Heat transfer analysis of shell-and-helical-coil heat exchangers

Since 2006, The Center for Innovation and Applied Technology (CIAT) at Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art has been developing a system to use thermal pollution to heat the growth medium of green roofs. CIAT is researching various apparatus and techniques, including shell-and-tube and shell-and-coil heat exchangers, to improve its heated ground agricultural projects. There are limited recorded observations on shell-and-coil heat exchangers; therefore a laboratory work station was created of interchangeable components to test the efficiency of a variety of coil designs. This paper discusses the data collected on temperature, pressure, and flow rates for a straight tube and two different helical coils. The analysis of this data indicates the superiority of a helical coil design when compared to a straight tube design with respect to both rating and heat transfer rate. The same data analysis has lead to preliminary observations on how the contour properties of a helical coil influence the heat transfer rate through a coil. The authors intend to further this helical coil research to develop a useful mathematical model for determining efficient designs for shell-and-coil heat exchangers.