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Technical Brief

# Experimental and Numerical Investigations on Louvered Fin-and-Tube Heat Exchanger With Variable Geometrical Parameters

[+] Author and Article Information
Kourosh Javaherdeh

Department of Mechanical Engineering,
University of Guilan,
Rasht 4199613776, Iran
e-mail: Javaherdeh@guilan.ac.ir

Department of Mechanical Engineering,
University of Guilan,
Rasht 4199613776, Iran
e-mail: Vaisi@phd.guilan.ac.ir

Rouhollah Moosavi

Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Yasouj University,
Yasouj 7591874831, Iran
e-mail: Moosavi@yu.ac.ir

Mehdi Esmaeilpour

Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering,
The University of Iowa,
Iowa City, IA 52242
e-mail: esmaeilpour.mehdi@gmail.com

1Corresponding author.

Contributed by the Heat Transfer Division of ASME for publication in the JOURNAL OF THERMAL SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING APPLICATIONS. Manuscript received April 14, 2016; final manuscript received October 29, 2016; published online February 7, 2017. Assoc. Editor: Wei Li.

J. Thermal Sci. Eng. Appl 9(2), 024501 (Feb 07, 2017) (8 pages) Paper No: TSEA-16-1093; doi: 10.1115/1.4035449 History: Received April 14, 2016; Revised October 29, 2016

## Abstract

The effects of geometrical arrangement on the heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics in compact louvered fin-and-tube heat exchangers were studied experimentally and numerically along with $ε−NTU$ method. Different geometrical parameters including louver angle, louver pitch, louver number, the nonlouvered inlet and exit fin length, and redirection of fluid flow are considered to determine their effects on the flow field. The study is performed for different louver angles varying from $θL=12$ to $60$ deg, and optimal heat transfer rate is obtained at louver angle of $θL=28deg$. Also, it is found that increasing the louver number, $NL$, on the fin surface enhances the heat transfer performance. It is shown that the average Nusselt number is increased as the louver pitch is decreased and its optimum value is obtained at . However, comparing to the effect of louver number, the louver pitch has a small effect on the performance of the heat exchanger. Additionally, the optimum values of nonlouvered inlet and exit fin length and redirection length of fin are obtained with different flow conditions.

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## References

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## Figures

Fig. 3

The wind tunnel test of finned tube heat exchanger

Fig. 6

The nondimensional variation of temperature and pressure drop coefficient at different louver pitches

Fig. 2

General view of louvered fin

Fig. 1

General view of finned tube compact heat exchanger

Fig. 4

The nondimensional variation of Nusselt number and pressure drop coefficient at different louver angles

Fig. 5

Contours at midplane of louver domain for different louver angles: (a) temperature contours and (b) pressure coefficient contours

Fig. 7

The nondimensional variation of Nusselt number and pressure drop coefficient at different nonlouvered inlet lengths

Fig. 8

Contours at midplane of louver domain for different redirection length with fixed louver number: (a) temperature contours and (b) pressure coefficient contours

Fig. 9

The nondimensional variation of Nusselt number and pressure drop coefficient at different redirection lengths with constant louver pitch

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