Thermo-hydraulic evaluation of compact heat exchangers for the energy reuse in organic Rankine cycles

Abstract

This undergraduate student research project will contribute to researches about compact heat exchangers studied by the Heat Transfer Research Group of the Mechanical Engineering Department of EESC/USP. This project is in the context of the regular FAPESP project "Study of critical heat flux and film boiling applied to compact heat exchangers at high temperature ", (proc. FAPESP n. 2019 / 110066-9). Compact heat exchangers are those with a high heat exchange area to volume ratio and are used in refrigeration, power systems and more recently in the reuse of thermal energy from exhaust gases by organic Rankine cycle systems. Reducing the volume of these heat exchangers can considerably decrease the refrigerant charge, costs and environmental impacts associated with them. The objective of this project is the study two types of compact fin-tube heat exchangers, one with flat fins with conventional channels and the second with louvered fins with microchannels. These two heat exchangers will be tested in a wind tunnel available in the laboratory, and models of the heat exchangers will be compared with the experimental data for both single-phase and two-phase internal flow. The performance of these heat exchangers will be determined, as well the suitability of literature models for the dimensioning of this equipment.