Planar Heat Exchanger with Mixing Tabs Simulation, ANSYS Fluent Training

Description

This simulation is about a Planar Heat Exchanger via ANSYS Fluent software. We perform this CFD project and investigate it by CFD analysis.

This project investigates a 4-layer planar heat exchanger with zigzag fins in each layer. Steady hot (T=286.5K) and cold (T=276.5K) water flow enter the planar domain, moving through the heat exchanging region and generating vortex flow by colliding with zigzag fins.

Also, the residence time of the fluids and the contact surfaces increase in the existence of these zigzag fans, which leads to a more heat transfer between the hot and cold flows.

Both flows exit the heat exchanging domain with approximately equal temperature (T=282K).

The geometry of the present model is drawn by Design Modeler software. The model is then meshed by ANSYS Meshing software. The model mesh is unstructured, and 4017548 cells have been created.

Planar Heat Exchanger Method

In this simulation, the energy model is activated because the main goal of this project is heat transfer. Also, since we have a multi-layer heat exchanger, the model consists of several computational zones. Water flows in all layers but at different temperatures to transfer heat between the layers.

Planar Heat Exchanger Conclusion

After simulation, the contours of temperature, velocity, and pressure for each heat exchanger layer are obtained. After simulation, the contours of temperature, velocity, and pressure for each heat exchanger layer are obtained.

Layers are planes parallel to the XY plane, which are assigned 1 to 4 as the increase of their Z. Layers 1 and 3 are regions where cold flow is heated up, and layers 2 and 4 are regions where hot flow is cooled down. The hot flow’s temperature at the inlet and outlet is 286.2 K and 282.213 K, respectively.

The cold flow’s temperature at the inlet and outlet is 276.5 K and 282.325 K, respectively. Using it, the heat transfer rate from the hot flow is equal to 93.8503W, and the heat transfer rate from the cold flow is equal to -94.754W, which can be considered equal with a reasonable approximation.