Experimental study on the effects of the number of heat exchanger modules on thermal characteristics in a premixed combustion system

The effects of the number of heat exchanger modules on thermal characteristics were experimentally studied in a premixed combustion system with a cross-flow staggered-tube heat exchanger. The various heat exchanger modules, from 4 to 8, combined with a premixed burner were tested to investigate the performance of the heat exchanger through the surface area of the heat exchanger at various equivalence ratios. Additionally, the performance of the heat exchanger was analyzed by applying entropy generation theory to the heat exchanger system. As a result, although the heat transfer rate increases with the increase of the equivalence ratio, the NOx and CO concentrations also increase due to the increasing flame temperature. In addition, the entropy generation increases with an increase of the equivalence ratio. Furthermore, the heat transfer rate and the effectiveness are increased with the increase of the number of the heat exchanger modules. Also, the effectiveness is sharply increased when the number of the heat exchanger modules is increased from 4 to 5. Consequently, the optimal operating conditions regarding pollutant emission, effectiveness and entropy generation in this experimental range are 0.85 for the equivalence ratio and 8 for the number of heat exchanger modules.