Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer Characteristics of Cone Orifice Jet (Effects of Cone Angle)

The use of a jet from an orifice nozzle with a saddle-backed-shape velocity profile and a contracted flow at the nozzle exit may improve the heat transfer characteristics on an impingement plate because of its larger centerline velocity. However, it requires more power to operate than a common nozzle because of its higher flow resistance. We therefore initially considered the use of a cone orifice nozzle to obtain better heat transfer performance as well as to decrease the flow resistance. We examined the effects of the cone angle alpha on the cone orifice free jet flow and heat transfer characteristics of the impinging jet. We compared two nozzles: a pipe nozzle and a quadrant nozzle. The first one provides a velocity profile of a fully developed turbulent pipe flow, and the second has a uniform velocity profile at the nozzle exit. We observed a significant enhancement of the heat transfer characteristics of the cone orifice jets at Re = 1.5 x 10(4). Using the cone orifice impinging jets enhanced the heat transfer rates as compared to the quadrant jet, even when the jets were supplied with the same operational power as the pipe jet. For instance, a maximum enhancement up to approximately 22% at r/d(0) congruent to 0.5 is observed for alpha = 15 degrees. In addition, an increase of approximately 7% is attained as compared to when the pipe jet was used. (C) 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.