Experimental study on the air-side heat transfer characteristics of a spirally-coiled circular fin-tube heat exchanger according to geometric parameters

Abstract

The objective of this study is to investigate the air-side heat transfer characteristics of a spirally-coiled circular fintube heat exchanger for various geometric parameters under non-frosting conditions. The heat transfer characteristics of the heat exchanger were analyzed with respect to heat exchanger geometries, and then, the characteristics were compared with those of rectangular-plate fin-tube heat exchangers with discrete fins. The heat transfer coefficient increased with a decrease in the number of tube rows and an increase in the fin pitch. The optimum length of the L-foot was 2.7 mm. In addition, the heat transfer rate increased with a decrease in the tube pitch and the tube thickness. The heat transfer coefficient of the spirallycoiled circular fin-tube heat exchanger was 24.3% higher than that of the rectangular-plate fin-tube heat exchanger.