International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer 37 (2010) 850856

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International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer

j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w. e l s ev i e r. c o m / l o c a t e / i c h m t

Inuence of combined non-uniform wire coil and twisted tape inserts on thermal
performance characteristics
S. Eiamsa-ard a, P. Nivesrangsan a, S. Chokphoemphun b, P. Promvonge b,
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Mahanakorn University of Technology, Bangkok 10530, Thailand
b
Departmentl of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang, Bangkok 10520, Thailand

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Available online 4 June 2010 In this paper, heat transfer, friction factor and thermal performance behaviors in a tube equipped with the
combined devices between the twisted tape (TT) and constant/periodically varying wire coil pitch ratio are
Keywords: experimentally investigated. The periodically varying three coil pitch ratios were arranged into two different
Heat transfer enhancement forms: (1) D-coil (decreasing coil pitch ratio arrangement) and (2) DI-coil (decreasing/increasing coil pitch
Variable/non-uniform wire coil ratio arrangement) while the twisted tapes were prepared with two different twist ratios. Each device alone
Twisted tape
is also tested and the results are subjected for comparison with those from the combined devices. The
Wire coil
experiments were conducted in a turbulent ow regime with Reynolds numbers ranging from 4600 to
20,000 using air as the test uid. Compared to each enhancement device, the heat transfer rate is further
augmented by the compound devices. Over the range investigated, the highest thermal performance factor of
around 1.25 is found by using DI-coil in common with the TT at lower Reynolds number. In addition, the
empirical correlations of the heat transfer (Nu) and pressure drop (f) are also presented.
2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Heat transfer enhancement
Heat transfer enhancement (HTE) techniques are frequently used
in a heat exchanger system in order to augment heat transfer and
increase the thermal performance of the system. HTE techniques for
increasing the thermal performance of heat exchangers can be
classied into two categories: active and passive methods. In the
active methods, heat transfer is improved by supplying extra energy
to the uid or the equipment. Some examples of active methods
include: the use of mechanical auxiliary elements, rotating the
surface, mixing uids with mechanical accessories and constituting
electrostatic areas in the ow area. In contrast, the passive
enhancement can be acquired without any external energy. The
approaches of this category take account of rough surface, surface area
extension, coated surface, and turbulator/swirl generator device.
Within the passive category, insertion of turbulator/swirl gener-
ator device is one of the most promising techniques. The major
functions of turbulator/swirl generator device are reducing the
thickness of the boundary layer and introducing better uid mixing
[1]. Among the inserts, wire coils and twisted tapes have gained great
attention due to their low cost and acceptable performance [2].
Numerous research works, utilizing wire coil/twisted tape acting
Abbreviations: CR, coil pitch ratio; D-coil, decreasing of three coil pitch ratio
arrangement; DI-coil, decreasing/increasing of three coil pitch ratio arrangement.
Communicated by W.J. Minkowycz.
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: kppongje@kmitl.ac.th (P. Promvonge).
alone, have been reported with focusing on the effect of coil pitch,
coil-wire thickness for wire coil inserts or twist ratio and tape
thickness for twisted tape inserts, on heat transfer and friction
characteristics [216]. The direct comparison of wire coil and twisted
tape was introduced by Wang and Sunden [2]. Their nding was that
twisted tape insert disturbs the entire ow eld while the wire coil
insert mainly perturbs the ow near the wall. Comparatively, the
twisted tape is more effective than wire coil insert in heat transfer
enhancement point of view. However, in the situation where pressure
drop is a crucial restriction, wire coil becomes more useful due to its
less pressure drop penalty. The discussion provided by Wang and
Sunden, is not only useful for heat transfer enhancement device
selecting at the specic conditions but also for consideration of device
combination, in order to gain better heat transfer enhancement.
The effects of the wire coil insert on heat transfer enhancement
have been continuously reported over the past decade. The enhance-
ment of heat transfer by using several wire coil inserts based on
energy analysis was investigated by Prasad and Shen [3]. Arici and
Asan [4] reported the heat transfer enhancement in the turbulent ow
by means of a wire coil insert. Agrawal et al. [5] carried out the study
on heat transfer augmentation by wire coil inserts during forced
convection condensation of R-22 inside horizontal tube. Kim et al. [6]
described heat, ow pattern, void fraction and slug rise velocity of
counter-current two-phase ow in a vertical round tube with wire
coil inserts. They found that wire coil insert effectively increase the
slug rise velocity as well as void fraction with respect to a plain tube.
Rahai et al. [7] experimentally investigated the inuences of a wire
coil pitch spacing on the mixing enhancement of a turbulent jet using

0735-1933/$ see front matter 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.icheatmasstransfer.2010.05.012
 S. Eiamsa-ard et al. / International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer 37 (2010) 850856 851

drop. Behabadi et al. [16] studied the effect of different wire coil
Nomenclature
geometries on pressure drop during condensation of R-134 a vapour
inside a horizontal tube. Again, Akhavan-Behabadi et al. [17] also
A surface area of test tube, m2
conducted the experimental work to examine heat transfer and
Cp specic heat at constant pressure, J/kg K
pressure drop during ow boiling of R-134a in a wire coil inserted
d coil diameter, m
horizontal evaporator. Gunes et al. [18] investigated the heat transfer,
D tube diameter, m
friction factor and thermal performance characteristics in a circular
f friction factor
tube tted with equilateral triangle cross sectioned wire coil.
h convective heat transfer coefcient, W/m2 K
Recently, the use of twisted tape together with typical wire coil
I current, A
(with uniform pitch length or ratio) was rst reported by Promvonge
k thermal conductivity, W/m K
[19]. The results revealed that the combined devices gave higher heat
L length of tube, m
transfer rate, friction factor and also thermal enhancement factor than
M mass ow rate, kg/s
the wire coil or twisted tape alone, indicating the synergy effect of
Nu Nusselt number
both devices. The experimental results also showed that the thermal
P coil pitch, m
enhancement factor increased with decreasing coil spring pitch ratios
Pr Prandtl number
(CR, H/d) and twist ratio (Y, y/w).
P pressure drop, Pa
The promising results obtained in the early work [19], motivate the
Q heat transfer rate, W
present work to extend study on the issue the heat transfer
Re Reynolds number
enhancement by means of the twisted tapes together with the wire
T temperature, C
coils. Instead of wire coil with uniform pitch ratio (CR), the periodical
t thickness of test tube, m
varying wire coil pitch ratios (D/DI-coil) are applied. It is expected
U mean velocity in tube, m/s
that the periodical varying wire coil pitch ratios will introduce
V voltage, V
stronger uctuation to the ow and thus provide high heat transfer
v volumetric ow rate, m3 s1
rate and thermal performance factor with respect to the coil with
w width of tape, m
constant pitch ratio. The enhancing devices used in the present work
y tape twist length (180 rotation), m
are the two different wire coils with the periodical varying wire coil
Y twist ratio, y/w
pitch ratios, DI-coil (decreasing/increasing coil pitch ratios) and D-coil
(decreasing coil pitch ratios) and two different twisted tapes (TTs) at
twist ratios (Y) of 3 and 4. In addition, the wire coil with uniform pitch
Greek symbols
ratio is also utilized for comparison. During the test, wire coil is tted
tape thickness, mm
in a tube along with twisted tape as demonstrated in Fig. 1(ac).
density, kg/m3
dynamic viscosity, kg/ms
2. Experimental apparatus
thermal performance factor
The detail of the experimental set-up used in this study is
presented schematically in Fig. 2. It consists of calming section, test
Subscript section, orice ow meter, high pressure blower, and outlet mixing
a augmented section. In the experiments, the cold air with ambient conditions was
b bulk passed through the orice ow meter, the calming section (2000 mm)
0 plain tube and then through the test section. The copper test tube has inner
conv convection diameter (D) of 47.5 mm, outer diameter (Do) of 50.5 mm and length
i inlet (L) of 1250 mm. The wire coils used was made of steel wire with
o out diameter (d) of 4.8 mm. The wire coils with varying coil pitch ratio
pp pumping power were arranged into two different forms: (1) D-coil (a series of
s tube surface decreasing three coil pitch ratios; 8:6:4:8:6:4) and (2) DI-coil
(decreasing/increasing of three coil pitch ratios; 8:6:4:4:6:8). In
addition, the wire coil with uniform coil pitch ratio (CR) of 6 was also
a Bunsen burner. Inaba and Haruki [8] analyzed heat transfer tested for comparison. The coil pitch ratio, CR is dened as the ratio of
enhancement of owing water in a tube with ow drag reduction the coil pitch length to the wire diameter (P/d). The aluminum twisted
additives by inserting wire coils. Rahai and Wong [9] studied on the tapes were prepared with two different twist ratios (Y = y/w) of 3 and
turbulent jets from round tubes with coil inserts. The conjugate heat 4 (180 rotation). In the experiment, the twisted tape was put into the
transfer and thermal stress in tube with wire coil inserted tube under coil and both devices were then simultaneously inserted into the
uniform wall heat ux was numerically investigated by Ozceyhan tubes. All details of the tubes tted with wire coils and twisted tapes
[10]. Naphon and Sriromruln [11] studied on heat transfer and the are demonstrated in Fig. 1.
pressure drop characteristics in the micro-n tube heat exchanger During the experiments, the cold air was passed through the test
with wire coil inserted. Naphon [12] performed the experimental section by means of a high speed blower, and its inlet ow rate was
work to investigate the effect of coil-wire insert on the heat transfer measured and controlled by an orice ow meter and an inverter,
and the pressure drop characteristics in a horizontal double pipe. respectively. The surface temperatures (Ts) were measured by 15
Ravigururajan and Bergles [13] developed the general correlations for thermocouples located along the test section while the inlet and outlet
pressure drop and heat transfer in single-phase turbulent ow in uid temperatures in the tube were measured by the RTDs. All of the
enhanced tubes. Yakut and Sahin [14] studied the effects of vortex temperatures data from the system were consistently recorded using a
characteristics on performance of wire coil turbulators for heat data logger. The pressure drop across the test section was measured
transfer augmentation. Garcia et al. [15] examined the heat transfer using U-tube manometer with the uid density of 826 kg/m3. Reynolds
enhancement in the tube equipped with wire coil inserts in laminar numbers for the air owing through the test section were controlled in
and transitional regimes, focusing on the effects of the coil pitch and the range of 4600 to 20,000 for turbulent ow region. It should be noted
relevant parameters on heat transfer characteristics and pressure that to ensure the reaching steady state, it takes around 30 to 50 minutes
852 S. Eiamsa-ard et al. / International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer 37 (2010) 850856

Fig. 1. Test section tted with wire coil and twisted tape: (a) wire coil with uniform pitch ratio (CR), (b) D-coil, and (c) DI-coil.

prior to the data recording for each condition. Note that the heat transfer
data were measured under a uniform heat ux condition while the
friction loss data were recorded under isothermal condition at room
temperature. In the present investigations, the highest uncertainties of
Nusselt number, friction factor and Reynolds number are around 7.6%,
9.5% and 5%, respectively.
3. Data reduction
The data reduction for the targeting parameters include the
Nusselt number (Nu), the friction factor (f), the Reynolds number
(Re), and thermal enhancement factor (), for the present study are
shown below.

Fig. 2. Schematic diagram of the experimental facility.

 S. Eiamsa-ard et al. / International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer 37 (2010) 850856 853

The heat given by the air at any Reynolds number is calculated by:

Q air = MCp To Ti 1

The average heat transfer coefcient for the heated test section can
be calculated by
 
Q air = Q conv = hA T s Tb

Q air MCp To Ti
h=   = 2
A T s Tb ATs = 15To + Ti = 2

Nusselt numbers were acquired via the following equation,

Nu = hD = k 3

The pressure drop was determined from the differences in the

level of manometer uid. The fully developed under isothermal ow
of the test section is calculated by

2
f = 2D = LP = U 4 Fig. 3. Verication test of the plain tube for Nusselt number.

For the uid (air), the Reynolds number is

number, the Nusselt numbers for the tubes equipped with compound
Re = UD = 5 enhancement devices (D/DI-coil with TT) are higher than those with
each device alone and also the plain tube. This can be explained by the
For all the calculated, the thermo-physical property values of the fact that the combined actions of swirl ow by the TT and ow
uid (air) were obtained at the average bulk mean-temperature, disturbance at near wall region by the wire coil, result in a synergy
which is Tb = (Ti + To)/2. For comparison the heat transfer rate and effect on heat transfer enhancement. The obtained results also show
friction factor of the plain tube with enhancement devices and the that the heat transfer rate increases with DI-coil (decreasing/
plain tube are considered under the same pumping power as increasing three coil pitch ratios) and D-coil (decreasing three coil
    pitch ratios). A reason behind the results is that, the periodical ow
VP = VP 6 created by the D-coil/DI-coil occurs more continuously and this leads
0 a
to higher efcient heat transfer. Depending on the Reynolds number,
    the compound devices enhance heat transfer in a range of 2.83 to 3.65
3 3
f Re = f Re 7
0 a times of the plain tube, 2.14 to 2.39 times of the TT alone and 1.22 to
1.52 times of the wire coil alone.
1=3
Re0 = Rea fa =f0 8 Focusing on the compound devices with D/DI-coil in Fig. 5b, it is
obvious that the Nusselt number ratios (Nua/Nu0) of combined
In the present study, the thermal performance factor can be devices with the DI-coil are higher than those with the D-coil. The
expressed as follows: outstanding performance of the compound enhancement devices of
  1 = 3 the DI-coil indicates that the devices generate more ow uctuation
=
ha
h0 j pp
=
Nua
Nu0 j pp
=
Nua
Nu0
fa
f0
9
and thus better mixing than others. In the present study range, the
combined devices with the DI-coil and Y = 3 give a maximum Nusselt

4. Experimental results and discussion

In order to prove the reliability of the experimental facility, the

present plain tube results were compared with the results obtained
from previous correlations which are Petukhov equation for Nusselt
number and Blasius equation for friction factor [20], as shown in Figs.
3 and 4, respectively. Over the Reynolds number examined, the
experimental data of the present plain tube are in good agreement
with the results from the previous correlations.
The effects of the combination of twisted tape (TT) and non-uniform
wire coil (the wire coil with varying three coil pitch ratio, D-coil/DI-coil)
or uniform wire coil (the wire coil with constant coil pitch ratio) on the
heat transfer, friction factor and thermal performance factor at various
Reynolds numbers, are demonstrated in Figs. 57. The effects of twisted
tape alone and wire coil alone were also examined as the references of
performance evaluation of the combined devices.
As seen in Fig. 5a, the heat transfer for using enhancement devices
considerably increases with the increasing Reynolds number. This is
attributed to better uid mixing and thus, higher surface area for heat
transfer of the ow at higher Reynolds number. At a given Reynolds Fig. 4. Verication test of the plain tube for friction factor.
854 S. Eiamsa-ard et al. / International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer 37 (2010) 850856
Fig. 5. Variation of Nusselt number with Reynolds number for tube tted with wire coil
and twisted tape: (a) Nu and (b) Nua/Nu0.
number ratio of around 3.65 times higher than the plain tube, 1.39
times over the wire coil alone and 2.34 times above the TT. In addition,
the heat transfer rate of combined devices increases with a lower
twist ratio (Y) value due to the stronger mixing of swirl ow.
Friction factors for the tubes with enhancement devices and friction
factor ratios (fa/f0) where f0 is friction factor of the smooth tube are,
respectively, displayed in Fig. 6a and b. In Fig. 6a, it can be observed that
the friction factor is slightly decreased with the increasing Reynolds
number. At the same Reynolds number, a combination of the TT and the
D/DI-coil results in a signicant increase in friction factor compared to
those induced by the other devices. This can be explained by the
following reasons: the presence of both enhancement devices generates
ow perturbation and also increases contact area with longer ow path,
leading to the increase of pressure loss. The mean friction factors of the
TT together with the DI-coil or D-coil are, respectively 26 or 26.1 times
above the plain tube. However, the friction factor ratio (fa/f0) slightly
increases with the increasing Reynolds number (Fig. 6b) which is in
different trend found for the friction factor (Fig. 6a). At the given
Reynolds number, the effect of the D/DI-coil on friction factor ratio (fa/f0)
is similar to that on the friction factor (fa). It should be highlighted that
with the D-coil, the compound enhancement devices give signicantly
Fig. 6. Variation of friction factor with Reynolds number for tube tted with wire coil
and twisted tape: (a) f and (b) fa/f0.
higher friction factor than those provided by the others, with the
maximum friction factor ratio of about 28.8 times over the plain tube,
2.24 times above the wire coil, 8.37 times higher than the TT. Regarding
the results, it can be quantied that the TT with the D-coil provides the
friction factor higher than the TT with DI-coil around 2.2%.
In the present work, the effectiveness of heat transfer enhance-
ment in terms of thermal performance factor () is dened using the
Nusselts number and friction factor in the tube tted with the
enhancement device as shown in Eq. (9). The thermal performance
factor for the tubes with various devices, are compared at the same
pumping power in Fig. 7. Apparently, the performance factor tends to
decrease with the increasing Reynolds number. This suggests that the
enhancement devices are superior energy saving devices for the use at
lower Reynolds number. In spite of their lower Nusselt number, the
compound enhancement devices of the TT (Y = 3) and the DI-coil,
provide higher thermal performance factors than the compound
devices with the D-coil. At higher Reynolds number, the thermal
performance factor of the TT turns higher over those of other devices.
Both mentioned results take place due to the low pressure loss. This
indicates that, at a specic condition, friction factor is a dominant
factor for judgment of the thermal performance effectiveness. In the
 S. Eiamsa-ard et al. / International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer 37 (2010) 850856 855

Fig. 9. Validation test of friction factor correlation.

Fig. 7. Variation of thermal performance factor with Reynolds number for tube tted
with wire coil and twisted tape. 5. Conclusions

studied range, using of the TT (Y = 3) together with DI-coil, is found to In this paper, the heat transfer enhancement, friction factor and
give a maximum thermal enhancement factor of 1.25 at low Reynolds thermal performance factor behaviors in a tube equipped with the
number. In addition, the empirical correlations developed by relating combined devices between the twisted tape (TT) and constant/
twist ratio (Y) and Reynolds number, are tted the experimental data periodically varying wire coil pitch ratio (D/DI-coil) are examined.
within 3% and 3% for Nusselt number and friction factor, as can be The results from the combined devices are also compared with those
seen in Figs. 8 and 9, respectively. from each device alone. At low Reynolds number, the experimental
Correlations for D-coil and TT: results reveal that the compound devices of the TT with Y = 3 and the
DI-coil, provide the highest thermal performance which is around
0:708 0:4 0:244 6.3%, 13.7%, 2.4% and 3.7% higher than the wire coil alone, the TT alone,
Nu = 0:197Re Pr Y 10
the TT with uniform wire coil, and the TT with D-coil, respectively. The
correlations of the Nusselt number and friction factor for all
f = 12:313Re
0:232
Y
0:302
11 parameters studied are also developed.

Correlations for DI-coil and TT: Acknowledgement

0:713 0:4 0:249 The authors would like to gratefully acknowledge the Thailand
Nu = 0:186Re Pr Y 12 Research Fund (TRF) for the nancial support of this research.

0:277 0:449
f = 22:366Re Y 13
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