Research on the Thermal Performance of a Helical Coil Heat Exchanger

Abstract

Helical coil heat exchanger has been widely used in hydraulics engineering, and plays an important role in modern industry. The distribution of fluid field which would be influenced by helical coil structural parameters is an important factor affecting its thermal performance. In this paper, CFD analysis is conducted to study the effects of the inlet flow, the mid-diameter of coils, the pitch, and the number of helical coil turns on the thermal performance of a heat exchanger. Results show that the outlet temperature and pressure drop of the helical coil heat exchanger are affected significantly by the inlet mass flow rate, and varies with the mid-diameter and pitch. And it approximately linearly increases with the number of coil turns.