• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.494-501
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• 2000

Effectiveness of a 3-pass plate finned-tube heat exchanger is calculated using heat exchangelet method by changing the shape of fin and the arrangement of tubes. The alternative refrigerant R134a is taken in this study. Conduction between neighboring tubes along the fin is taken into account in addition to convection between the fin and the surrounding air. Governing equations are obtained by using energy balance in a small control volume containing a tube and fins. They are numerically solved following the tube. Effect of tube-to-tube conduction is investigated in single-phase and two-phase flows with various fin shapes and arrangements of tubes. Improvement of effectiveness by fin perforation is studied too. The results shows that perforating fins, increasing the number of tubes, and increasing the distance between neighboring tubes at the same fin area enhance the effectiveness.