Optimizing Heat Transfer Efficiency: CFD Analysis of Microchannel Designs for Two-Wheeler Radiators

International Journal of Mechanical Engineering

© 2024 by SSRG - IJME Journal

Volume 11 Issue 7

Year of Publication : 2024

Authors : Santosh Laxman Pachpute, Kiran C. More

10.14445/23488360/IJME-V11I7P111

How to Cite?

Santosh Laxman Pachpute, Kiran C. More, "Optimizing Heat Transfer Efficiency: CFD Analysis of Microchannel Designs for Two-Wheeler Radiators," SSRG International Journal of Mechanical Engineering, vol. 11,  no. 7, pp. 132-143, 2024. Crossref, https://doi.org/10.14445/23488360/IJME-V11I7P111

Abstract:

Heat exchangers are pivotal in engineering applications for transferring thermal energy between two fluids across a separation wall, especially within Microchannel Heat Exchangers (MCHXs). These devices, known for their compactness and lightweight design, offer exceptional heat transfer capabilities. Yet, a significant challenge arises in the misdistribution of two-phase fluids within these systems, particularly at the inlet header of evaporators, where this misdistribution affects the uniform flow into the microchannel tubes. Leveraging recent advancements in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) for multiphase flow, this study embarks on a detailed exploration of the flow behavior inside MCHX headers, employing CFD modeling to scrutinize the heat transfer parameters of flat face versus curved face MCHX designs. Our methodology involves comprehensive CFD simulations to investigate the thermal dynamics within these exchangers, focusing on how design variations impact heat transfer efficiency. The analysis reveals a notable advantage of the curved face MCHXs: a higher local heat transfer coefficient. This enhancement is attributed to improved fluid mixing and an increase in surface interaction within the curved face design. Through detailed CFD analysis, this paper not only addresses the challenge of fluid misdistribution but also illuminates the potential of curved face MCHXs to enhance heat exchanger performance in practical applications significantly.

Keywords:

Microchannel heat exchanger, CFD, Heat transfer parameters, Two-wheeler radiator, MCHXs.

References:

[1] Anupam Dewan, and Pankaj Srivastava, “A Review of Heat Transfer Enhancement through Flow Disruption in a Microchannel,” Journal of Thermal Science, vol. 24, pp. 203-214, 2015.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[2] Heeseung Kang et al., “Numerical Investigation and Design Optimization of a Novel Polymer Heat Exchanger with Ogive Sinusoidal Wavy Tube,” International Journal of Heat Mass Transfer, vol. 166, 2021.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[3] Gege Song et al., “Reviews: Applications of Optimization Algorithm for Microchannel and Microchannel Heat Sink on Heat Transfer,” International Journal of Heat and Fluid Flow, vol. 108, 2024.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[4] A. Ram, “Performance Enhancement of Mobile Air Conditioning System Using Variable Geometry Micro Channel Heat Exchanger (MCHX),” International Journal of Engineering Sciences & Research Technology, vol. 5, pp. 808-819, 2016.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[5] Zhi-Qiang Yu, Mo-Tong Li, and Bing-Yang Cao, “A Comprehensive Review on Microchannel Heat Sinks for Electronics Cooling,” International Journal of Extreme Manufacturing, 2023.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[6] Long Huang et al., “A Computational Fluid Dynamics and Effectiveness-NTU based Co-simulation Approach for Flow Mal-distribution Analysis in Microchannel Heat Exchanger Headers,” Applied Thermal Engineering, vol. 65, no. 1-2, pp. 447-457, 2014.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[7] Binghuan Huang, Haiwang Li, and Tiantong Xu, “Experimental Investigation of the Flow and Heat Transfer Characteristics in Microchannel Heat Exchangers with Reentrant Cavities,” Micromachines, vol. 11, no. 4, pp. 1-15, 2020.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[8] Jahar Sarkar, and Souvik Bhattacharyya, “Application of Graphene and Graphene-Based Materials in Clean Energy-Related Devices Minghui,” Archives of Thermodynamics, vol. 33, no. 4, pp. 23-40, 2012.
[Google Scholar]
[9] Yongjia Wu et al., “Enhanced Thermal and Mechanical Performance of 3D Architected Micro-channel Heat Exchangers,” Heliyon, vol. 9, no. 3, pp. 1-19, 2023.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[10] Yanhui Han et al., “A Review of Development of Micro-Channel Heat Exchanger Applied in Air-Conditioning System,” Energy Procedia, vol. 14, pp. 148-153, 2012.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[11] Seok-Won Seo, Huee-Youl Ye, and Kwan-Soo Lee, “Design of a Micro-Channel Heat Exchanger for Heat Pump Using Approximate Optimization Method,” Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering, vol. 24, no. 3, pp. 256–264, 2012.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[12] Changye Huang et al., “Review on the Characteristics of Flow and Heat Transfer in Printed Circuit Heat Exchangers,” Applied Thermal Engineering, vol. 153, pp. 190-205, 2019.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[13] M. Valdes, J.G. Ardila Marín, and M. Holguin, “Evaluation of the Minimum Required Length to Study Improved Heat Exchangers via Computational Fluid Dynamics,” Journal of Physics Conference Series, Workshop on Modeling and Simulation for Science and Engineering, Pereira, Colombia, vol. 1403, pp. 1-5, 2019.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[14] N. Piroozfam, A. Hosseinpour Shafaghi, and S.E. Razavi, “Numerical Investigation of Three Methods for Improving Heat Transfer in Counter-Flow Heat Exchangers,” International Journal of Thermal Science, vol. 133, pp. 230-239, 2018.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[15] J. Derek et al., “Investigating the Effect of Geometry on Micro-Channel Heat Exchangers Using CFD Analysis,” Advances in Fluid and Thermal Engineering, Lecture Notes in Mechanical Engineering, pp. 401-408, 2019.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[16] Arslan Saleem, and Man-Hoe Kim, “Air-side Thermal Hydraulic Performance of Microchannel Heat Exchangers with Different Fin Configurations,” Applied Thermal Engineering, vol. 125, pp. 780-789, 2017.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[17] Chirag Maradiya, Jeetendra Vadher, and Ramesh Agarwal, “The Heat Transfer Enhancement Techniques and Their Thermal Performance Factor,” Beni-Suef University Journal of Basic Applied Sciences, vol. 7, no.1, pp. 1-21, 2018.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[18] Wenguang Li, Weihong Li, and Zhibin Yu, “Heat Transfer Enhancement of Water-cooled Triply Periodic Minimal Surface Heat Exchangers,” Applied Thermal Engineering, vol. 217, pp. 1-21, 2022.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[19] David O. Ariyo, and Tunde Bello-Ochende, “Constructal Design of Two-Phase Stacked Microchannel Heat Exchangers for Cooling at High Heat Flux,” International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer, vol. 125, 2021.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[20] Hemant Naik, S. Harikrishnan, and Shaligram Tiwari, “Numerical Investigations on Heat Transfer Characteristics of Curved Rectangular Winglet Placed in a Channel,” International Journal of Thermal Science, vol. 129, pp. 489-503, 2018.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[21] Zeynep Küçükakça Meral, and Nezaket Parlak, “Experimental Research and CFD Simulation of Cross Flow Microchannel Heat Exchanger,” Journal of Thermal Engineering, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 270-283, 2021.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[22] Lokanath Mohanta et al., “Numerical Analysis of Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer in Wavy and Hybrid-Slit-Wavy Fin-and-Tube Heat Exchangers,” Science and Technology for the Built Environment, vol. 25, no. 6, pp. 767-775, 2019.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[23] Kanishka Panda, Tomoki Hirokawa, and Long Huang, “Design Study of Microchannel Heat Exchanger Headers Using Experimentally Validated Multiphase Flow CFD Simulation,” Applied Thermal Engineering, vol. 178, 2020.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[24] Muhammad Saeed et al., “Performance Enhancement of a C-shaped Printed Circuit Heat Exchanger in Supercritical CO2 Brayton Cycle: A Machine Learning-based Optimization Study,” Case Studies in Thermal Engineering, vol. 38, pp. 1-23, 2022.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[25] Yifeng Hu, David P. Yuill, and Amir Ebrahimifakhar, “The Effects of Outdoor Air-side Fouling on Frost Growth and Heat Transfer Characteristics of a Microchannel Heat Exchanger: An Experimental Study,” International Journal of Heat Mass Transfer, vol. 151, pp. 1-42, 2020.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[26] F. Ayad, R. Benelmir, and M. Idris, “Thermal-Hydraulic Experimental Study of Louvered Fin-and-Flat-Tube Heat Exchanger Under Wet Conditions With Variation of Inlet Humidity Ratio,” Applied Thermal Engineering, vol. 183, 2021.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[27] Jian Wen et al., “Optimization Investigation on Configuration Parameters of Serrated Fin in Plate-Fin Heat Exchanger Using Genetic Algorithm,” International Journal of Thermal Sciences, vol. 101, pp. 116-125, 2016.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[28] Arafat A. Bhuiyan, and A.K.M. Sadrul Islam, “Thermal and Hydraulic Performance of Finned-Tube Heat Exchangers Under Different Flow Ranges: A Review on Modeling and Experiment,” International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, vol. 101, pp. 38-59, 2016.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[29] Mohammadreza Kadivar, David Tormey, and Gerard McGranaghan, “CFD of Roughness Effects on Laminar Heat Transfer Applied to Additive Manufactured Minichannels,” Heat and Mass Transfer, pp. 1-15, 2022.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[30] Inderjot Kaur, and Prashant Singh, “State-of-the-Art in Heat Exchanger Additive Manufacturing,” International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, vol. 178, 2021.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[31] Qinguo Zhang et al., “Research on Low-Temperature Heat Exchange Performance of Hydrogen Preheating System for PEMFC Engine,” International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, vol. 45, no. 55, pp. 30966-30979, 2020.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[32] Md Mesbah-ul Khan, “Experimental Investigation of Heat Transfer and Pressure Drop Characteristics of Water and Glycol-Water Mixture in Multi-Port Serpentine Microchannel Slab Heat Exchangers,” Electronic Theses and Dissertations, University of Windsor, pp. 1-530, 2011.
[Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[33] L. Berrin Erbay et al., “Numerical Investigation of the Air-Side Thermal Hydraulic Performance of a Louvered-Fin and Flat-Tube Heat Exchanger at Low Reynolds Numbers,” Heat Transfer Engineering, vol. 38, no. 6, pp. 627-640, 2017.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[34] Chuan Sun et al., “Thermal Enhancement of Fin and Tube Heat Exchanger with Guiding Channels and Topology Optimisation,” International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, vol. 127, no. C, pp. 1001-1013, 2018.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[35] Zuoqin Qian, Qiang Wang, and Junlin Cheng, “Analysis of Heat and Resistance Performance of Plate Fin-and-Tube Heat Exchanger with Rectangle-Winglet Vortex Generator,” International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, vol. 124, p. 1198-1211, 2018.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[36] V. Pandey, P. Kumar, and P. Dutta, “Thermo-Hydraulic Analysis of Compact Heat Exchanger for a Simple Recuperated sCO2 Brayton Cycle,” Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, vol. 134, 2020.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[37] Tomas Venegas et al., “Critical Review and Future Prospects for Desiccant Coated Heat Exchangers: Materials, Design, and Manufacturing,” Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, vol. 151, 2021.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[38] Shimaa Zahran et al., “Heat Transfer Augmentation through Rectangular Cross Section Duct with One Corrugated Surface: An Experimental and Numerical Study,” Case Studies in Thermal Engineering, vol. 36, pp. 1-14, 2022.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[39] S.K. Sarangi et al., “Analysis and Optimization of the Curved Trapezoidal Winglet Geometry in a High-Efficiency Compact Heat Exchanger,” International Journal of Thermal Science, vol. 164, 2021.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[40] Saari Jussi, Heat Exchanger Thermal Design Guide, LUT University, 2010.
[Publisher Link]
[41] Daniel Bacellar et al., “Design Optimization and Validation of High-Performance Heat Exchangers Using Approximation Assisted Optimization and Additive Manufacturing,” Science and Technology for the Built Environment, vol. 23, no. 6, pp. 896-911, 2017.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[42] Seungjoon Baik et al., “Study on CO₂ – Water Printed Circuit Heat Exchanger Performance Operating under Various CO₂ Phases for S-CO₂ Power Cycle Application,” Applied Thermal Engineering, vol. 113, pp. 1536-1546, 2017.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[43] Kiatbodin Wanglertpanich et al., “A Study of Curved Louver Fin Configuration for Heat Transfer Enhancement,” Journal of Applied and Computational Mechanics, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 754-763, 2022.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[44] Yu-Ming Chu et al., “CFD Analysis of Hybrid Nanofluid-Based Microchannel Heat Sink for Electronic Chips Cooling: Applications in Nano-Energy Thermal Devices,” Case Studies in Thermal Engineering, vol. 44, pp. 1-15, 2022.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[45] S. Mohanty, O. Prakash, and R. Arora, “Analytical and Comparative Investigations on Counter Flow Heat Exchanger Using Computational Fluid Dynamics,” Journal of Computational and Applied Research in Mechanical Engineering, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 139- 152, 2020.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[46] M.L.G. Ho, “A Review on Nanofluids Coupled with Extended Surfaces for Heat Transfer Enhancement,” Results in Engineering, vol. 17, pp. 1-27, 2023.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[47] M.S. Liu et al., “Enhancement of Thermal Conductivity with CuO for Nanofluids,” Chemical Engineering & Technology, vol. 29, no. 1, pp. 72–77, 2006.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]