Experimental Analysis of Performance of Heat Exchanger with Plate Fins and Parallel Flow of Working Fluids

Heat exchangers are devices in which heat is transferred from one fluid to another fluid as a result of temperature difference. Heat exchanger presented in the current paper in which inside the tubes flows water, but outside the tubes flows air aims to enable cooling of circulating water, which serves to cool the engine of a machine. Such exchangers find application in the automotive industry as well as heating and cooling equipment and HVAC systems etc. The surface of the heat exchanger by the air side always tends to be much larger using surface fins in order to facilitate equalization of thermal resistance for both sides of the heat exchanger, because the rate of transmission of heat from the water side is much greater. Furthermore, the paper will present analytical and experimental studies involved for determination of performance of plate-fin heat exchanger for various flows of working fluids in order to get the highest values of performances i.e.: overall heat transfer coefficient U, efficiency of heat exchanger ε, maximal and real heat transferred, pressure drop, air velocity and Reynolds number from the air side of heat exchanger etc. The present scientific paper is based on the fact that from the experimental model made for laboratory conditions, conclusions are derived that can be used during installation of such heat exchanger on certain machines in order to predict their performance.