of the plate fin, namely, corrugated/vortex-generator plate-fin (CVGPF), is proposed and studied. It is designed based on the corrugated plate-fin (CPF) and the vortex-generator plate-fin (VGPF) configurations. It is anticipated that this enhanced plate-fin can be a great choice in the PFHEs. Influences of the most effective geometrical parameters of CPF, VGPF, and CVGPF on thermal-hydraulic performances of the PFHEs are investigated and appraised. Water/ethylene glycol mixtures (100:0, 90:10, and 75:25 by mass) are selected as working fluid to examine the effects of coolant. The results show that at the same geometrical and, operating conditions, the CVGPF channel has the best thermal-hydraulic performances, and the CPF and VGPF channels come in the second and third, respectively. It is also detected that the working fluid with the higher mass fraction of ethylene glycol has lower values of Nusselt number, and the effect of that on the friction factor is not considerable. However, the overall thermal-hydraulic performances of all plate-fins improve, as the mass fraction of ethylene glycol in the working fluid increases. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.