A Study on Heat Transfer and Pressure drop Characteristics in Plate Heat Exchange

판형 열교환기의 열전달 및 압력강하 특성에 관한 연구

Plate heat exchange(PHE) will be applied to the refrigeration and air conditioning systems as evaporators or condensers for their high efficiency and compactness. The purpose of this study is the analyze the characteristics of heat transfer and pressure drop of plate heat exchanger. Numerical work was conducted using the FLUENT code k-$\varepsilon$model. Also the dependence of heat transfer coefficient and friction factor on Reynolds number was investigated. As the Reynolds number increases, it is found that heat transfer coefficient also increases, but friction factor decreases. The study examines the internal flow, thermal distribution and the pressure distribution in the channel of plate heat exchanger. The results of CFD analysis compared with experimental data, and the difference of friction factor and Nusselt number in plate heat exchanger are 10% and 20%, respectively, Therefore the CFD analysis model is effective for the performance prediction of plate heat exchanger.