• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.13-20
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• 2014

The natural convection heat transfers of a helical coil in a duct were measured experimentally varying the inclination. To achieve high Rayleigh number, mass transfer experiments instead of heat transfer experiments were performed based upon the analogy. The $Ra_D$ was fixed to $4.55{\times}10^6$. The turn numbers were 1~10. the pitch to diameter ratio were 1.3~5, and the inclination of the helical coil $0^{\circ}{\sim}90^{\circ}$. The measured $Nu_D$ for a single turn of the helical coil was very close to that from McAdams heat transfer correlation for a horizontal cylinder. The heat transfers of the helical coil were varied by the pith, number of turns, and duct height in a complex manner showing the velocity, chimney, and pre-heating effects. The results of the study contributes to the phenomenological analyses of the natural convection heat transfer of a compact heat exchanger.