Our client asked:

Our client manufactures combustion boilers that use a large number of heat exchange pipes. To reduce costs, our client wanted to reduce the number of heat exchange pipes used in each boiler. However, the new boiler design needed to achieve the same total flow rates for both water and combustion gases and therefore, an improved design needed to offer both enhanced heat transfer and a sufficient reduction in flow resistance to offset the increased flow rate.

The project story:

• The project began with a literature review - this involved finding and reading academic papers on the design of heat exchanger pipes, and it also illuminated some important points about how the system should be modelled.
• Sagentia Innovation executed some initial modelling calculations to determine key parameters that would govern how the system would behave and how modelling should be approached
• We then created a COMSOL simulation of a whole heat exchange pipe. The simulation was used to understand overall flow profiles within the pipe and calculate non-dimensional parameters
• We analysed data from our client to validate modelled temperature and pressure profiles
• The validated whole-pipe model enabled the creation of a targeted model that investigated detailed heat transfer features within the pipe; this targeted model was also validated against client data
• The geometry of heat transfer features was investigated with the model to identify an improved design that both enhanced heat transfer and reduced flow resistance

Results: deliverables and outcomes

We recommended an improved heat transfer feature for our client and delivered a report explaining how the geometry of these features affects the performance of heat exchange pipes. Our client is prototyping heat exchange pipes with these improved features to assess their performance.