An experimental investigation of heat transfer in a spiral-coil tube with pulsating turbulent water flow

In this study, in order to increase the heat transfer rate in a spiral-coil tube by an active method, a rotating ball valve was mounted downstream/upstream of the spiral-coil tube and used as a pulse generator. Influence of pulsation on heat transfer in the spiral-coil tube was experimentally investigated. Cold water was used as a working fluid inside the spiral-coil that was immersed horizontally in a hot water reservoir tank. The Average temperature of the hot water bath was kept constant at 60 A degrees C to establish a uniform temperature. All experiments for both pulsator locations (upstream and downstream pulsation) were performed at fixed pulsation amplitude. Reynolds number was ranged from 6220 to 16,300 while pulsation frequency was varied from 0 to 20 Hz. It can be clearly observed from heat transfer results that the overall average heat transfer coefficient was enhanced up to 26 % for pulsating flow compared to steady flow without pulsation at all pulsation frequencies. It is also clear that the relative overall average heat transfer coefficient is strongly affected by Reynolds number. Finally, it was obtained that the upstream pulsation heat transfer coefficient has better heat transfer results than the corresponding ones of downstream pulsation in the studied range of Reynolds number.