EXAMPLE 8.

3-1: Performance of a Cross-Flow Heat Exchanger (revisited)

The cross-flow heat exchanger investigated in EXAMPLE 8.1-1 and EXAMPLE 8.1-2 is used to H = heat air with hot water. Water enters the heat exchanger tubing with a mass flow rate, m 0.03 kg/s and temperature, TH,in = 60C. Air at TC,in = 20C and atmospheric pressure is blown  = 0.06 m3/s. The conductance of this across the heat exchanger with a volumetric flowrate of V C heat exchanger has been calculated using several different techniques in Section 8.1; the best estimate of the conductance is UA = 58.4 W/K, based on the compact heat exchanger correlations. a.) Determine the outlet temperatures of the water and air and the heat transfer rate using the NTU method. This is exactly the same problem that was solved in EXAMPLE 8.2-1 using the log-mean temperature difference method. Recall that the use of the LMTD method was not convenient and required a series of steps related to setting proper guess values and limits. Solving this problem using the -NTU method will provide a clear comparison of these heat exchanger solution methods. The known information is entered in EES:
"EXAMPLE 8.3-1: Performance of a Cross-Flow Heat Exchanger (revisited)" $UnitSystem SI MASS RAD PA K J $Tabstops 0.2 0.4 0.6 3.5 in "Inputs" V_dot_C=0.06 [m^3/s] p=1 [atm]*convert(atm,Pa) T_C_in=convertTemp(C,K,20 [C]) T_H_in=convertTemp(C,K,60 [C]) m_dot_H=0.03 [kg/s] UA = 58.4 [W/K]

"volumetric flow rate of air" "atmospheric pressure" "inlet air temperature" "inlet water temperature" "water flow rate" "conductance (from EXAMPLE 8.1-2)"

The density of air (C) is calculated at the inlet condition and used to compute the air-side mass flow rate:

  C = C V m C
rho_C=density(Air,T=T_C_in,P=p) m_dot_C=rho_C*V_dot_C "density of air" "air mass flow rate"

The specific heat capacities of the air and the water should be evaluated at the average of the inlet and outlet temperatures for each fluid stream. However, these temperatures are not yet known. Reasonable values for TC,out and TH,out are assumed so that the problem can be solved sequentially; these values will be adjusted based on the solution.
T_C_out=convertTemp(C,K,25 [C]) T_H_out=convertTemp(C,K,50 [C]) "guess for the cold stream exit temp." "guess for the hot stream exit temp."

The specific heat capacities are evaluated at the average of the inlet and outlet temperatures:
c_C=cP(Air,T=(T_C_in+T_C_out)/2) c_H=cP(Water,T=(T_H_in+T_H_out)/2,P=p) "specific heat capacity of air" "specific heat capacity of water"

The capacitance rates of the fluids are calculated:

 =m  C cC C C

 =m  H cH C H
C_dot_C=m_dot_C*c_C C_dot_H=m_dot_H*c_H "capacitance rate of the air" "capacitance rate of the water"

 and C  ) are evaluated using the MIN and The minimum and maximum capacitance rates ( C min max MAX commands in EES:
C_dot_min=MIN(C_dot_C,C_dot_H) C_dot_max=MAX(C_dot_C,C_dot_H) "minimum capacitance rate" "maximum capacitance rate"

The number of transfer units is calculated according to:

NTU =
NTU=UA/C_dot_min "number of transfer units"

UA  C

min

The effectiveness () for a cross-flow heat exchanger with both fluids unmixed is obtained by selecting Heat Exchangers from the Function Information window and then NTU -> Effectiveness; scroll to the correct configuration. Paste the function into the Equations Window and then change C_dot_1 to C_dot_H and C_dot_2 to C_dot_C in order to correspond to the variables used in this problem solution. (Note that the order in which you enter the capacity rates does not matter for this heat exchanger, but it would matter if one of the fluids were mixed.)
epsilon=HX('crossflow_both_unmixed', NTU, C_dot_C, C_dot_H, 'epsilon') "access effectiveness-NTU solution"

max ) is computed according to: The maximum possible heat transfer rate ( q

 (T T ) max = C q min H ,in C ,in

 ) is computed according to: and the actual heat transfer rate ( q

 = q max q

q_dot_max=C_dot_min*(T_H_in-T_C_in) q_dot=q_dot_max*epsilon

"maximum possible heat transfer rate" "actual heat transfer rate"

The guess values are updated and the initial, guessed values for the outlet temperatures are commented out:
{T_C_out=convertTemp(C,K,25 [C]) T_H_out=convertTemp(C,K,50 [C]) "guess for the cold stream exit temp." "guess for the hot stream exit temp."}

The outlet temperatures are computed using energy balances:

 q TC ,out = TC ,in +  CC  q TH ,out = TH ,in  CH

T_H_out=T_H_in-q_dot/C_dot_H T_H_out_C=converttemp(K,C,T_H_out) T_C_out=T_C_in+q_dot/C_dot_C T_C_out_C=converttemp(K,C,T_C_out) "hot fluid exit temperature" "in C" "cold fluid exit temperature" "in C"

 = 1371 W with TC,out = 38.9C and TH,out = 49.1C. These results are identical which leads to q to those obtained in EXAMPLE 8.2-1.
Notice that the problem could be solved directly without requiring any attention to the guess values and/or limits. This is the major advantage of the effectiveness-NTU method. Although it is algebraically identical to the LMTD method, it is formulated in a manner that allows direct determination of the heat transfer rate and outlet temperatures when the UA and capacitance rates are known.