Investigation of Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer Characteristics of an Internally Channeled Tube Heat Exchanger under Laminar Flow Conditions

Abstract

The so-called internally channeled tube (ICT) is an innovative heat exchanger design proposed in our recent publications based on a channels-in-tube principle. A general, three-dimensional numerical model was suggested to describe fluid dynamics and heat transfer in the ICT. This model has already been validated for turbulent flow. The current paper presents an experimental investigation of the ICT and the model validation under laminar flow conditions. The experimental set-up and measurement procedure are given in detail and the maldistribution issue is addressed. The deviation between simulated and measured values is below 11% for the pressure drop and below 8% for the wall and bulk temperatures. Furthermore, the ICT performance was evaluated using performance evaluation criterion (PEC) including both heat transfer rate and pressure drop. Enhanced heat transfer in the ICT surpasses the associated pressure drop increase, yielding a PEC greater than one.