An experimental study on the performance of plate fin and tube heat exchangers at low Reynolds numbers

This paper reports on the air side heat transfer and friction performance of plate fin and tube heat exchangers (mainly used in the region of relatively low Reynolds numbers) that were experimentally studied. In this study, 35 heat exchangers with systematically changed geometric parameters were prepared. The, the air side heat transfer and pressure drop performances were measured. Next, the influence of the geometric parameters regarding performance on the basis of these measurements was considered. Finally, by using newly determined characteristic velocity and length with development of the boundary region on the fin's surface being considered, the experimental results were correlated and effective generalized dimensionless correlations of the air side heat transfer and friction factor were obtained