Feasibility study of a plastic helical coil heat exchanger for a domestic water storage tank

Abstract

The main goal of this study is to investigate whether it is possible to use a polymeric helical coil heat exchanger as an alternative to conventional metallic helical coil. More specifically this work focuses on a helical coil design for a domestic water storage tank application. Corrosion and fouling resistance, scarcity of the materials, low weight and cost are the driving forces to consider designing polymeric heat exchangers rather than metallic heat exchangers. However, simply replacing the metallic material by the polymer material and applying the traditional design methods used for metallic heat exchangers do not lead to an acceptable design. If one wants to design a good polymer heat exchanger, heat transfer and structural problems have to be solved first. In addition, the pressure drop limitation should not be neglected. In order to reach this goal, a model is developed to predict the optimal design of a helical coil heat exchanger immersed in the water storage tank for a certain water mass flow rate and temperature. This design compensates for the low thermal conductivity and strength of the polymer.