It can be shown that these observations are true for comparing a parallelow exchan-

ger to an exchanger with any other ow arrangement for specied NTU, C*, and inlet
temperatures.
As expected, the parallelow exchanger provides lower heat transfer rate
78% 122:7 kW 100=157:4 kW than that of a counterow exchanger. However, if
the exchanger is designed for the eectiveness lower than 40%, there is not a signicant
dierence in the exchanger eectiveness and heat transfer rate between parallelow and
counterow exchangers at equal NTU and inlet temperatures. This is an industrially
important conclusion for low eectiveness waste heat recovery from exhaust gases
having SO
2
as one of the constituents. The sulfuric acid condensation in a heat exchanger
can be prevented at atmospheric pressure if the minimum wall temperature is maintained
above about 1508C. For this case, the parallelow exchanger becomes an attractive
solution since its lowest wall temperature is higher than that of any other exchanger
ow arrangement.
Example 3.3 One important design point for a radiator design is to cool the engine at
50 km/h on a 7% grade road. Your responsibility as a design engineer is to make sure that
the coolant (50% water50% glycol) at the radiator inlet (top tank) does not exceed
1208C temperature at 100 kPa gauge radiator cap pressure. Determine the radiator top
tank temperature for the following conditions: engine heat rejection rate q 35 kW,
airow rate 0.75 kg/s, air inlet temperature 538C, and waterglycol ow rate 1.4 kg/s.
For this radiator, UA 1180 W/K. The specic heats for the air and the waterglycol
mixture are 1009 and 3664 J/kg K respectively. What will be the outlet temperature of
the waterglycol mixture? Consider the radiator with both uids unmixed.
SOLUTION
Problem Data and Schematic: Fluid ow rates, inlet temperature of the cold uid, heat
transfer rate, and the total thermal conductance are given (see Fig. E3.3).
Determine: The inlet temperature of the hot uid (waterglycol mixture).
EFFECTIVENESSNUMBER OF TRANSFER UNIT RELATIONSHIPS 137
FIGURE E3.3
Assumptions: The uid properties and UA are constant, and the maximum inlet
temperature for the hot uid is 1208C at 100 kPa, beyond which it will boil in the engine.
Analysis: We could nd the NTU from the information given. But rst, we have to nd
C* and C
min
:
C
air
C
c
_ mmc
p

air
0:75 kg=s 1009 J=kg K 756:75 W=K C
min
C
liquid
C
h
_ mmc
p

liquid
1:4 kg=s 3664 J=kg K 5129:6 W=K
C*
C
air
C
liquid

756:75 W=K
5129:6 W=K
0:148
NTU
UA
C
min

1180 W=K
756:75 W=K
1:559
From Fig. 3.9 or the Table 3.3 formula for an unmixedunmixed crossow exchanger, we
get
" 0:769
Hence, T
h;i
from Eq. (3.35) is given by
T
h;i
T
c;i

q
"C
min
538C
35 kW1000 W=kW
0:769 756:75 W=K
113:18C Ans:
Since this is less than 1208C, the design is safe. If we would have determined T
h;i
> 1208C,
we would have changed the radiator design (such as increasing A and hence UA and
NTU) so that T
h;i
1208C.
Using the energy balance equation (3.5), we could nd the waterglycol mixture outlet
temperature as follows:
T
h;o
T
h;i

q
C
h
113:18C
35 kW1000 W=kW
5129:6 W=K
106:38C Ans:
Discussion and Comments: As we discussed in Section 2.1.2.1, the two most important
heat exchanger design problems are the rating and sizing problems. However, based
on Eq. (3.7), the six independent variables of the problem for the specied ow arrange-
ment yields a total of 21 dierent problems, summarized later in Table 3.11. The
problem above is one example beyond the simple sizing problems (numbers 2 and 4 in
Table 3.11).
In reality, one needs to design/size a radiator (i.e., UA or NTU to be determined) such
that the top tank temperature does not exceed the boiling temperature of the water
glycol mixture at the worst design point (7% grade with air-conditioning on at the
highest blower speed for airow in a desert summer condition); and at the same time,
it requires low fan power to reduce the total cost of the radiator and fan as well as to
reduce a negative impact on the fuel economy. However, to simplify the present problem,
the UA and airow rate were given as part of the input data.
138 BASIC THERMAL DESIGN THEORY FOR RECUPERATORS