Investigation on Plate-Finned Tube Evaporator Performance with the Hybrid Method by Varying Geometrical Specifications

Starting from the local scale thermo-fluid dynamic analytical calculations, the “hybrid method” combines data of both sides of heat transfer cells of fin and tube evaporators resulting in low processing costs and high accuracy performance outcomes at the overall scale. The hybrid method is based on selectable regression equations generated from known data (analytical, experimental, or numerical) to compute temperature fields, pressure drop data, and heat transfer rates for both sides of the heat exchanger to be combined over the effective geometry of the evaporator. In the present work, the hybrid method was used to carry out simulations on a plate-finned tube evaporator with the aim of testing its robustness and investigating the evaporator performance with the variation of some geometric parameters such as the tubes’ diameter, the fin pitch and the materials. The simulations show that the hybrid method algorithm is capable to address evaporator performance variations caused by the geometric ones. Thus, this method can be used to optimize the design of a plate-finned tube evaporator both in terms of heat transfer rate and refrigerant pressure drops by increasing the tubes’ diameter and using higher-conductivity materials such as copper, or by decreasing the fin pitch.