Heat transfer and flow characteristics of fin-tube bundles with and without winglet-type vortex generators

The objective of this research is to investigate the effect of longitudinal vortices that can be applied to the heat transfer enhancement for fin-tube heat exchangers such as air-cooled condensers. A multichannel test core was designed and fabricated for the determination of overall heat transfer and pressure loss with circular tubes and winglet vortex generators. Heat transfer results were obtained using a transient method referred to as the modified single-blow method. For a three-row tube bundle in an in-line arrangement without winglets, the heat transfer and the pressure loss were 72% and 210% higher, respectively, than for a multichannel test core without any built-in tube or winglet. These increases were caused by vortices around the tube banks. The corresponding increases for a staggered tube bundle are 95% and 310%, respectively. The triangular winglets recommended by the previous studies in a fin-tube bundle in an in-line arrangement increase the overall heat transfer 10-25% and the pressure loss 20-35% for the Reynolds numbers ranging from 300 to 2700.