Effect of Corrugated Baffles on the Flow and Thermal Fields in a Channel Heat Exchanger

The performance of corrugated baffles inserted in a rectangular channel heat exchanger is investigated. The fluid flows and thermal distribution are determined via numerical simulations. The working fluid has a shear thinning behavior. The influence of the baffle design is explored, we interest to the "wavy" shape. The corrugation angle of baffle (alpha) is changed from 0 degrees (i.e. a straight baffle) to 45 degrees. Also, the height (h) of the corrugated baffle is changed and three cases are considered, namely: h/H = 0.4, 0.5 and 0.6, where "H" is the channel height. In comparison with the unbaffled channel, the overall performance factor has increased from 1.27 up to 1.53 when the corrugation angle is increased from 0 degrees to 45 degrees. Concerning the corrugation height, the predicted results allowed us to select the case h/H= 0.5 as the best configuration from the cases studied.