A Numerical Study on Performance of Air-to-Air Plastic Plate Heat Exchanger

The purpose of this research is to develop high efficiency plastic plate heat exchangers which can be substituted for conventional aluminum plate heat exchangers. Four simulation models of plastic plate heat exchangers are designed and simulated: that is, flat plate type, turbulent promoter type, corrugate type and dimple type heat exchanger. The flat plate type is designed as the reference model in order to evaluate how much thermal performance increases. The turbulent promoter type is fabricated with cylindrical-type vortex generators and rib-type turbulent promoters. The corrugate type is obtained from the conventional stainless steel compact heat exchangers, which are called the herringbone-type compact heat exchangers. The dimple type has a number of dimples on its surface. In this study, the flow and heat transfer characteristics of the plastic plate heat exchanger are investigated using numerical simulation and compared with experimental results. Numerical simulation is carried out using the FLUENT code. The flows are assumed as a three-dimensional, incompressible and turbulent model. The computational analysis and experimental results both show that the friction coefficient and Nu number is highest in the corrugate type. The tendency of numerical simulation results is in good agreement with that of the experimental results.