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A Computational Fluid Dynamic Study on Polymer Heat Exchangers

by Mingkan Zhang, Kashif Nawaz, Kai Li, Tyler C Smith
Publication Type
Conference Paper
Book Title
19th International Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Conference at Purdue
Publication Date
Publisher Location
Indiana, United States of America
Conference Name
19th International Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Conference at Purdue
Conference Location
West Lafayette, Indiana, United States of America
Conference Sponsor
DOE
Conference Date
-

Polymer heat exchangers have been developed for the applications involving weight restrictions or chemical compatibility and fouling issues owing to the low density, anticorrosive properties, and low thermal expansion of polymers. Recently development of additive manufacturing also brings new opportunities to make polymer heat exchangers with desired design that was hard to realize before. However, due to the lower thermal conductivity polymer composite, the overall heat transfer performance is still a challenge in the polymer heat exchanger technology. In present work, a computational fluid dynamic (CFD) model has been developed to study the overall heat transfer performance of additively manufactured polymer heat exchangers. The CFD results offer an insight of fluid flow and temperature distribution in the polymer heat exchangers. This study provides a guidance not only on the polymer material selection but also on the design of polymer heat exchangers. The conclusions will be helpful to design a polymer heat exchanger whose overall heat transfer performance is comparable to a metal heat exchanger.