Numerical studies on flow and heat transfer in membrane helical-coil heat exchanger and membrane serpentine-tube heat exchanger

The flow and heat transfer characteristics of synthesis gas (syngas) in membrane helical-coil heat exchanger and membrane serpentine-tube heat exchanger under different operating pressures, inlet velocities and pitches are investigated numerically. The three-dimensional governing equations for mass, momentum and heat transfer are solved using a control volume finite difference method. The realizable k-ε model is adopted to simulate the turbulent flow and heat transfer in heat exchangers. There flows syngas in the channels consisting of the membrane helical coils or membrane serpentine tubes, where the operating pressure varies from 0.5 to 3.0 MPa. The numerically obtained heat transfer coefficients for heat exchangers are in good agreement with experimental values. The results show that the syngas tangential flow in the channel consisting of membrane helical coils is significant to the heat transfer enhancement to lead to the higher average heat transfer coefficient of membrane helical-coil heat exchanger compared to membrane serpentine-tube heat exchanger. The syngas tangential velocity in the membrane helical-coil heat exchanger increases along the axial direction, and it is independent of the gas pressure, increasing with the axial velocity and axial pitch rise and decreasing with the radial pitch rise.