Investigation of the thermal performance of different types of surface geometries in printed circuit heat exchangers

In this study, thermal and hydraulic analysis of airfoil fin and sinusoidal fin printed circuit heat exchangers were performed. 2 models with airfoil fin and 8 models with sinusoidal fin were studied. Pressure drop, friction factor, Nusselt number and performance evaluation criteria of the models at different Reynolds numbers (Re=1000, Re=2000, Re=3000 and Re=4000) were examined. Increasing Reynolds number reduces the performance evaluation criteria. The 0 degree-0 degree airfoil fin model for which performance evaluation was made was taken as reference. Accordingly, while the performance evaluation criterion for Reynolds 1000 is 1.07 for the model with sinusoidal fin (model VIII), the performance evaluation criterion for the same Reynolds number for the airfoil fin model (15 degrees- 15 degrees) is 1.187. Therefore, the most efficient model is the model with 15 degrees- 15 degrees airfoil fin.