Heat Transfer Performance of a Gasketed Plate Heat Exchanger using Nanofluid and Subject to Vibration as a Combined Augmentation Techniques

Abstract

In the present study, an experimental investigation for heat transfer performance of γAl2O3-water nanofluid through a gasketed plate heat exchanger (GPHE) subjected to a low amplitude mechanical vibration was studied. γAl2O3-water nanofluid with four different volume fractions have been prepared and used as the hot working fluid. Corrugated plate heat exchanger (PHE) with six stainless steel plates; creating three cold municipal water channels and two hot nanofluid channels in counter flow pattern. GPHE is subjected to vibration by means of a grinding motor. Vibration frequencies is varied from 13.33 to 46.67 cps and vibrational dimensionless amplitude (A/De) is varied from 9.14x10-3 to 52.66x10-3. The experiments have been conducted in the Reynolds number ranging from 730 to 3400. The results revealed that as vibrational dimensionless amplitude (A/De) and nanofluid volume fractions increases the net heat transfer coefficient enhancement ratio increases. The net heat transfer coefficient increases as mechanical vibration amplitude decreases. The maximum net heat transfer coefficient enhancement ratio is 64%, which is achieved at 0.51 % volume fraction and oscillation Reynolds number of 211.34, which was occur just after the resonance condition. Moreover, a new empirical correlation is proposed to predict the GPHE Nusselt number Finally, pressure drop is measured and found that it is increased as nanofluid volume fraction increased.

Keywords

• nanofluid
• mechanical vibration
• heat transfer augmentation
• gasketed plate heat exchanger