© 2006, American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Inc. (www.ashrae.org). Published in ASHRAE Journal Vol.

48, April 2006. This posting is by

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Heat Transfer Enhancement

Heat transfer enhancements can improve the heat exchanger ef-
fectiveness of internal and external flows. Typically, they increase
fluid mixing, by increasing flow vorticity, unsteadiness, or turbu-
lence or by limiting the growth of fluid boundary layers close to
the heat transfer surfaces.

By Detlef Westphalen, Ph.D., Member ASHRAE; Kurt Roth, Ph.D., Associate Member ASHRAE; and
James Brodrick, Ph.D., Member ASHRAE

This is the thirty-first article inspired by a DOE report cover- tion to turbulent flow, creating vorticity that increases mix-
ing energy-saving HVAC&R technologies. ing, or restarting the thermal boundary layer to decrease its
thickness. Table 1 describes several different types of heat

H
eat exchanger effectiveness can impact the efficiency
of vapor-compression cycles used in air conditioners,
heat pumps, refrigeration equipment, and refrigera-
tors. As the refrigerant condensing or evaporating temperature
approaches that of the ultimate heat transfer medium, e.g.,
the outdoor air temperature for an air-cooled condenser,
the vapor compression cycle temperature difference (also
referred to as the lift) decreases. This, in turn, decreases the
pressure ratio across the compressor, increasing its opera-
tional coefficient of performance (COP) and decreasing its
energy consumption.
In vapor compression cycles, enhancement techniques aug-
ment both refrigerant- and air-side heat transfer. Due to the
more favorable heat transfer characteristics of refrigerants and
liquids relative to air, and the common use of helical grooves
(rifling) to enhance refrigerant-side heat transfer, air-side
heat transfer tends to limit overall heat exchanger efficiency,
accounting for two-thirds or more of total heat transfer resis-
tance. Consequently, this column focuses primarily on air-side
heat transfer enhancement techniques.
In the absence of enhancement, most HVAC air-to-liquid
heat exchangers have laminar flow over surfaces due to
the small hydraulic diameters of spaces between fins. Heat
transfer in laminar flows occurs across a thermal boundary
layer between the heat exchanger surface and the airflow.
Unlike turbulent boundary layers, which have vigorous
mixing due to turbulent flow structures that readily transfer
heat between the surface and the airflow, calmer laminar
boundary layers have lower heat transfer coefficients, h.
To overcome these limitations, heat transfer enhancement
approaches augment heat transfer by either causing a transi-
transfer enhancement.
In some cases, the heat exchanger operating conditions permit
the flow to be tripped from laminar to turbulent flow if subjected
to a sufficiently strong perturbation. The surface downstream
of flow transition then experiences higher heat transfer coef-
ficients because most resistance to heat transfer occurs across
a thin viscous flow layer near the wall instead of across the
entire boundary layer. Tripping devices used include surface
obstructions (steps, coils, tapes, three-dimensional shapes),
surface indentations (cavities, dimples), roughness, as well as
upstream turbulence and vorticity.1
Upstream vorticity does not always cause a flow to become
turbulent, but its swirling motions can enhance heat transfer by
increasing mixing between the air at the heat exchanger sur-
face and the bulk airflow. Examples include wavy fins, surface
winglets, and other elements that protrude from fin surfaces
sufficiently to generate vorticity.1,2,3
At the leading edge of a heat exchanger surface, the thermal
boundary layer is thin and poses little resistance to heat transfer.
As the length from the leading edge increases, so does the resis-
tance to heat transfer. Some designs interrupt the heat transfer
surfaces to enable the boundary layer to restart, increasing h.
Practical examples of devices used to restart boundary layers
include offset strips and louvered fins.1,2,3
All of the approaches discussed previously are passive, i.e.,
they do not require additional energy to modify the flow. On
the other hand, most increase the pressure drop of the heat
exchanger and, in turn, increase the fan energy consumption.
Consequently, their net effectiveness depends upon the balance
between the reduction in compressor power from increased heat
transfer and the increase in fan power.

68 ASHRAE Journal ashrae.org April 2006

 Approach Description Enhancement Possible
Surface Interruptions
Active Passive
Surface Roughness
Surface Protuberances
Forced Flow Unsteadiness
Electrohydrodynamic (EHD)
Boundary Layer Injection
Boundary Layer Suction
* Heat transfer decreased in separated flow region.
** Significant enhancement possible in liquid flows (from cavitation) or natural convection.
†
See Bergles, 1998.
Table 1: Surface vibrations or sound waves thin or restart boundary layer and/or induce secondary flows.1,5
Active approaches use external energy sources to actively
alter the flow. Active approaches can enhance heat transfer by
one or more of the three mechanisms described previously. For
example, large pressure fluctuations imposed acoustically aug-
ment heat transfer by increasing flow unsteadiness and, in some
instances, inducing laminar-to-turbulent flow transition.1
Energy-Saving Potential
Typically, a refrigerant-to-air heat exchanger for an air
conditioner has a saturated refrigerant temperature approxi-
mately 10°C to 15°C (18°F to 27°F) higher than the ambient
air temperature flowing through the condenser. By reducing
the temperature difference between the refrigerant and air
temperatures, enhanced heat exchange decreases the overall
temperature lift of the cycle and increases the cycle’s coef-
ficient of performance (COP). Airside heat transfer enhance-
ments have been used for evaporators, although condensa-
tion and frost formation on the heat exchanger surface if of
evaporators complicates the application of enhancements
to evaporators.
Analyses performed by TIAX to assess the energy-perfor-
mance gains for air-cooled air conditioning and refrigeration
cycles indicate a 100% increase in condenser heat transfer
coefficient can reduce cycle energy consumption by approxi-
mately 10% to 15% over a range of conditions. On a national
basis, this could reduce the 7 quads consumed by residential
and commercial air conditioners and refrigeration equipment6
by about 0.7 to 1.1 quads. However, this does not account for
additional fan energy consumption, which varies on a case-
by-case basis.
70 ASHRAE Journal April 2006
Slits or offset fins interrupt the boundary layer, restarting it, creat-
50% – 100%
ing secondary flows, and/or generating flow unsteadiness*
Accelerates transition from laminar flow to turbulent; also in-
Up to 300%
creases turbulent flow heat transfer
Ridges or three-dimensional shapes (cube, pyramid, etc.) gen-
50% – 500%
erate secondary or unsteady flows*
Surface vibration or sound waves thins or restarts boundary
Small**
layer and/or induces secondary flows
High-voltage (>1 kV) applied to an electrode near a plate in-
300%+
duces secondary flows in boundary layer (liquid flows only)
Enhancement primarily for multiphase flows 50% – 500%
Removal of boundary layer restarts boundary layer downstream Large†
Market Factors
Heat exchanger design and selection cannot be separated
from a system context and reflects several tradeoffs including:
compressor energy efficiency gains, heat exchanger airside
pressure drop (fan power), component costs, and component
size. The extent that enhanced heat exchange affects these
design variables as compared with other performance en-
hancement options ultimately affects its ability to penetrate
the market and appear in products. For example, heat transfer
enhancement options may compete with the use of larger
conventional heat exchangers and higher-efficiency compres-
sors to increase unit efficiency and meet an EER target for
one product.
Alternately, enhanced heat exchange may be employed
to decrease heat exchanger area and reduce unit cost or
size while maintaining acceptable energy performance.
For example, heat transfer enhancement may prove attrac-
tive for certain unitary or military products because they
allow the manufacturer to maintain adequate performance
without increasing—or while decreasing—the size of the
unit’s enclosure.
Manufacturers may be cautious about introducing novel
heat transfer enhancement approaches into products. If ap-
proaches require appreciable modifications to existing heat
exchanger manufacturing processes, manufacturers may have
to incur significant capital costs. To mitigate technical risks of
changing heat exchanger geometry, manufacturers must first
perform extensive laboratory and field testing to verify that
the enhancements perform reliably over the range of expected
operating conditions. Notably, the airside of condensers needs
to resist performance degradation from fouling by grease and
dust. This tends to limit the applicability of many potential
enhancement approaches.2
Specific heat transfer enhancement approaches have their
own challenges to commercialization. For instance, Electrohy-
drodynamics (EHD) for enhancing water- or refrigerant-side
heat transfer relies upon high voltages (sometimes in excess of
10 kV) to achieve dramatic (300%+) increases in heat transfer
coefficients.4,5 Implementing EHD has several complicating
factors, including manufacturing complexity (to insert the high-
voltage electrodes in the tubes), safety concerns, and possible
reliability issues.
References
1. Bergles, A.E. 1998. “Techniques to enhance heat trans-
fer.” Chapter 11 of Handbook of Heat Transfer, 3rded. W.M.
Rohsenow, J.P. Hartnett, and Y.I. Cho, eds. New York: Mc-
Graw-Hill.
2. Bullard, C.W. and R. Radermacher. 1994. “New technolo-
gies for air conditioning and refrigeration.” Annual Review of
Energy and Environment pp. 113–152.
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April 2006 ASHRAE Journal 7
3. Gidwani, A., M. Molki, and M.M. Ohadi. 2002. “EHD-
enhanced condensation of alternative refrigerants in smooth
and corrugated tubes.” HVAC&R Research 8(3).
4. Jacobi, A.M. and R.K. Shah. 1998, “Air-side flow and
heat transfer in compact heat exchangers: a discussion of
enhancement mechanisms.” Heat Transfer Engineering,
19(4):29 – 41.
5. TIAX. 2002. “Energy consumption characteristics of
commercial building HVAC systems—Volume III: energy
savings potential.” Final Report to U.S. Department of Energy,
Office of Building Technologies.
6. DOE. 2005. “2005 Buildings Energy Databook.” Pre-
pared for the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Energy
Efficiency and Renewable Energy. http://buildingsdatabook.
eren.doe.gov/.
Detlef Westphalen, Ph.D., is principal and Kurt W. Roth,
Ph.D., is associate principal in the HVAC and Refrigeration
Technology sector of TIAX, Cambridge, Mass. James Brodrick,
Ph.D., is a project manager, Building Technologies Program,
U.S. Department of Energy, Washington, D.C.