CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

Heat transfer enhancement techniques have been one of the main thermal engineering
research fields since last decades. Many techniques, such as active, passive and
compound methods have been used for the enhancement of heat transfer rate in heat
exchangers. Active method involves some external power input for the enhancement
of heat transfer. Some examples of active methods include mechanicals aids, induced
pulsation by cams and reciprocating plungers, the use of a magnetic field to disturb
the seeded light particles in a flowing stream, surface vibration, fluid vibration,
electrostatic fields, suction or injection and jet impingement. Passive method
generally uses surface or geometrical modifications to the flow channel by
incorporating inserts or additional devices. For example, inserts extra component,
swirl flow devices, treated surface, rough surfaces, extended surfaces, displaced
enhancement devices, coiled tubes, surface tension devices and additives for fluids.
Combination of the above two methods are compound methods, such as rough surface
with a twisted tape swirl flow device, or rough surface with fluid vibration, rough
surface with twisted tapes. Passive heat transfer technique when adopted in heat
exchanger proved that the overall thermal performance improved significantly; Liu
and Sakr (2013). Passive methods are generally more preferred as compared to other
enhancement methods due to their simplicity in manufacturing, lower cost and longer
operating life.

To improve the heat transfer performance is a chief task in heat exchanger

design. A helical coil is one of the most important passive enhancement techniques. It
is widely used in heat transfer applications. The phenomena in coiled ducts have
attracted much attention from researchers. Secondary flow motion induced by the coil
curvature is the more significant phenomena in coiled tubes. Different numerous
studies have been conducted to investigate the fluid flow and heat transfer
Chapter 1 Introduction

characteristics inside helical coil because of their important applications in various

fields.

Flow in curved pipe was first investigated by Dean (1927a, 1927b). The steady
motion of incompressible fluid flowing through fully developed laminar flow in a
toroidal pipe was considered in the analysis and reported that flow due to curvature
depends on dimensionless number termed as Dean number, defined as the ratio of
centrifugal force to inertial force. The centrifugal force due to the curvature of the
tube exhibits in the secondary flow development which enhanced the heat transfer.
The phenomenon was more beneficial; especially in laminar flow regime.

In several studies like Garimella et al (1988), Prabhajan et al. (2002) , Yang

and Chiang (2002), Kumar et al. (2006). Hashemi and Behabadi (2012), Elsayed et al.
(2012), Pakdaman et al. (2013) etc, it has been proved that helical coils are superior to
straight tubes.

The research on the single phase fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics in
helical coil and heat exchanger with micro sized tubes is very limited while
significant amount of research had been done for conventional sizes helical coil and
heat exchanger. The use of micro diameter tubes in helical exchanger has the potential
of increasing the heat transfer rate due to increased surface area per unit volume and
increased heat transfer coefficients. However, there is penalty of increase in pressure
drop associated with reducing tube diameters. There are very limited experimental
studies on helical coils of micro-diameter tubes. Therefore, an investigation into fluid
flow and heat transfer in helical coils of micro-diameter tubes for laminar flow is
performed to provide knowledge on hydrodynamic and thermal characteristics.

1.1 Classifications of tubes

In order to study the fluid flow and heat transfer in helical coils of micro-diameter
tubes, it is necessary to characterize the size of the tubes. Large numbers of
investigation has been done on the classification of channel or tube by various
researchers. Different authors have suggested different classifications.

According to Mehendale et al. (2000) the following classifications have been

proposed for various ranges of channel dimensions, “di”.

Department of Chemical Engineering & Technology, IIT (BHU), Varanasi 2

Chapter 1 Introduction

1µm 〈 d i 〈 100 µm : Microchannels

100 µm 〈 d i 〈 1 mm : Minichannels

1 mm 〈 d i 〈 6 mm : Compact Passages

6 mm 〈 d i : Conventional Passages

Kandlikar and Grande (2003) adopted a different classification for various

ranges of channel dimensions, “di” being the smallest channel dimension:
1µm 〈 d i 〈 10 µm : Transitional Microchannels

10 µm 〈 d i 〈 200 µm : Microchannels

200 µm 〈 d i 〈 3 mm : Minichannels

3 mm 〈 d i : Conventional Passages

An easier classification was suggested by Obot (2003) based on the hydraulic

diameter rather than the smallest channel dimension. Obot classified channels of
diameter under 1 mm ( d i 〈 1 mm ) as micro-channels, which was also adopted by
many other researchers such as Bahrami and Jovanovich (2006), Bahrami et al.
(2006), Bayraktar and Pidugu (2006), Cetin (2010) etc. This classification is also
adopted for the present study of fluid flow and heat transfer in helical coils of micro-
diameter tubes. This classification is also more appropriate for the purpose of this
thesis.

1.2 Helical coil

Due to its geometrical configuration helical coil have a more complex flow pattern.
The centrifugal force due to curvature developed secondary flows, defined as flows
perpendicular to the axial direction, this phenomenon assist in mixing the fluid and
enhance the heat transfer. Helical coil with secondary flow is shown in Figure 1.1.

The main differences in heat transfer and fluid flow characteristics between
helical coils and straight tubes are related to this secondary flow effect caused by
centrifugal forces. The secondary flow phenomenon improves the heat transfer.
There was little mixing of fluid inside a straight tube heat exchangers in the laminar
flow regime, thus the application of curved tubes in laminar flow heat exchange

Department of Chemical Engineering & Technology, IIT (BHU), Varanasi 3

Chapter 1 Introduction

processes can be highly beneficial. These situations can be easily seen in the food
processing industry for the cooling and heating of either highly viscous liquid food,
such as pastes or purees, or for products that are sensitive to high shear stresses;
Rennie (2004).

Fig.1.1 Helical coil with secondary flow

Heat exchanger with helical coils is used to transfer thermal energy between
two or more fluids, between a solid surface and a fluid, or between solid particles and
a fluid, at different temperatures and in thermal contact. Heat exchangers are used in a
wide variety of applications. These involve power production, process, chemical and
food industries, electronics, environmental production engineering, waste heat
recovery, manufacturing industry, air conditioning, refrigeration and space
applications; Cetin (2010).

Heat exchangers with helical coil offer distinct advantages, such as

compactness, easy maintenance, improved thermal efficiency and lower installed cost.
The exchangers also are suitable for less demanding applications, such as boiling,
condensing, heat recovery and basic heat exchange.

Number of the studies involving helical coils and heat exchanger has mainly
focused on two major boundary conditions; constant wall temperature and constant
heat flux; Shah and Joshi (1987) and Prabhanjan et al. (2004). In the present study,
fluid flow and heat transfer study has been carried out at constant heat flux boundary
conditions in laminar regime.

Department of Chemical Engineering & Technology, IIT (BHU), Varanasi 4

Chapter 1 Introduction

1.3 Objectives

It has been found from extensive literature survey (chapter 2) that significant
experimental and numerical research has been reported for conventional and mini size
helical coil and heat exchanger. However, very limited fluid flow and heat transfer
studies have been reported in the literature for small helical coils with diameters less
than1 mm. Micro-diameter tube in helical configurations leads to beneficial
improvement in the heat exchanger. Application of micro channel heat exchangers of
different configurations including coils is growing day by day in fields like electronic
devices, computers, artificial organs etc.

In view of the above it has been planned to investigate flow and heat transfer
characteristics in helical coils of micro-diameter tubes with the following objectives:

To experimentally study the fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics in

helical coils of micro-diameter tubes to understand its hydrodynamic and
thermal behaviour.

To validate the experimental results with well known correlations available in

the published literature.

To carry out parametric sensitivity study of helical coil.

To propose a suitable generalized correlation for friction factor and Nusselt

number.

Department of Chemical Engineering & Technology, IIT (BHU), Varanasi 5