Conference Dates
June 22-27, 2014
Recommended Citation
Kamel Hooman, "Thermohydraulics of Porous Heat Exchangers: Full or Partial Blockage?" in "5th International Conference on Porous Media and Their Applications in Science, Engineering and Industry", Prof. Kambiz Vafai, University of California, Riverside; Prof. Adrian Bejan, Duke University; Prof. Akira Nakayama, Shizuoka University; Prof. Oronzio Manca, Seconda Università degli Studi Napoli Eds, ECI Symposium Series, (2014). https://dc.engconfintl.org/porous_media_V/19
Comments
This paper examines the thermo-hydraulic performance of different porous liquid-gas heat exchangers. Two categories of such heat exchangers are considered being fully and partly blocked ones. The former completely fills the space between heated pipes or plates containing liquids while the latter only partly fills those spaces. Two different types of heat exchangers in each category are investigated being a shell and plate and a tube bundle. Heat transfer versus pressure drop is plotted as these are the determining factors in most engineering applications. It has been shown that full blockage of the available gas flow area is not necessarily the best design as it can lead to unnecessary higher pressure drop and even lower heat transfer rates compared with partially blocking porous inserts. Hence, proper performance indicators are presented and discussed in details providing enough information for a design engineer to select the best option in each of the three above-mentioned cases.