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Unread 07-19-2004, 09:04 PM   #1
LPorc
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Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Denver, CO
Posts: 66
Default Heat Exchanger Question

I've run across a statement that doesn't quite make sense to me regarding heat exchanger efficiencies. The statement was that in terms of area counter-flow is more efficient then parallel flow, and that cross flow would be somewhere between the two.

Part of this information was based on the LMTD of the setups, and so far all the info I have been able to easily assimilate uses a correction factor for the geometry of cross flow, and vary wildly to say the least when it can be found at all - which is already a bit shaky since LMTD itself needs a correction factor.

It just seems like a cross flow, like a simple single pass radiator, ought to beat a counter flow of the same area since the temperature difference is greater over a larger portion of the area (even though it would seem to behave as a parallel flow in depth).

What's frustrating me is the correction factor seems to be more of a measuring actuals and then going back and adjusting the numbers to fit. That's one heck of a way to predict performance, after the fact!

Anyone got any links or explanations that will help me wrap my head around this?
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