Effect of inclination on the air-side performance of a brazed aluminum heat exchanger under dry and wet conditions

This study presents the effect of an inclination angle from the vertical po sition on the air-side thermal hydraulic performance for a multi-louvered f in and flat tube heat exchanger. For a heat exchanger with a louver angle o f 27 degrees, fin pitch of 1.4 mm and flow depth of 20 mm, a series of test s for dry and wet surface conditions were conducted for the air-side Reynol ds numbers of 100-300. The inclination angles from the vertical position we re 0 degrees, +/-30 degrees, +/-45 degrees, and +/-60 degrees clockwise. Th e heat transfer performance for both dry and wet conditions was neither inf luenced significantly by the inclination angle (-60 degrees < <theta> < 60< degrees>), nor by the presence or absence of an upstream duct, while the pr essure drops increased consistently with the inclination angle. The heat tr ansfer coefficients and the pressure drops for the wet conditions revealed the importance of the role of condensate drainage. (C) 2001 Published by El sevier Science Ltd.