Split heat pipe heat recovery system

E. Azad
Solar Energy Lab., Iranian Research Organization for Science & Technology (IROST),
71 Forsat Ave. Ferdousi sq., Tehran-Iran
E-mail: azad_ezat@yahoo.com

Abstract This paper describes a theoretical analysis of a split heat pipe heat recovery system. The
analysis is based on an Effectiveness-NTU approach to deduce its heat transfer characteristics. In this

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study the variation of overall effectiveness of heat recovery with the number of transfer units are
presented.

Keywords effectiveness; fins; heat pipe; heat recovery; NTU

Nomenclature
Symbol Description
A Total heat transfer area (m2)
Afe Finned surface area (m2)
Aeo Total external surface area (m2)
C Flow-stream capacity rate (m.Cp) (W/K)
Cc Flow-stream capacity rate of cold-side fluid (mc.Cp) (W/K)
Ce Flow-stream capacity rate of hot-side fluid (me.Cp) (W/K)
CL Heat pipe working fluid capacity (W/K)
Cmin Minimum of Ce or Cc
Cmax Maximum of Ce or Cc
Cp Specific heat at constant pressure (J/kg K)
Csf constant
Eo Overall exchanger effectiveness (dimensionless)
g Acceleration due to gravity (m/s2)
gc Proportionality factor in Newtons second law (kg m/Ns2)
G Exchanger flow-stream mass velocity (kg/m2 s)
h Heat transfer coefficient (W/m2K)
J St Pr2/3
k Thermal conductivity(W/mK)
L Latent heat (KJ/kg)
m Fin effectiveness parameter (dimensionless)
m mass flow rate, kg/s
M Molecular weight
n Number of tubes in direction of flow (dimensionless)
AU
NTU Number of heat transfer units of an exchanger (dimensionless),
Cmin

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 192 E. Azad

h. x
Nu Nusselt number (dimensionless)
k
P Pressure (N/m2)
Pr Prandtl number (dimensionless)
R Gas constant for vapour R = Ro/M
R Thermal resistances (K/W)
Ro Universal gas constant (8314 J/mol K)
Rv Heat pipe vapour thermal resistance (K/W)
Re Reynolds number (dimensionless)
Sl Tube spacing in direction of flow (m)

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St Stanton number (dimensionless)
T Temperature (K)
Ts Wall temperature (K)
t Thickness (m)
U Overall thermal conductance (W/m2 K)
h Efficiency (dimensionless)
e Effectiveness (dimensionless)
s Surface tension of liquid-vapour interface (N/m)
e Volume fraction of solid phase
m Viscosity (N s/m2)
s Surface tension (N/m)

Subscripts
C Condenser
e Evaporator
f Fin
i Inside
l Liquid
n For n row in direction of flow
o Outside
p Pipe wall
s Solid
w Wall
w Saturated wick

1. Introduction
It is in the field of heat recovery from exhaust gas that the largest benefit from
investment in energy conservation equipment can be realized. There are a consider-
able number of uses to which this waste heat from exhaust gas can be put, and these
depend to a large extent on the temperature and condition of the exhaust gases or
air, the heat recovery equipment used, and the economic assessment of the overall
system performance [1].

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 Split heat pipe heat recovery system 193

It is possible to categorize four main application areas for waste heat recovery
equipment.

(i) Gas-to-gas
(ii) Gas-to-liquid
(iii) Liquid-to-gas
(iv) Liquid-to-liquid

The application of heat pipe for heat recovery is not new. D.A.Reay [1] has
reported a review of gas-to-gas heat recovery systems. Azad and Geoola [2] inves-

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tigated the variation of overall effectiveness with Ce/Cc for different values of
tube spacing normal to the direction of flow; number of fins per metre; fin thickness
and evaporator lengths. Peretz and Horbaniuc [3] applied the effectiveness-NTU
method to study the influence of geometry on heat pipe heat recovery (HPHR)
operation. Shao et al. [4] have presented a study of pressure loss and heat recovery
efficiency of heat pipe units for natural ventilation, using both experimental and
computational approaches. It is found in their research that heat recovery efficiency
decreased with increasing air velocity. The effectiveness-NTU model for gravity-
assisted air-to-air HPHR was applied by Azad and Geoola [2]. As in the log mean
temperature difference method, this requires the total thermal resistance of the
HPHR. For internal resistances, the Rohsenow correlation inside the evaporator was
used. For the interior condenser resistance, Azad and Geoola [2] developed a new
correlation for condensing water vapour on vertical carbon-steel. Azad et al. [5]
extended the methodology of Azad and Geoola [2] to model water-to-air heat pipe
heat exchangers. Azad et al. [6] and Azad and Gibbs [7] further extended this method
to model co-axial air-to-water heat pipe heat exchanger and water-to-air heat
exchanger.
Recently, Lamfon et.al [8] applied two-phase thermosyphon for extracting waste
heat from the gas turbine chimney and delivering this energy to the generator of an
aqua-ammonia absorption chiller. Riffat et al. [9] have applied heat pipe for ther-
moelectric refrigeration. Furthermore, substitute of the conventional heat sink system
with an encapsulated phase change material was found to improve the performance
of the thermoelectric refrigeration system. Soylemez [10] studied thermoeconomic
feasibility analysis yielding a simple algebraic optimization formula for estimating
the optimum length of a finned pipe used for waste heat recovery. Li et al. [11] pre-
sented the performance analysis of a multifunction heat pipe type adsorption ice
maker with activated carbonCaCl2 as compound adsorbent and ammonia as refrig-
erant. Filippeschi [12] proposed particular passive wickless two-phase loop devices
that are able to operate with or against gravity. Therefore, due to their considerable
advantages, since the 1970s, heat pipe heat exchangers have been extensively
applied in many industries such as energy engineering, chemical engineering and
metallurgical engineering as waste heat recovery systems. Ong and Haider-E-Alalhi
[13] described work on the hysteresis effect during start-up and cooling down of
thermosyphon elements in an HPHE, using R-22, R-134a and water as working
fluids.

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 194 E. Azad

The heat transfer in the system is based on the continuous cycle of the vaporiza-
tion and condensation process. The heat pipe can transfer a large quantity of heat
with a relatively small temperature drop by the evaporation of a part of the fluid.
The vapour flows to the condenser, where the fluid condenses while giving off its
latent heat, caused by cooling from the outside. After condensation at the condenser
section the working fluid returns to the heated section along the wall by gravitation
or capillarity, which closes the cycle. The heat pipe can be used to promote heat
transfer between two gas streams. The heat pipe advantages are high heat recovery
effectiveness, compactness, no moving parts, light weight, relative economy,
no external power requirements, pressure tightness, no cross-contamination

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between streams and reliability. In selection of the working fluid, the latent heat of
the fluid is an important parameter. The higher the latent heat of a fluid, the higher
the transfer of heat is at a lower pressure. The heat pipe is represented schematically
in Fig.1.

2. Split Heat Pipe Heat Recovery (SHPHR) system description

The basic configuration of the Split Heat Pipe Heat Recovery (SHPHR) is shown in
Fig.2. The SHPHR and conventional heat pipe have the same principal function of
transferring heat energy from one location to another location where heat can be
rejected. It essentially comprises four components; evaporator, vapour transport line,
liquid return line, and condenser.
In the SHPHR the evaporator is connected to the condenser through a piping
system. The condenser section is located above the evaporator so that the condensate
is returned by gravity. The vapour flows through a tube (vapour line) to the con-
denser and condensate returns to the evaporator through a tube (liquid line) by
gravity. The vapour line is connecting the top of the evaporator to the top of the
condenser, and the liquid line is connecting the lower part of the condenser to the
lower part of the evaporator.
The evaporator section of the heat pipe consists of one bank of externally
finned heat pipes, the evaporator section is lined with capillary wick structure

Figure 1. Heat pipe.

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 Split heat pipe heat recovery system 195

Condenser

Fins

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Liquid line Vapor line

Heat pipe

Evaporator

Figure 2. Split heat pipe heat recovery system.

to protect the liquid against the shear stress and to keep the surface of the
evaporator wet.
The SHPHR possesses all the main advantages of a conventional HPHR. The only
difference between the SHPHR and conventional heat pipe heat recovery lies mainly
in the separation of the evaporator and condenser. In a SHPHR the evaporator and
condenser can be located in different locations.

3. Theoretical analysis
In the following analysis the water heat pipes are considered to be in a staggered
arrangement with continuous aluminium finned circular tubing and only the

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 196 E. Azad

inner wall of the evaporator section of the heat pipe is lined with the capillary
structure. Assuming the axial heat conduction through the heat pipe walls is
negligible, the following equations for steady-state operation of the heat recovery
can be written.

3.1 Heat pipe evaporator external surface resistance Reo

The calculation of thermal resistances is based on analysis presented by Riffat [14].
The thermal resistance Reo exists between the air and heat pipe evaporator external
surface. The total thermal resistance Reo is given by:

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1
Reo = (1)
eo heo

3.2 Heat pipe evaporator tube wall resistance Rep

The thermal resistance across the tube wall thickness in the evaporator is as
follows:
t p Aeo
Rep = (2)
k p Aei

3.3 Heat pipe evaporator wick resistance Rew

The thermal conductivity of saturated wick in kw is given by Dunn and Reay [15]
as follows:

kw = kl (3)
+
where

=
(1+ k k ) m
l

(1 k k )m
l

The resistance is then:

t w Aeo
Rew = (4)
kw Aei

3.4 Heat pipe evaporator thermal resistance Rei

The thermal resistance due to evaporation can be given by:
Aeo
Rei = (5)
hei Aei
where resistances are based on outside total area of evaporator sections.

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 Split heat pipe heat recovery system 197

3.5 Heat pipe vapour thermal resistance Rv

There is a pressure drop to maintain the vapour flow from the heat pipe evaporator
to its condenser. A temperature difference therefore exists and gives rise to a thermal
resistance:
RTv2 Pv
Rv = (5)
Ql Ll Pv
Rv can be normally neglected but may be important in the starting up of gas-loaded
heat pipes [15].

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3.6 Thermal resistance due to condensation within the heat pipe Rci
The thermal resistance at the condenser is similar to the evaporator:
Aco
Rci = (6)
hci Aci

3.7 Heat pipe condenser wall resistance Rcp

tp Aco
Rcp = (7)
kp Aci

3.8 Heat pipe condenser external surface resistance Rco

1
Rco = (8)
co hco
where resistance is based on outside total area of condenser sections.
The overall heat transfer coefficients of the evaporator and condenser are:
1 t p Aeo t w Aeo A
Ue = + + + eo (9)
eo heo k p Aei kw Aei hei Aei

1 t p Aco A
Uc = + + co (10)
co hco k p Aci hci Aci
heo and hco in Equations 1 and 8 are estimated from correlations developed by Rich
[16] for continuous fin with circular tubing. The correlations are:
GSl
ReL = (11)

Where J = St.Pr2/3
J = 0.195 ReL0.35 (12)
The total surface temperature effectiveness ho estimated as follows (for evaporator
sections):
A fe
eo = 1 (1 fe ) (13)
Aeo
hfe can be calculated from equation 14:

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 198 E. Azad

Evaporator section

tanh ( ml f )
fe = (14)
ml f

2heo
m2 = (15)
kf t f

The same equations can be written for the condenser sections (i.e. hco).
The heat transfer coefficient hei can be determined from relation given by Rohse-

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now [17] as follows:
0.333
Cpl (Tw Ts ) h (T T ) gc
0.5

= Csf ei w s Pr1.7
g ( l v )
(16)
L l L

In equation 16, all properties are evaluated at the saturation temperature Ts, and the
value of coefficient Csf for a variety of fluid-surface combinations can be obtained
from Rohsenow [17] and Tong [18].
The value of internal heat transfer coefficient in the condenser section, hci, for
water vapour is calculated from Chapman [19].
For Rev 50,000

Nuci = 5.03 (Rev ) Pr1 3

13
(17)

For Rev 50,000

Nuci = 0.0265 (Rev ) Pr1 3

0.8
(18)

4. Heat transfer effectiveness

In the evaporator sections of a single row heat pipe heat recovery, the hot fluid is
in crossflow with the vapour flow inside the heat pipes. However, since the vapour
inside a heat pipe is almost at constant temperature, its specific heat, Cp, and capacity
rate, CL, become by definition, equal to infinity and as a result Ce/CL = Cc/CL = 0.
Therefore, the effectiveness-NTU equations for single row heat pipe heat recovery
are as follows [20].
For evaporator sections:
e1 = 1 exp ( NTU e1 ) (19)
For condenser sections:
c1 = 1 exp ( NTU c1 ) (20)
Now for a heat pipe heat recovery with n rows of heat pipes in the direction of flow,
the effectiveness-NTU equations are as follows [2].

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 Split heat pipe heat recovery system 199

For evaporator sections:

n
1 Ce
CL
e1

1 1
e1


en = n
(21)
1 Ce
CL
e1
Ce
1 C

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e1 L

For condenser sections:

n
1 Cc
CL
c1

1 1
c1


cn = n
(22)
1 Cc
CL
c1
Cc
1 C
c1
L

For Ce/CL = 0 and Cc/CL = 0 equations 21 and 22 reduce to:

en = 1 (1 e1 )
n
(23)

And

cn = 1 (1 c1 )
n
(24)

The overall effectiveness of the heat pipe heat recovery, Eo, may be obtained from
Azad and Geoola [2] as follows:
For Ce > Cc

1
o = (25)
1 C C
+ c e
cn en

For Cc > Ce
1
o = (26)
1 C C
+ e c
en cn

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 200 E. Azad

5. Results and discussion

The theoretical analysis presented in this study can be used to predict the SHPHR
performance. In general, heat exchange data may be presented by heat exchanger
effectiveness which depends upon flow configuration, capacity rate (mCp) of the two
streams fluids and the NTU. The following variations of parameters were chosen:
number of rows in direction of flow 1 to 4; Ce/Cc from 1 to 3; and number of heat
transfer units from 1 to 5.
Fig. 3 shows the overall heat transfer effectiveness as a function of number of
transfer units and number of rows; Ce/Cc = 1. From this figure it can be observed

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that an increase in value of number of rows from 1 to 4, at Ce/Cc = 1, the overall
effectiveness increases from 32% to 48.25% (increased by 50.8%) for NTU = 1. For
n = 1 the overall effectiveness varies sharply up to NTU = 2 and then increases
gradually. This rise is less in n = 23 and in n = 4 almost remain constant. However,
it is important to note that the influence of n > 4 at Ce/Cc = 1 on overall effectiveness
is not obvious from Fig. 3.
The overall effectiveness as a function of NTU for Ce/Cc = 2 is shown in Fig. 4.
The effectiveness for n > 2 and NTU 3 reaches to 67% and in Fig. 5 at Ce/Cc = 3
for n > 2 and NTU 2 maximum effectiveness is 74%.

6. Conclusions
This paper describes how heat pipes can be used in a split heat pipe heat recovery
system.
1-The theoretical model based on e-NTU (effectiveness-Number of Transfer
Units) method has been developed to predict the performance of the split heat pipe
heat recovery system.

Figure 3. Overall effectiveness as a function of NTU for Ce/Cc = 1.

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 Split heat pipe heat recovery system 201

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Figure 4. Overall effectiveness as a function of NTU for Ce/Cc = 2.

Figure 5. Overall effectiveness as a function of NTU for Ce/Cc = 3.

2- Increasing the ratio of Ce/Cc and number of rows of heat pipes within the normal
design ranges can improve the performance of the split heat pipe heat recovery
system.

References
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