Comparison Study of Thermal Performance of Plate Fin Type Heat Exchangers with Aligned and Staggered Arrangements

Plate finned tube bundles of heat exchangers are generally in staggered and seldom in aligned arrangement. Since the flow resistance of aligned arrangement is less that of the staggered one, the former might be taken into consideration for heat exchangers fitted with plate finned tube, in case only a small flow resistance loss can be allowed for. For the purpose of substantiating this idea, a comparison study on the thermal performance of a heat exchanger structurally featured by plate finned tubes in aligned with another one with tubes in staggered arrangement has been performed. The lengthwise tube pitch and the number of tube banks of both were made equal to facilitate comparison. An analysis of the test results shows that the thermal performance of both test samples are nearly the same and thus demonstrates that under certain conditions it may be more appropriate to use in heat exchangers plate finned tubes in aligned arrangement.Figs 7 and refs 6.