Influence of Temperature and Mass Flow Rate on Heat Transfer Characteristics in Parallel Flow Corrugated Plate Heat Exchanger

Efficient heat exchangers (HEs) are essential components in various industrial processes, enabling transfer of thermal energy between fluids. Current research investigated heat transfer and fluid flow characteristics of a corrugated surface type parallel flow plate heat exchanger (PHE) with water as a heat transfer fluid. The study aims to enhance our understanding of how these operational parameters impact heat transfer performance and provide insights into optimizing the design and operation of such HEs for improved energy efficiency. The performance of HE was evaluated at variable temperature and mass flow rate of pumped water. The thermophysical properties of hot and cold water, dimensions of HE, heat transfer coefficient and effectiveness of the PHE were estimated. Results revealed that the overall and convective heat transfer coefficient increased proportionally with temperature and mass flow rate of pumped water. The study found approximately 75% and 23% increase in the convective heat transfer coefficients (h) and overall heat transfer coefficient (U), respectively, when increasing the hot water mass flow rate from 0.03 to 0.09 m s-1. The heat transfer coefficient exhibited a linear relationship with Reynolds number (<2000) and Nusselt number (<100), indicating laminar flow. Moreover, maximum effectiveness (0.955) was achieved at 65°C with a higher mass flow rate.