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Comparative study on performance of a zigzag printed circuit heat exchanger with various channel shapes and configurations

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Abstract

Comparative study has been performed with various channel cross-sectional shapes and channel configurations of a zigzag printed circuit heat exchanger (PCHE), which has been considered as a heat exchanging device for the gas turbine based generation systems. Three-dimensional Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes equations and heat transfer equations are solved to analyze conjugate heat transfer in the zigzag channels. The shear stress transport model with a low Reynolds number wall treatment is used as a turbulence closure. The global Nusselt number, Colburn j-factor, effectiveness, and friction factor are used to estimate the thermal–hydraulic performance of the PCHE. Four different shapes of channel cross section (semicircular, rectangular, trapezoidal, and circular) and four different channel configurations are tested to determine their effects on thermal–hydraulic performance. The rectangular channel shows the best thermal performance but the worst hydraulic performance, while the circular channel shows the worst thermal performance. The Colburn j-factor and friction factor are found to be inversely proportional to the Reynolds number in cold channels, while the effectiveness and global Nusselt number are proportional to the Reynolds number.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) Grant (No. 20090083510) funded by the Korean government (MEST) through Multi-phenomena CFD Engineering Research Center. The authors gratefully acknowledge this support.

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  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Inha University, 253 Yonghyun-Dong, Nam-Gu, Incheon, 402-751, Republic of Korea

    Sang-Moon Lee & Kwang-Yong Kim

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  1. Sang-Moon Lee
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  2. Kwang-Yong Kim
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Correspondence to Kwang-Yong Kim.

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Lee, SM., Kim, KY. Comparative study on performance of a zigzag printed circuit heat exchanger with various channel shapes and configurations. Heat Mass Transfer 49, 1021–1028 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00231-013-1149-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00231-013-1149-4

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