Direct contact heat exchanger development
Abstract
[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] The purpose of this work was to develop tools that guide the design of a direct contact heat exchanger for small-scale commercial and/or residential HVAC applications. Experimental data was gathered with a temperature and humidity controlled wind tunnel having a 15 cm square test section that utilized flat-fan water sprays as the working fluid/surface. The data was used to develop an overall sensible heat transfer correlation. A numeric model simulating heat and mass transfer from a water spray was also developed. The correlation was found to accurately capture the fundamental behavior of the system; however, the uncertainty of predicted amount of heat transfer averaged 82%. The numeric model also trended well with the experimental data; however, the model under predicted the heat transfer by an average of 50%. Investigation into the discrepancies revealed information about droplet entrainment in the experimental system and the limiting factors of the correlation and model.
Degree
Ph. D.
Thesis Department
Rights
Access is limited to the campuses of the University of Missouri.