Thermal coupling between a helical pipe and a conducting volume

Here we document the effect of flow configuration on the heat transfer performance of a helically shaped pipe embedded in a cylindrical conducting volume. The helix is wrapped on an imaginary cylinder. Several configurations of helices with fixed volume of fluid are considered. We found the optimal spacings between the helical turns such that the volumetric heat transfer rate is maximal. Next, we extended the study by varying the volume (length) of the embedded pipe. We found that the optimized features of the heat transfer architecture are robust with respect to changes in several physical parameters. We compared the performance for both helical 3D and 20 designs. We found that the 2D designs offer greater heat transfer density than the 3D designs. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.