Solidworks Flow Simulation can be used to study the fluid flow and heat transfer for a wide variety of engineering equipment. In this example we use Solidworks Flow Simulation to determine the efficiency of a counterflow heat exchanger and to observe the temperature and flow patterns inside of it. With Solidworks Flow Simulation the determination of heat exchanger efficiency is straightforward and by investigating the flow and temperature patterns, the design engineer can gain insight into the physical processes involved thus giving guidance for
improvements to the design.

A convenient measure of heat exchanger performance is its “efficiency” in transferring a given amount of heat from one fluid at higher temperature to another fluid at lower temperature. The efficiency can be determined if the temperatures at all flow openings are known. In Solidworks  Flow Simulation the temperatures at the fluid inlets are specified and the temperatures at the outlets can be easily determined. Heat exchanger efficiency is defined as follows:

The actual heat transfer can be calculated as either the energy lost by the hot fluid or the energy gained by the cold fluid. The maximum possible heat transfer is attained if one of the fluids was to undergo a temperature change equal to the maximum temperature difference present in the exchanger, which is the difference in the inlet temperatures of the

The goal of the project is to calculate the efficiency of the counterflow heat exchanger. Also, we will determine the average temperature of the heat exchanger central tube’s wall. The obtained wall temperature value can be further used for structural and fatigue analysis.

Open the Model Solidworks Simulation Tutorial With Heat Exchanger Efficiency

Click File, Open. In the Open dialog box, browse to the Heat Exchanger.SLDASM assembly located in the Tutorial 3 - Heat Exchanger folder and click Open (or doubleclick the assembly). Alternatively, you can drag and drop the Heat Exchanger.SLDASM file to an empty area of SolidWorks window.


Get File Pdf Solidworks Simulation Tutorial With Heat Exchanger Efficiency