Measurement of heat transfer coefficient and pressure drops in a compact heat exchanger with lance and offset fins for water based Al2O3 nano-fluids

Abstract

Compact Heat Exchangers (CHEs) are widely used in various applications in thermal fluid-systems including aerospace due to their compactness and light weight coupled with high effectiveness. Among the different types of CHEs for Aircraft Environmental Control System (ECS) and Avionics cooling applications, a cross-flow CHE with Lance & Offset fin is of special interest because of their high heat rejection capability. In the present work, the heat transfer coefficient of water based Al2O3 nano-fluid (NF) flowing in a Compact Plate-fin Heat Exchanger having Lance & Offset fins is studied experimentally. As part of experimental investigation a test setup is designed and developed. Experiments are conducted in the range of mass flux from 50 to 350 kg/s m2 (100 ≤ Re ≤ 600) at room temperature as well as at higher temperatures up to 70 °C. In this study, Al2O3 volume concentration in water is varied from 0.255% to 0.51%. The variation of heat transfer coefficients and pressure drops of Al2O3 nano-fluid with respect to water are presented in graphical form for different mass fluxes. The heat transfer coefficient gets enhanced in low NF temperature regions (between 30 °C-45 °C) up to 25% for 1%NF and up to 35% for 2%NF, where as there is only a marginal improvement at higher operating temperatures (between 60 °C-75 °C). The uncertainty analysis is carried out for heat transfer coefficient based on sensors specification.