Improvement of entrance configuration in plate-fin heat exchanger

Flow characteristics of flow field in the header of plate-fin heat exchanger were investigated by means of particle image velocimetry (PIV) and a series of velocity vector and streamline graphs of different cross-sections before and after the header improvement were achieved. The experimental results indicated that the improved header configuration with a punched baffle can effectively enhance the uniformity of fluid flow distribution. The results validate that PIV is well suitable to investigate complex flow pattern. And further heat exchange experiments indicate that for the improved header configuration, the temperatures are distributed more uniformly in the heat exchanger core and the heat exchanger efficiency can be effectively enhanced about 15%.