Systematic studies of continuous fin-and-tube tube heat exchangers under dehumidifying conditions are reported in the present study. The heat exchangers consist of nine fin-and-tube heat exchangers having plane fins. The effects of fin spacing, the number of tube row, and inlet conditions are investigated. Data are presented in terms of j factors and friction factors f. It is found that the inconsistencies in the open literature may be associated with the wet fin efficiency. A correlation is proposed for the present plate fin configuration; this correlation can describe 92 percent of j, and 91 percent of the f data within ±10 percent.

1.
ARI Standard 410-91, 1991, Forced-Circulation Air-Cooling and Air-Heating Coils, Air-Conditioning & Refrigeration Institute, Arlington, VA.
2.
ASHRAE Standard 33-78, 1978, Method of Testing Forced Circulation Air Cooling and Air Heating Coils, American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Inc., Atlanta, GA.
3.
ASHRAE Standard 41.1-1986, 1986, Standard Method for Temperature Measurement, American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Inc., Atlanta, GA.
4.
ASHRAE Standard 41.2-1987, 1987, Standard Methods for Laboratory Air-Flow Measurement, American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Inc., Atlanta, GA.
5.
Bryan
W. L.
,
1961
, “
Heat and Mass Transfer in Dehumidifying Surface Coils
,”
ASHRAE Transactions
, Vol.
67
, pp.
393
405
.
6.
Bryan
W. L.
,
1962
, “
Heat and Mass Transfer in Dehumidifying Extended Surface Coils
,”
ASHRAE Transactions
, Vol.
68
, pp.
237
247
.
7.
Bump
T. R.
,
1963
, “
Average Temperatures in Simple Heat Exchangers
,”
ASME JOURNAL OF HEAT TRANSFER
, Vol.
85
, No.
2
, pp.
182
183
.
8.
Chang, W. R., Wang, C. C., Tsi, W. C., and Shyu, R. J., 1995, “Air-Side Performance of Louver Fin Heat Exchanger,” 4th ASME/JSME Thermal Engineering Joint Conference, Vol. 4, pp. 467–372.
9.
Chen
Z. Q.
, and
Ren
J.
,
1988
, “
Effect of Fin Spacing on the Heat Transfer and Pressure Drop of a Two-Row Plate Fin and Tube Heat Exchanger
,”
International Journal of Refrigeration
, Vol.
11
, pp.
456
360
.
10.
Eckels
P. W.
, and
Rabas
T. J.
,
1987
, “
Dehumidification: On the Correlation of Wet and Dry Transport Process in Plate Finned-Tube Heat Exchangers
,”
ASME JOURNAL OF HEAT TRANSFER
, Vol.
109
, pp.
575
582
.
11.
Elmahdy, A. H., 1975, “Analytical and Experimental Multi-Row, Finned-Tube Heat Exchanger Performance During Cooling and Dehumidification Process,” Ph.D. thesis, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada.
12.
Elmahdy
A. H.
, and
Biggs
R. C.
,
1983
, “
Efficiency of Extended Surfaces With Simultaneous Heat Transfer and Mass Transfer
,”
ASHRAE Transactions
, Vol.
89
, Part 1A, pp.
135
143
.
13.
Fu, W. L., Wang, C. C., and Chang, C. T., 1995, “Effect of Anti-Corrosion Coating on the Thermal Characteristics of a Louvered Finned Heat Exchanger Under Dehumidifying Condition,” Advances in Enhanced Heat/Mass Transfer and Energy Efficiency, ASME HTD-Vol. 320/PID-Vol. 1, pp. 75–81.
14.
Gnielinski
V.
,
1976
, “
New Equation for Heat and Mass Transfer in Turbulent Pipe and Channel Flow
,”
International Chemical Engineering
, Vol.
16
, pp.
359
368
.
15.
Hong
T. K.
, and
Webb
R. L.
,
1996
, “
Calculation of Fin Efficiency for Wet and Dry Fins
,”
International Journal of HVAC & R Research
, Vol.
2
, No.
1
, pp.
27
41
.
16.
Jacobi
A. M.
, and
Goldschmidt
V. W.
,
1990
, “
Low Reynolds Number Heat and Mass Transfer Measurements of an Overall Counterflow, Baffled, Finned-Tube, Condensing Heat Exchanger
,”
International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer
, Vol.
33
, pp.
755
765
.
17.
Kandlikar, S. G., 1990, “Thermal Design Theory for Compact Evaporators,” Compact Heat Exchangers, R. K. Kraus et al., eds., Hemisphere Publishing Corp., New York, NY, pp. 245–286.
18.
Kays, W. M., and London, A. L., 1984, Compact Heat Exchanger, 3rd edition, McGraw-Hill, New York, NY.
19.
McQuiston
F. C.
,
1975
, “
Fin Efficiency With Combined Heat and Mass Transfer
,”
ASHRAE Transactions
, Part 1, Vol.
81
, pp.
350
355
.
20.
McQuiston
F. C.
,
1978
a, “
Heat Mass and Momentum Transfer Data for Five Plate-Fin Tube Transfer Surface
,”
ASHRAE Transactions
, Part 1, Vol.
84
, pp.
266
293
.
21.
McQuiston
F. C.
,
1978
b, “
Correlation of Heat, Mass, and Momentum Transport Coefficients for Plate-Fin-Tube Heat Transfer Surfaces With Staggered Tubes
,”
ASHRAE Transactions
, Part 1, Vol.
84
, pp.
294
309
.
22.
McQuiston, F. C., and Parker, J. D., 1994, Heating, Ventilating, and Air Conditioning, 4th edition, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, NY, p. 594.
23.
Mirth
D. R.
, and
Ramadhyani
S.
,
1993
, “
Prediction of Cooling-Coils Performance Under Condensing Conditions
,”
International Journal Heat and Fluid Flow
, Vol.
14
, No.
4
, pp.
391
400
.
24.
Mirth
D. R.
, and
Ramadhyani
S.
,
1994
, “
Correlations for Predicting the Air-Side Nusselt Numbers and Friction Factors in Chilled-Water Cooling Coils
,”
Experimental Heat Transfer
, Vol.
7
, pp.
143
162
.
25.
Moffat
R. J.
,
1988
, “
Describing the Uncertainties in Experimental Results
,”
Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science
, Vol.
1
, pp.
3
17
.
26.
Myers, R. J., 1967, “The Effect of Dehumidification on the Air-Side Heat Transfer Coefficient for a Finned-Tube Coil,” M. S. Thesis, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.
27.
Moffat
R. J.
,
1988
, “
Describing the Uncertainties in Experimental Results
,”
Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science
, Vol.
1
, pp.
3
17
.
28.
Rich
D. G.
,
1973
, “
The Effect of Fin Spacing on the Heat Transfer and Friction Performance of Multi-Row, Plate Fin-and-Tube Heat Exchangers
,”
ASHRAE Transactions
, Part 2, Vol.
79
, pp.
137
145
.
29.
Rich
D. G.
,
1975
, “
The Effect of the Number of Tube Rows on Heat Transfer Performance of Smooth Plate Fin-and-Tube Heat Exchanger
,”
ASHRAE Transactions
, Part 1, Vol.
81
, pp.
307
317
.
30.
Schmidt
Th. E.
,
1949
, “
Heat Transfer Calculations for Extended Surfaces
,”
Refrigerating Engineering
, Vol.
49
, pp.
351
357
.
31.
Senshu
T.
,
Hatada
T.
, and
Ishibane
K.
,
1981
, “
Heat and Mass Transfer Performance of Air Coolers Under Wet Conditions
,”
ASHRAE Transactions
, Part 2, Vol.
87
, pp.
109
115
.
32.
Seshimo
Y.
,
Ogawa
K.
,
Marumoto
K.
, and
Fujii
M.
,
1988
, “
Heat and Mass Transfer Performances on Plate Fin and Tube Heat Exchangers With Dehumidification
,”
Transactions JSME
, Vol.
54
, No.
499
, pp.
716
721
.
33.
Shah, R. K., 1988, “Plate-Fin and Tube-Fin Heat Exchanger Design Procedures,” Heat Transfer Equipment Design, R. K. Shah et al., eds., Hemisphere Publishing Corp., Washington, DC, pp. 255–266.
34.
Threlkeld, J. L., 1970, Thermal Environmental Engineering, Prentice-Hall, Inc., New York, NY.
35.
Wang
C. C.
,
Hsieh
Y. C.
,
Chang
Y. J.
, and
Lin
Y. T.
,
1996
a, “
Sensible Heat and Friction Characteristics of Plate Fin-and-Tube Heat Exchangers Having Plane Fins
,”
International Journal of Refrigeration
, Vol.
19
, No.
4
, pp.
223
230
.
36.
Wang, C. C., W. L., Fu, Chang, C. T., 1996b, “Heat Transfer and Friction Characteristics of Typical Wavy Fin-and-Tube Heat Exchangers,” Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science, in press.
37.
Wang
C. C.
,
Chen
P. Y.
,
Jang
J. Y.
,
1996
c, “
Heat Transfer and Friction Characteristics of Convex-Louver Fin-and-Tube Heat Exchangers
,”
Experimental Heat Transfer
, Vol.
9
, No.
1
, pp.
61
78
.
38.
Wu
G.
, and
Bong
T. Y.
,
1994
, “
Overall Efficiency of a Straight Fin With Combined Heat and Mass Transfer
,”
ASHRAE Transactions, Part 1
, Vol.
100
, pp.
367
374
.
39.
Uv
E. H.
, and
Sonju
O. K.
,
1992
, “
Heat Transfer Measurements of Circular Finned Tubes With and Without Partial Condensation
,”
Institute of Chemical Engineers Symposium Series
, Vol.
1
, No.
129
, pp.
295
302
.
This content is only available via PDF.
You do not currently have access to this content.