Numerical Investigation of Parallel-Plate Counter Flow Heat Exchanger: An Approximation using the Finite Element Method

Abstract

Heat exchangers are widely employed in various sectors for both heating and cooling. This paper describes a numerical model for simulating a counter-flow parallel plate heat exchanger. The computational domain was a representative unit cell of a multi-channel heat exchanger, which included a hot channel and a cold channel separated by plates. The simulation is directed in COMSOL for an oil-to-water heat exchanger, with hot oil and cold water flowing in opposing directions through distinct channels. This study displays temperature distributions in cold and hot channels with different inlet and outlet temperatures (293.15-340 K and 300-330 K). For 293.15-340 K, the hot channel temperature decreased from 340 K to 317.8 K, while the cold channel temperature increased from 293.15 K to 316 K. At 50 mm, the temperature gradient (K/m) is examined, and at 200 mm, the highest pressure of 0.0715 Pa is found. The hot channel displays a vorticity magnitude of 8.9275 s⁻¹, while the cold channel has 0.0178 s⁻¹. Simulations using finer meshes resulted in greater temperature accuracy. The LMTD values are 23.46 (293.15-340 K) and 15.02 (300-330 K), with an efficiency of 0.85 for NTU 1.5. The model assists in optimizing heat exchanger design effectively.

IUBAT Review—A Multidisciplinary Academic Journal, 8(2): 45-58