AIRSIDE PERFORMANCE OF WAVY FIN-AND-TUBE HEAT EXCHANGERS - DATA WITH LARGER DIAMETER TUBE

Abstract

This study examines the airside performance of the wavy fin-and-tube heat exchangers having a larger diameter tube (D-c = 16.59 mm) with the tube row ranging from 1 to 16. It is found that the effect of tube row on the heat transfer performance is quite significant, and the heat transfer performance deteriorates with the rise of tube row. The performance drop is especially pronounced at the low Reynolds number region. Actually more than 85% drop of heat transfer performance is seen for F-p similar to 1.7 mm as the row number is increased from 1 to 16. Upon the influence of tube row on the frictional performance, an unexpected row dependence of the friction factor is encountered. The effect of fin pitch on the airside performance is comparatively small for N = 1 or N = 2. However, a notable drop of heat transfer performance is seen when the number of tube row is increased, and normally higher heat transfer and frictional performance is associated with that of the larger fin pitch.