Numerical Investigation of Heat Transfer Characteristics in a Plate Heat Exchanger

Plate heat exchangers have been widely used in different industrial applications owing to their advantages such as high effectiveness, compactness, ease in cleaning, etc. In this study, nine models with different geometry and operating conditions were considered to assess the effects of corrugation angles, channel heights and Reynolds number on heat transfer enhancement, pressure drop and velocity distribution of plate heat exchangers. Results reveal that as either corrugation angles or Reynolds number increases, the pressure drop across the channel will increase accordingly. Furthermore, as channel heights increases, the pressure drop and the entrance developed region would be reduced as the result. It was also demonstrated that as channel heights increases, the temperature gradient of the working fluid will increase, resulting in low heat transfer efficiency of a plate heat exchanger.

Keywords:

CFD , Plate heat exchanger , Heat transfer , Pressure drop , Velocity distribution