Thermohydraulic Engineering of Plate-Fin Surfaces for Heat Exchangers Subject to Required Dimensions

This paper presents a design approach for plate-fin heat exchangers, where secondary surfaces are engineered with the aim of achieving fixed block dimensions. Surface engineering refers to the determination of the surface geometrical parameters that produce a desired heat transfer and pressure drop performance. Through surface engineering, the exchanger dimensions, such as length, width and height, can be considered as a design objective in heat exchanger design along with the heat duty and the pressure drop. Simple secondary surfaces such as triangular and rectangular fins are considered in this work. The approach is demonstrated using a case study, and various scenarios are analysed.