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Design of welded chevron plate heat exchanger: application of recuperator in LiBr-water absorption systems

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Abstract

As applications of the heat pump and refrigeration, thermally-driven absorption systems which use the lithium bromide and water pair have been widely utilized in various industrial fields since the waste heat can be used directly to obtain the desired effects. A recuperator preheats a working fluid, which enters a generator in the absorption system, decreasing the required heating load. The present study addresses the optimum design of the welded-plate-type heat exchanger as an application of the recuperator. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) predicted the flow characteristics through chevron plate heat exchangers of different structural dimensions; based on the predictions, optimized dimensions in terms of the heat transfer rate and friction factor was selected. Then, four headers using the selected dimensions were investigated by the CFD technique for selecting the desired plate heat exchanger. Experimental investigations were conducted on the selected configuration as well, and the results were compared with those of the CFD simulation.

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Abbreviations

A :

Area [m2]

b :

Corrugation depth [m]

C p :

Specific heat [kJ/(kg·K]]

Δp :

Pressure drop [Pa]

ΔTLMTD :

Logarithmic mean temperature difference [°C]

D h :

Characteristic length [m]

f D :

Darcy friction factor

L :

Length [m]

LiBr :

LiBr solution

m :

Mass flow rate [kg/s]

n p :

Number of plate

p :

Pressure [Pa]

Re :

Reynolds number

T :

Temperature [°C]

u :

Velocity [m/s]

W :

Width

Q :

Heat transfer rate [kW]

ψ :

Corrugation parameter

ρ :

Density [kg/m3]

µ :

Viscosity [Pas]

Ø :

Enlarged factor

in :

Inlet

out :

Outlet

tot :

Total

W :

Wall, or water

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning (KETEP) and the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy (MOTIE) of the Republic of Korea (20192010107020, P0002131) and by the National Research Foundation of Korea funded by the Korean government (2019R1A2C2010607).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mechanical Design Engineering, Jeonbuk National University, 567, Baekje-daero, Deokjin-Gu, Jeonju-city, Jeonbuk, 54896, Korea

    Byung Ryeon Kim, Min Soo Kim & Chan Woo Park

  2. Samil Industry Corp., 330-31, Palbok-dong 1-ga, Deokjin-gu, Jeonju-city, Jeonbuk, 54843, Korea

    Sung-Kuk An

  3. Department of Energy Storage/Conversion Engineering of Graduate School, Jeonbuk National University, Jeonju, Jeollabuk-do, 54896, Korea

    Chan Woo Park

Authors
  1. Byung Ryeon Kim
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  2. Min Soo Kim
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  3. Sung-Kuk An
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  4. Chan Woo Park
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Chan Woo Park.

Additional information

Byung Ryeon Kim received his B.S. and M.S. in Department of Mechanical Design Engineering from Chonbuk National University, Korea, in 2014 and 2015, respectively. He has continued the Ph.D. course at Chonbuk National University. His research interests are thermal management systems and heat exchange processes.

Min Soo Kim received his Ph.D. in 1993 from Chonbuk National University, Korea. He has been a Professor at Chonbuk National University since 1993. He was a postdoctoral fellow of Tohoku University, Japan, in 1996 and he was a visiting scholar of the University of Florida, USA in 2011. His research interests include thermal and fluid engineering, heat exchanger and refrigeration and air conditioning.

Sung-Kuk An is currently an Executive Director of Samil Industry Coporation. His research interest is the chevron plate heat exchanger and vapor absorption refrigeration system. He currently pursues to develop the chevron plate-based evaporator and condenser configurations.

Chan Woo Park finished his Doctor’s degrees at Hanyang University, Korea, majoring in MechaNical Engineering. He finished his Doctorate in 1997. He was a postdoctoral fellow of Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology from 1999 to 2000. He was a researcher of Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) and LG Company. In 2005 he started working in Chonbuk National University (CBNU). His research interests include heat and mass transfer enhancement by the application of carbon materials, heat exchanger and refrigeration and air conditioning.

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Kim, B.R., Kim, M.S., An, SK. et al. Design of welded chevron plate heat exchanger: application of recuperator in LiBr-water absorption systems. J Mech Sci Technol 34, 4763–4771 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-020-1033-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-020-1033-3

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