• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.269-278
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• 2011

We investigate the heat-transfer and pressure-drop characteristics of fin-and-tube heat exchangers with a copper plate or copper spiral fins. Twenty-four samples with different fin pitches and tube rows were tested. For both configurations, the effect of the fin pitch on the j factor is negligible, and the f factor increases with the fin pitch. The effect of the tube row depends on the configuration. For plate fin-and-tube heat exchangers, the j factor decreases as the row number increases; the reverse is true for spiral exchangers. We explain this by considering the flow pattern. The j factor for plate fin-and-tube heat exchangers is larger than that for spiral exchangers, and the difference decreases as the row number increases. The f factor of the plate fin-and-tube heat exchanger is also larger. We compare our results with existing predictions of correlations.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.3698-3707
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• 2015

In this study, wet surface heat transfer and friction characteristics of non-symmetric slit-finned heat exchangers are experimentally investigated. Louver-finned heat exchangers are also tested for comparison purpose. The effect of fin pitch on j and f factor is negligible. Louver fin samples yield higher j and f factors than slit fin samples. For one row, j and f factors of louver fin are 27% and 31% higher than those of slit fin. For two row, j and f factors of louver fin are 15% and 30% higher. Both j and f factor decrease as the number of tube row increases. For one row, average j/f ratios of slit fin samples are 3.4% larger than those of louver fin samples. For two row, average j/f ratios of slit fin samples are 11.5% larger. A new correlation was developed using the present data.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.2415-2423
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• 2015

Experiments were conducted on sine wave fin-and-tube heat exchangers having oval tubes under wet condition. Oval tubes having an aspect ratio of 0.6 were made, by deforming 12.7mm round tubes. Twelve samples, having different fin pitch and tube row, were tested. Results showed that, for oval tube samples, the effect of fin pitch on j and f factor was not significant. As for the effect of tube row, the lowest j factor was obtained for one row configuration(81% of two row configuration), which is clear contrast to round tube samples, where the highest j factor was obtained for one row configuration. Possible reasoning is provided considering the flow and heat transfer characteristics of sine wave channel combined with connecting oval tubes. Comparison of $j/f^{1/3}$ with plain fin-and-tube heat exchanger having 15.9mm O.D. round tube reveals that present oval fin-and-tube heat exchanger shows superior thermal performance except for one row configuration. In other words, $j/f^{1/3}$ of the two row oval tube heat exchanger was 1.6~2.5 times larger than those of round tube heat exchanger, 1.4~2.4 times larger for three row configuration and 1.2~2.8 times for four row configuration.