CFD modeling and performance evaluation of spiral tube LPG vaporizer

Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) has various applications in many industries including heating, hot water, electricity generation, fuel, transportation, agriculture and trade. A large area of use creates a need for a large amount of liquefied petroleum gas in a very short time, and therefore evaporators (vaporizer) are used to convert LPG from liquid phase to gas phase. The task of an evaporator is to ensure that the gas phase is delivered to a system at constant speed. The evaporator type covered in this thesis is an electric source LPG evaporator. This type of evaporator does not require heat transfer fluid. In this way, additional costs such as storing this liquid are eliminated. The heat energy required for the evaporation of LPG is provided by using a resistor. The evaporator consists of a spiral pipe and heater embedded in an aluminum casting. Due to its Minimal design and suitable for explosive environment, it must be produced in the most suitable dimensions for the process. These types of evaporators are preferred compared to standard evaporators because they need less maintenance. In this study, it is aimed to reveal the relation between the process parameters needed in the structural design of LPG evaporators and the design parameters and to reveal the technical data needed. Numerical and CFD analysis of the flow of the LPG evaporator under different inlet conditions was carried out using two different capacity evaporator prototypes. In the study, the results of the maximum performance evaporator were reached among the models analyzed by comparing spirals with different heat transfer areas.