Investigation of the Interaction of Ultrasound with Plate Heat Exchanger
Résumé
Heat exchangers are an essential component in the food industry, power plants, water treatment, etc., and play a key role as heat-transfer devices. A plate heat exchanger is one of the most extensively used because it is economical, efficient, and flexible. It uses metal plates to transfer heat and has high heat transfer efficiency as the fluid is exposed to a larger surface area of the plate. However, the heat exchanging liquids in industries contain suspended or dissolved particles resulting in deposits over the plate, limiting heat transfer capability and thus reducing efficiency. Standard techniques such as chemical cleaning, manual cleaning, hydro-blasting, and steam blasting are widely used to handle this problem. However, they are inefficient and labor-intensive owing to drawbacks such as high handling risk, over-cleaning (which results in the loss of the protective oxide layer), and corrosion. The past decade has seen the rapid development of ultrasound-assisted heat exchangers to inhibit these deposits in the metal plates. Also, recent evidence proved it to be an efficient heat transfer enhancement technique. However, research on the subject has been restricted to investigating ultrasound efficiency to reduce deposition in the plate. Thus, this research aims to provide a theoretical and experimental framework for the interaction of ultrasound waves with the complex structure of plate heat exchangers. This research emphasizes the utilization of ultrasonic bulk waves and leaky Lamb waves to investigate the transmission and reflection characteristics of ultrasound waves for the interaction of each plate with the fluid. The proposed research will help gain insight into the design strategy for ultrasound-assisted plate heat exchangers to attain maximum heat transfer efficiency with low input power.
Domaines
Acoustique [physics.class-ph]
Origine : Fichiers produits par l'(les) auteur(s)