Enhancing Heat Transfer in Tube Heat Exchanger by Inserting Discrete Twisting Tapes with Different Positions

Abstract

Enhancement of heat transfer in the tube heat exchanger is studied experimentally by using discrete twisted tapes. Three different positions were selected for inserting turbulators along tube section (horizontal position by α= 0⁰, inclined position by α= 45 ⁰ and vertical position by α= 90⁰). The space between turbulators was fixed by distributing 5 pieces of these turbulators with pitch ratio    PR = (0.44). Also, the factor of constant heat flux was applied as a boundary condition around the tube test section for all experiments of this investigation, while the flow rates were selected as a variable factor (Reynolds number values vary from 5000 to 15000). The results show that using discrete twisted tapes enhances the heat transfer rate by about 60.7-103.7 % compared with plane tube case. Also, inserting turbulators with inclined position offers maximum heat transfer rate by 103.7%.