Numerical Study for the Optimal Design of Plate Heat Exchanger Using at Seawater Air Conditioning

Plate heat exchanger are being applied in the field of OTEC (ocean thermal energy conversion) and SWAC (seawater air conditioning) system. This study is to analyze numerically the heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics by using solid works flow simulation in order to offer optimum design data of plate heat exchanger. Plater heat exchanger proposed in this study is four types. The geometric design parameters of plate heat exchanger are a channel space, a flow orientation, a plate array, the flowrate of working fluid and so on. The main results for numerical analysis of plate heat exchangers are summarized as follows. Heat transfer performance for the channel space of 2.4 mm shows the highest value compared to other spaces. And, the Type 4 plate heat exchanger in Table 2 is the highest performance. From the pressure drop characteristics of plate heat exchanger, the channel space of 3.2 mm shows the lowest value. And Type 1 plate heat exchanger in Table 2 is the lowest pressure drop.