• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.347-354
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• 2009

Experimental study on a cross-flow air-cooled plate heat exchanger (PHE) was performed. Two types of PHEs were manufactured either with single-wave plates or with double-wave plates in parallel. Cooling air flows through the PHEs in a crosswise direction against internal hot water. The heat exchanger aims to substitute open-loop cooling towers with closed-loop water circulation, which guarantees cleanliness and compactness. In this study, prototype single-wave and double-wave PHEs were designed and tested in a laboratory scale experiments. From the tests, the double-wave PHE shows approximately 50% enhanced heat transfer performance compared to the single-wave PHE. However, the double-wave PHE costs 30% additional pressure drop. For the commercialization, a wide channel design for air flow would be essential for performance and reliability.