An Analytical and Numerical Study of the Influence of Non-Uniform Inlet Velocity Distribution on Heat Exchanger Performance

In this paper an analytical and numerical study was conducted on the influence of a Non-uniform fluid inlet flow distribution on a phase-change heat exchanger. The analytical results show that the heat transfer will deteriorate as compared to the case where the inlet velocity distribution is uniform, and the degree of deterioration will decrease when the number of heat transfer units is increased. The numerical results indicated that there is more heat transfer deterioration when the fluid of the small heat capacity fluid is Non-uniformly distributed than when the fluid of the large heat capacity is Non-uniformly distributed with the same heat capacity rate ratio. A new concept of heat exchanger design is studied where the rearrangement of heat transfer area compensates for the effect of fluid flow maldistribution. This concept has the potential to enhance the heat transfer performance of automotive heat exchangers.