Enhancement of Forced Convection Heat Transfer Using Twisted Heater With Exponential Heat Inputs

Forced convection transient heat transfer coefficients have been measured for nitrogen gas flowing over a twisted heater due to exponentially increasing heat inputs (Q₀exp(t/τ)). And then, the effect of heater configuration on transient heat transfer by a twisted heater has been investigated comparing to that of the plate heater. In the experiment, the platinum ribbon with a thickness of 0.1 mm and a width of 4.0 mm was used as a test heater. For heat transfer enhancements in single-phase flow, it was twisted at the central part of the heater with an angle of 90 degrees with respect to the upper part of the heater. The heat generation rate was exponentially increased with a function of Q₀exp(t/τ). The gas flow velocity ranged from 1 to 4 m/s for the gas temperatures of 313K. The periods of heat generation rate ranged from 46 ms to 17 s. The surface temperature difference and heat flux increased exponentially as the heat generation rate increased with the exponential function. The heat transfer coefficients for twisted heater have been compared to those of the plate heater. They were 24 % higher than those of the plate one. The geometric effect (twisted effect) of heater in this study showed an enhancement on the heat transfer coefficient. It was considered that the heat transfer coefficients are affected by the change in the flow due to swirling flow on the twisted heater. Finally, the empirical correlations for quasi-steady-state heat transfer and transient one have been obtained based on the experimental data.