Preliminary research on mass/heat transfer in mini heat exchanger

Thermodynamics Department, the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautics, Rzeszów University of Technology, al. Powstańców Warszawy 12, 35-959 Rzeszów, Poland

^* Corresponding author: joanwilk@prz.edu.pl

Abstract

In the paper the authors present the facility for model investigations of heat/mass transfer in the exchanger characterised by small dimensions. Determination of heat transfer coefficients is an important issue in the design of mini heat exchangers. The built facility enables measurements of mass transfer coefficients with the use of limiting current technique. The coefficients received from the experiment are converted into heat transfer coefficients basing on the analogy between mass and heat transfer. The exchanger considered consists of nine parallel minichannels with a square cross-section of 2mm. In real conditions during the laminar flow through the minichannels the convective heat transfer occurs. Analogous conditions are maintained during the model mass transfer experiment. The paper presents the experimental facility and the preliminary results of measurements in the form of voltammograms. The voltammograms show the limiting currents being the base of mass transfer coefficient calculations.