DESIGN OF COIL HEAT EXCHANGER FOR

REMOTE-STORAGE SOLAR WATER HEATING SYSTEM

v uiping, e uanlian, ou Jianqing

Beijng singhua olar .
Beijing 100085, hina
lvcuiping@thsolar.com, heduanlian@ thsolar.com, doujianqing@ thsolar.com

B cycle. eat media circulate through a revolving pipeline by

a temperature difference. When the temperature difference
coil heat exchanger for hot water thermal storage was between the collector temperature and the water
presented including the choice of the design parameters, temperature in tank is higher than the starting value of
thermal calculation, structural design and calculation of temperature difference cycle, the circulating pump works.
flow resistance. n this design, solar collector contour When the temperature difference is less than the stopping
aperture area is 4.26 m , the volume of water tank is 300.
he diameter and the coil heat transfer area of spiral coil
heat exchanger are 460 mm and 1.48m , respectively,
which was made of 15 mm 1 mm stainless steel tube,
the total length of the coil is 31.8m. he calculation results
showed that the thermal design fits the requirements of the
hot water system.

1. U

he most apparent characteristics of the remote-storage

solar water heating system is the separation of collectors
and thermal storage tank. he rational design of thermal
storage tank is the one of the key of highly efficient, safe
operation of the system.

2. G
M - G W G
M
ig. 1: perating principle of the remote-storage solar
olar radiation is absorbed by the collectors and is inverted water heating system.
into heat, which is transmitted to heat media in the pipeline
2124 roceedings of olar World ongress 2007: olar nergy and uman ettlement

value of temperature difference cycle, the circulating pump 4.2.2 he Mean emperature ifference alculation
stops. When the heat media flows through the coil heat
exchanger, the heat released by the heat conduction of the he mean temperature is calculated using the following
tube wall, so water in tank is heated. nd the process of equation
heat exchange is completed.
m = cm bm

3. G - - Where is the difference between the average

m
M G K temperature of water in the tank and the mean temperature
of circulating water inside coil. cm, the average
anks and coil can be composed of a volume-type floating temperature of circulating water inside coil,
coil heat exchanger. ompared with the U-tube heat
64 5
exchanger, the main advantages of the floating coil heat c 6 . bm, the average temperature of the
exchanger is the enhancement of the heat transfer
water in the tank, for 57 .
coefficient K, the increase of the capacity utilization and
the automatically desquamation of scale and so on.
4.2.3 stimation of eat ransfer urface rea and the
tructure of oil
4. G -
eat transfer coefficient K is supposed as 500 W / (m ·)
M G K
primarily. he heat exchanger area is calculated using the
4.1 hoice of the esign arameters following equation

r 2
he collector area is 4.26 m . nd the capacity of the tank
is 300 litres respectively. emperature of the water in tank
is 57. nlet and outlet temperature of the coil are 64
and 58 . he saturated water inside oil flows from Where is the heat exchanger area, m . q is the quantity of
higher to lower. he design pressure of the coil and tank are heat transfer, W. ε is the coefficient of furring and as a
0.6 Ma. result of uneven distribution of thermal media affect the
efficiency of the heat transfer coefficient, 0 .8-0.6 normally
4.2 hermal alculation used, for 0.7. K is the heat transfer coefficient, W / (m ·° ).
r is the heat loss coefficients generally using 1.1-1.2, for
4.2.1 eat ransfer alculations 1.2.

he overall quantity of heat transfer of the coil exchanger he coil is made of stainless steel tube with outer dia of
15mm and wall thickness of 1mm.
can be calculated and it can be expressed as

4.2.4 eat ransfer oefficient alculation

s

he overall heat transfer coefficient is calculated from the

where η is the efficiency of collector, for 50%. , the heat following equation
transfer area of collectors, for 4.26 m . qsun, and it is
supposed the quantity of heat obtained by the collectors
for every square meter, and it is equal to 800W/m . o

1
 5 M M 2125

where is the heat transfer coefficient of the forced volume and low flow velocity. upposed the qualitative is
convection inside coil. is the heat transfer coefficient 57, and the qualitative dimension is the outer diameter of
of the natural convection outside coil. the coil of 0.015 mm. he property’s parameters of the
saturated water at 57 are as follows
4.2.4.1ipe-inside eat ransfer oefficient alculation
3
4.9410 kg/(m·s) 984.6 kg/m
he working fluid inside coil is water. he qualitative
temperature is the average temperature of the import and 0.501410 m /s 0.6557 W/(m· )
export of the coil, 61. he qualitative dimension is the
coil inner diameter, and it is equal to 0.013 m. When at 61 =5.02510 1/K r=3.155
the properties of parameters of the saturated water are
3
as follows

3
μ4.635×10 kg/(m·s) ρ982.57kg/m r=2.946 . r 417154.20 4.17 10

υ0.4717×10 m /s λ0.6599W/(m· )
ccording to hydraulic calculation tables of pipes of hot
water heating systems, the water flow rate in the pipes is
not more than 0.48 m/s when the diameter of pipes is
15mm. o the water flow rate suppose as 0.42m/s. hen,
or floating coil heat exchanger, there is the natural
convective heat transfer in outer pipe due to the large liquid
volume and the low flow velocity. ccording to the style
(5-9-11) in "thermal manual", the calculation of the natural
convection heat transfer is as follows

c N

o the pipe-inside flow is turbulence and forced

convection.
he pipe-outer heat transfer coefficient is calculated from
ccording to the engineering calculation at home, the most the following equation
commonly used formula for the spiral flow of liquid is as
under
2 Nu 605.89W / m 2
d
0

Where the correction coefficient of the elbow bend is 1.02.

hen the pipe-inside heat transfer coefficient is calculated

he thermal conductivity coefficient of stainless steel is
from the following equation
17 w/(m· ). nd the overall heat transfer coefficient
based on the outer dia is calculated from the following
2
equation

1
4.2.4.2 ipe-outside eat ransfer oefficient alculation 1 1
+ ln +
2
he water in the tank is saturated. he water temperature is 493.6W / m
supposed as 57. ccording to test data, the change of the
working condition was not sensitive due to the large liquid
2126 roceedings of olar World ongress 2007: olar nergy and uman ettlement

K is smaller 1.28% than the supposing value. he resistance along the pipe is calculated from the
following equation
4.2.5 equired eat ransfer rea
2
L
ccording to the actual heat transfer coefficient, heat ΔP = f = 3674.50Pa
2
i i
d
exchanger area of the coil is calculated from the following i

equation
he bending resistance is calculated using the following
r 2 equation

is slightly larger than the estimated value ’. he above ΔPr = 4 Z = 7628.02Pa

2
results show that the originally supposing structural
parameters are reasonable. he resistance of the import and export of connecting tubes
is calculated using the following equation
4.3 tructural esign
2

stainless steel pipe of 15 mm outer diameter, 1mm ΔP = 2 × 1.5 = 259.99Pa

2
thickness and 31.8 m long was shaped into a helical coil of
hen the total pressure drop of the coil is obtained as under
22 circles. he heat transfer area of the coil is 1.48 m and
the spiral coil diameter is 460 mm.
ΔP = ΔP + ΔP + ΔP =
i

he cylindrical inner tank of stainless steel with 543 mm

diameter and 1190 mm of height was made. he outer tank s the total pressure drop is less than the total allowable
of aluminium with 634 mm diameter and 1443 mm of value of 0.3 × 10 a, the design of the thermal accords
height was used. nd the coil connected with tank by with the requirements.
welding.

4.4 low esistance alculation 5. M U

he total pressure drop of the coil includes resistance along d : inner dia of coil
the pipe, bending resistance and resistance of the import d : outer dia of coil
and export of connecting tubes. t : inlet temperature of the coil
t : outlet temperature of the coil
ccording to the tables of the surface absolute roughness of μ: dynamic viscosity
different materials, the surface absolute roughness of υ: kinematic viscosity
seamless steel pipe of stainless steel is 0.02 mm. o internal ρ: density
friction coefficient can be calculated from the following λ: thermal conductivity coefficient
equation r: randel number
ω: velocity of flow
−2 β: volume expansion coefficient
⎡ ⎛ ⎞ ⎤
i ⎢ ⎜
i

⎟ ⎥ e: eynolds
⎣ ⎝ ⎠ ⎦ u: usselt number
Gr: Grashof number
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a: ayleigh number parameters on heat transfer, flow resistance and safety

K: overall heat transfer coefficient performance of heat exchanger. his paper describes the
design of helical coiled thermal storage tank, which can
satisfy the design requirements of hot water system.
6. U

n the design of helical coiled thermal storage tank, we

should take into account the effects of all kinds of