Effects of pulsating flow on the performance of a plate heat exchanger

The effects of pulsating flow, such as pulsating frequency and flow rate, on the heat transfer as well as pressure drop in a plate heat exchanger has been studied in detail. Reynolds number in cold side of a plate heat exchanger is varied 100∼530 while that of hot side is fixed 620. The pulsating frequency is considered in the range of 5∼30Hz. The result of the pulsating flow are also compared with those of steady flow. It is found that the average heat transfer rate as well as pressure drop is increased as flow rate is increased for both steady flow and pulsating flow cases. When pulsating flow is applied to the plate heat exchanger, heat transfer could be substantially increased in particular ranges of pulsating frequency or Strouhal number; St=0.36∼0.60 and pressure drop is also increased, compare with those of steady flow