The effect of heat transfer on the pressure drop through a heat exchanger for aero engine applications

This work is focused on the experimental study of the performance of a heat exchanger designed for aero engine applications. The heat exchanger is operating as a heat recuperator by taking advantage of the thermal energy of the exhaust gas of the aero engine in order to obtain a better combustion with less pollutant emissions. The experimental study has been performed in a wind-tunnel by taking detailed flow and thermal measurements on a 1:1 model of the heat exchanger under various operating conditions described by the hot gas inlet mass flow rates and its spatial direction (different angles of attack and inclination) towards the heat exchanger. The hot gas has been modeled with preheated air. Six sets of measurements have been carried-out for different hot gas inlet and outlet temperatures, including also isothermal measurements without any heat transfer in order to have a reference point for the pressure drop of the flow through the device. The experimental results showed that the effect of the angle of attack on the pressure drop is significant while the effect of the angle of inclination is negligible. Additionally, the pressure drop through the heat exchanger is greatly affected by the heat transfer.