Cross-Flow Heat Exchanger
Model ID: 173
This model solves the fluid flow and heat transfer in a micro heat exchanger made of stainless steel. These types of heat exchangers are found in lab-on-chip devices in biotechnology and micro reactors, for example for micro fuel cells. The model takes heat transferred through both convection and conduction into account.
A square cross-section is used for the fluid channels instead of circular cross-sections, often used in micro heat exchangers. The heat exchanger is of cross-flow configuration and can consist of about 20 unit cells. Because the unit cells are almost identical except for edge effects in the outer cells, you can restrict the model to a single unit cell.
|
The figure shows the isothermal surfaces in the device. The influence of the convective term in the flow channels is clearly seen in the isothermal surfaces. Temperature differences are found at the outlet between the different channels in the hot stream, which implies that the hot stream is not uniformly cooled in the different channels. This effect is also seen in the cold stream. |
