Experimental Study on the Heat Transfer Characteristics of Spiral Fin-Tube Heat Exchangers

This study experimentally examines the air-side performance of spiral finned tube heat exchangers. The effects of fin spacing, fin height, and tube alignment were investigated. Reduction of fin spacing decreased the Colburn j factor. However, the effect of fin height on the Colburn j factor was negligible. An increase of tube row decreased the Nusselt number for both staggered and in-line tube alignments. However, the decrease of the Nusselt number for the in-line tube alignment was much more significant than that of the staggered tube alignment. The average Nusselt number of the staggered tube alignment was larger than that of the in-line tube alignment by when the Reynolds number ranged from 300 to 1700. An empirical correlation of the Nusselt number was developed by using geometric parameters of heat exchanger and correction factors. The correction factor considered the effects of tube alignment and number of tube rows on the heat transfer. The proposed correlation yielded a mean deviation of from the present data.