Numerical investigation of thermal enhancement of plate fin type heat exchanger with creases and holes in construction machinery

The present study aims to develop a new shape of plate fin heat exchanger by applying ceases and holes on the plate fin which is used in the construction machinery under the poor environment where the dust content is high and much extraneous materials are generated. In the present study, the louver fin heat exchanger, the plate fin heat exchanger and the heat exchanger of the shape newly proposed in this study were analyzed comparatively using three-dimensional numerical simulation. The fully developed airflow in the unit cell of heat exchangers considered was modeled with k–ω turbulence model using steady incompressible Reynolds-Averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) equations. The calculated pressure drop and heat transfer capacity for the louver fin heat exchanger, the plate fin heat exchanger and the heat exchanger of the shape newly proposed in this study were assessed in terms of the Fanning friction factor (f factor) and Colburn j-factor (j factor) while the overall performance was estimated using the volume and area goodness factors.