Novel Thermal Technologies for Enhanced Air- and Process-Side Performance of CPI-Relevant Heat Exchangers

Ari Glezer

Professor and Woodruff Thermal Systems Chair

Georgia Institute of Technology

Arne J. Pearlstein

Professor of Mechanical Science and Engineering

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

ABSTRACT

* This abstract was co-authored by Ari Glezer (Georgia Institute of Technology) and Arne J. Pearlstein (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign).

As the chemical and process industries continue to reduce energy consumption and capital costs in every process, new approaches are needed to improve the efficiency of heat exchangers, or reduce their initial cost, footprint, and operating costs.

This presentation focuses on three such technologies. On the air side, we discuss how aeroelastically-driven flutter of flexible "reeds" installed between fins in a plate-fin exchanger can considerably enhance heat transfer, with increases in the pressure drop that are sufficiently small for the approach to be economically attractive in applications. On the two-phase process side, we discuss how ultrasonic transducers can accelerate condensation, and hence reduce the size of a condenser needed to reduce the quality of a liquid/vapor mixture. We also show how-frequency Helmholtz resonance can be used to enhance condensation within the tubes of an air or liquid-cooled heat exchanger.