Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer Characteristics in Empty, Finned, and Packed Bed Rectangular Duct

The use of modern technology has increased the energy demand substantially in last few decades. Heat exchange devices are important in energy generation and hence there is need of performance improvement with cost effectiveness in these devices. The present deals with fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics of empty, finned, and packed bed in rectangular duct. Steady state analysis is done for Reynolds number (Re) = 500 to 10,500. Convective heat transfer coefficient (CHTC), pressure drop, and pumping power for all duct configurations are evaluated and compared. CHTC in packed bed is found to be 8 times more than empty and finned duct. The pressure drop in packed bed is also increased but can be handled with partial filling of bed. The performance of packed bed performance is much better than the other two duct configurations. Along with performance improvement, packed bed devices can prove to be a very cost effective, less maintenance, and easy operative solution over finned devices. Thus, packed bed heat exchange device shows a promising alternative to conventional techniques of using fins and can be used effectively in compact heat exchangers for many applications.