Design of heat pipe heat exchanger for flue gas waste heat recovery of thermal oil boiler

Abstract

This thesis deals with the thermal design of a heat pipe heat exchanger for the recovering of flue gas waste heat of a thermal oil boiler. A gravity-driven water-steel heat pipe-based gas-to-gas exchanger was developed to enhance heat-transfer and thereby increase energy-efficiency and lower emissions. The system was designed to perform heat transfer of 278.5 kW and an average heat transfer coefficient of 225.85 W/(m²·℃) through thermal calculations and structural optimization. Last but not least, this configuration comprises 42 heat pipes having annular fins. The results indicate that the proposed design has high heat recovery performance and low-pressure loss and is an effective way to utilize industrial waste heat.