Comparative Study of Shell and Helically-Coiled Tube Heat Exchangers with Various Dimple Arrangements in Condensers for Odor Control in a Pyrolysis System

Abstract

This study performed evaluations of the shell and helically-coiled tube heat exchangers with various dimple arrangements, that is, flat, inline, staggered, and bulged, at different Dean numbers (De) and inlet temperatures of a hot channel. Conjugated heat transfer was analyzed to evaluate the heat transfer performance of the exchangers through temperature difference between the inlet and outlet, Nusselt number inside the coiled tube, and pressure drop of the coiled tube by using 3-D Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) equations with shear stress transport turbulence closure. A grid dependency test was performed to determine the optimal number of the grid system. The numerical results were validated using the experimental data, and showed good agreement. The inline and staggered arrangements show the highest temperature differences through all De. The staggered arrangement shows the best heat transfer performance, whereas the inline arrangement shows the second highest performance with all ranges of De and the hot channel’s inlet temperature. The inline and staggered arrangements show the highest pressure drop among all inlet temperatures of the hot channel.

Keywords

• shell and tube
• heat exchanger
• odor control
• heat transfer
• dimple
• condenser
• pyrolysis
• RANS