Heat transfer enhancement characteristics of sinusoidal corrugated tubes fabricated via laser powder bed fusion

Abstract

Laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) has emerged as a powerful tool to develop heat transfer devices with higher efficiency. Corrugated tubes are commonly used components to achieve enhanced heat transfer in these devices. However, there still lacks a comprehensive study on the thermal-hydraulic performance of LPBF-fabricated corrugated tubes. In this work, we investigated the heat transfer enhancement characteristics of sinusoidal corrugated tubes (SCTs) fabricated via LPBF. SCTs with different amplitude-to-diameter ratios (A/D ratio) and wavelength-to-diameter ratios (S/D ratio) were designed and fabricated. The geometrical morphologies and surface roughness of LPBF-fabricated SCTs were characterized. Numerical simulations were performed to investigate the effects of A/D ratio and S/D ratio on the flow patterns and flow dynamics. A test system was developed to measure the pressure loss and thermal performance. Performance Evaluation Criterion were calculated to characterize the heat transfer enhancement. A/D ratio was found to have more significant impacts on the friction factor and Nusselt numbers than S/D ratio. Correlation models were developed to predict friction factors and Nusselt numbers based on the least square method. Mean prediction errors of ±3.3 % and ±5.3 % and maximum prediction errors of ±11.6 % and ±18.1 % were achieved for Nusselt numbers and friction factor, respectively.

Keywords

• Sinusoidal corrugated tubes
• Laser powder bed fusion
• Heat transfer enhancement
• Heat exchangers