Heat transfer enhancement in a fin and tube heat exchanger with isosceles vortex generators

A numerical study was carried out to analyze the thermal and dynamic performances of fin-and-tube heat exchanger provided with vortex generators (VGs) presented in this work. The VGs presented as a new design of isosceles shape of attack angles alpha = 0 degrees (Simple vortex generator), 5 degrees, 10 degrees, 15 degrees, 25 degrees, 35 degrees and 45 degrees. The computations based on a finite volume method with the SIMPLE algorithm have been conducted for the air flow in terms of Reynolds numbers ranging from 400 to 800. The heat transfer coefficients and pressure losses presented in terms of Nusselt number (Nu) and pressure difference (61)), respectively. The results show that the isosceles vortex generator (IVG) of alpha = 0 degrees presents an encouraging increase in heat transfer coefficients by 95%, and a moderate pressure drop penalty tend to 2.8 times compared with the Baseline case (tube without VGs), respectively. In addition, the IVG of alpha = 0 degrees assured the highest factors of thermal performance vary between 2.1 and 2.15 depending on the Reynolds number values.