Thermodynamic performance evaluation of an air-air heat pipe heat exchanger

Abstract

In this paper, heat transfer analysis for an air-air heat exchanger was experimentally carried out to find its thermal performance and effectiveness. Air-air heat exchanger equipped with finned heat pipes was considered for the experimentation. Mass flow rate of air was considered in between 0.24 to 0.53 kg/s. The temperature at the condenser side of the heat pipe heat exchanger was kept constant at around 23°C and at the evaporator part it was varied from 88 to 147°C. The performance of heat pipe heat exchanger was evaluated at different mass flow rate of air, in terms of effectiveness and compared with its corresponding value found by theoretical analysis.