Enhancement of heat transfer rate with structural modification of double pipe heat exchanger by changing cylindrical form of tubes into conical form

In this paper, cylindrical tubes of a double pipe heat exchanger were changed into the conical tubes as an innovative design which causes improvement of thermal performance of heat exchanger without increment of its weight. Utilization of conical tube instead of cylindrical tube can impress both thermal and frictional characteristics of heat exchanger. Hence, the effect of conical tubes on Nusselt number, friction factor and thermal performance factor are evaluated in present research which was not covered already. Moreover, the effects of hydrodynamic, thermodynamic and geometrical characteristics are analyzed. All said parameters are numerically investigated for nine different combinations of flow direction and conical tubes geometry. The results of simulations of the said configurations are presented to compare the cases from different points of view and determine the most thermally efficient case. The results reveal modified geometry makes 63% increment in Nu number and 54% increment in heat transfer rate at optimum condition. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.