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The optimization of parallel flow channel structure of plate heat exchangers

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Abstract

The main purpose of this paper is to design a small channel plate heat exchanger that meets the needs of the enterprise. The efficiency of heat exchanger was improved by adding a distributor at the entrance of each layer. At the same time, the general law between the structure of the distributor and the fluid uniformity and heat transfer coefficient of plate heat exchanger with small channel had been investigated. The main work of this paper is as follows: (1) Since the parallel flow channels were used in the plate heat exchanger, the working fluid will be unevenly distributed, thereby reducing the heat exchange efficiency of the plate heat exchanger. The paper analyzed the shortcomings of the current parallel flow channel structure of the plate heat exchanger through the simulation of Fluent software. By adding distributors at the inlet of the heat transfer plate, the working performance of the heat exchanger had been improved. In this paper, the distributor angles of 10°, 20°, 30°, 45°, 67.5° and 90° and the distributor radii of 13 mm, 13.5 mm, 14 mm, 15 mm and 16 mm were selected as the research scope. The simulation analysis of the parallel flow channel after adding the distributor was carried out to explore the influence of the angle and the size of the distributor on the motion state of the fluid medium. (2) With the help of Design-Expert software, the distributor was experimentally designed by the Response Surface Method (RSM). The quantitative model between the distributor's structure and pressure drop had been established. So did it between the distributor's structure and the heat transfer coefficient. The model was used to screen out the structure parameters of the distributor when the performance of the heat exchanger was optimal. (3) LINGO was used to further analyze the model exported by Design-Expert. The research results indicated that when the flow rate and the distributor angle were constant, as the distributor radius increased, the average flow deviation decreased gradually, and the pressure drop increased gradually. When the radius of the distributor was 13.67 mm and the angle was 84.21°, the uniformity of the plate heat exchanger was the best. In this paper, the influence of structure parameters of distributor on the flow uniformity of working medium was studied by combining numerical simulation with experimental verification. It has provided theoretical basis and technical support for improving the performance of heat exchanger. The research not only pointed out the direction for further improving the heat transfer performance of plate heat exchanger, but also provided a solid theoretical basis for the combined design of plate heat exchanger and distributor. It had a good prospect of engineering application.

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Acknowledgements

This work is financially supported by Key Research and Development Plan of Jiangsu Province (BE2021709), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51705237), Qing Lan Project, National Natural Science Foundation of China (52005246), and Open Research Fund by Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Recycling and Reuse Technology for Mechanical and Electronic Products (RRME201806).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mechanical Engineering, Nan**g Institute of Technology, Nan**g, 211167, Jiangsu Province, People’s Republic of China

    Huanbo Cheng, Yong Liu, Yuan Lu & Lijun Guo

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  1. Huanbo Cheng
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  2. Yong Liu
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  3. Yuan Lu
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  4. Lijun Guo
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Correspondence to Huanbo Cheng.

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Cheng, H., Liu, Y., Lu, Y. et al. The optimization of parallel flow channel structure of plate heat exchangers. Meccanica 57, 2653–2677 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11012-022-01561-1

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