Advanced cooling system for

heavy vehicles
heat exchangers/coolers
Wamei Lin
Outline
Introduction of my project
Energy distribution in vehicle
Methods for saving energy
New material for heat exchangers
Conclusion of graphite foam heat
exchanger
Future work
Introduction of my project
The aim of my PhD project is to develop a new cooling
system for heavy vehicles, so that the fuel consumption
and CO
2
emission would be reduced.
This project includes two parts:
Flow field: Chalmers University of Technology (Lennart
Lfdahl, Lisa Larsson)
Heat transfer: Lund university (Bengt sundn, Wamei
Lin)
Energy distribution in vehicle
In order to save fuel
consumption in vehicles,
what can be done?
(1)Can we reuse some energy
from the engine coolant?
(2)Can we recover some
energy from the exhaust gas?
(3)Can we recover some
mechanical energy?
Engine cooling
Radiator: to make sure the
engine works at its optimal
temperature (80-90C).
Intercooler: to cool down
the fresh air, whose
temperature is increased
after through a
turbocharger.
Methods for saving energy
Engine cooling: thermal management
14.5 kW power was
saved in a standard
diesel vehicle (Cho
2007)
Methods for saving energy
Exhaust gas (vary between 250 and 680 )
(1) Heating
compartment
(2) Absorption cooling:
7.1 billion gallons of
gasoline was saved in
U.S. vehicles (2002
J ohnson)
(3) Thermoelectric
device:
Peltier-Seebeck effect.
3-8% of fuel
consumption can be
saved (2007 Smith)
Methods for saving energy
During the braking process, we can
store the mechanical energy and use it
to drive vehicle later.
(1)Transfer the mechanical energy into
electricity
(2)During the braking process, the
kinetic energy is used to generate a
high pressure gas, which is used to
drive vehicles later.
80% of kinetic energy lost in the
braking process can be recovered
The mechanical work
With the increasing power of vehicles and the increase of electric or
hybrid electric vehicles, less heat will be dissipated in the exhaust gas,
more heat has to be brought away by the cooling system.
Heating
compartment
Absorption
cooling
Thermoelectric
device (3-10%
fuel reduced)
Thermal
management
Methods for saving energy
The regenerative
braking system (10-
25% fuel reduced)
New material for heat exchangers
The thermal management development
Aluminum and copper
heat exchanger
(180 W/(m.K) for aluminum
6061 and 400 W/(m.K) for
copper)
The utilization of
microcellular foam materials
such as metal or graphite
foams
(the enhancement of heat transfer
by huge fluid-solid contact surface
area and the fluid mixing)
Coolingpowerincreasing
Graphite foam
New material for heat exchangers
An
appropriate
material for
the thermal
management
High thermal
conductivity:
(K
solid
=1700
W/(m.K).
K
eff
=150W/(m.K) >
K
eff.Al
=2-26W/(m.K))
Low density:
0.2-0.6g/cm
3
,
20% of that of
Aluminum
Large specific
surface area:
5000-
50000m
2
/m
3
New material for heat exchangers
Problems
The high pressure drop
The effective area of heat transfer is reduced;
A large input of pumping power, a low coefficiency of performance.
Weak mechanical properties
The tensile strength of graphite foam with porosity of 75 % is only
0.69 MPa. However, the tensile strength of nickel foam with the
same porosity is 18.44 Mpa.
The dust blocking
New material for heat exchangers
In order to reduce the pressure drop of graphite foams, four different
configurations of foams (pin-finned, blind-holes, corrugated and
baffle) are analyzed.
Graphite
foam
Porosity () Pore
diameter
(D
p
) (um)
Specific
surface
area
()(m
2
/m
3
)
Effective
thermal
conductivity
(k
eff
)(W/m.K)
Permeability
() (m
2
)
Forchheimer
coefficient
(C
F
)
POCO 0.82 500 5240 120 6.13x10
-10
0.4457
Verification of the simulation model
The pressure drop values of
the present simulation model
are justified to be comparable
to experiment.
The Nusselt numbers of the
present simulation model are
slightly higher than the
experimental results.
0
5
10
15
0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.1
Frontal velocity (m/s)
P
r
e
s
s
u
r
e

d
r
o
p

(
k
P
a
)
Experiment [6]
Simulation
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.1
Frontal velocity (m/s)
N
u
s
s
e
l
t

n
u
m
b
e
r

N
u
Experiment [6]
Simulation
Pressure drop of graphite foam
The pressure loss through
the graphite foam is based
on the Forchheimer
extended Darcy equation
f f F
i i i
C
dP
u u u
dx

o
o
| |
= +
|
\ .
The corrugated and pin-
finned foams have lower
pressure drop, due to the
short flow length
(corrugated) and smooth
flow path (pin-finned).
The configuration has
important effect on the
pressure drop of foams.
15
times
Frontal air velocity (m/s)
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
P
r
e
s
s
u
r
e

d
r
o
p

(
P
a
)
corrugated
blind-holes
baffle
pin-finned
Thermal performance of graphite foam
Nusselt number (Nu) is calculated
by
N
p
h removed
f f b base inlet
h D
D Q
u
k k A T

= =
A
Due to the low flow resistance
through the corrugated and the
pin-finned foams, more cold air can
reach the surface inside the foam
and bring away the heat from the
foam.
Thus, the effective heat transfer
surface is larger in the corrugated
and the pin-finned foams
removed
Q . .
eff
h A T = A
The corrugated and pin-finned
foams have higher Nu
Frontal air velocity (m/s)
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
N
u
s
s
e
l
t

n
u
m
b
e
r

N
u
corrugated
blind-holes
baffle
pin-finned
Comparison between graphite foam and
aluminium louver fin
L
p
(mm)

(degree)
F
p
(mm)
T
p
(mm)
L
w
(mm)
F
L
(mm)
1 29 2.5 14 12 50
removed removed
pum in in
Q Q
COP
P u A P
= =
A
1000
removed
HEX
Q
PD
m
=

1000
removed
HEX
Q
CF
V
=

(1) coefficient of performance (COP,

how much heat can be removed by
a certain input pump power)
(2) power density (PD, how much
heat can be removed by a certain
mass of fins)
(3) compactness factor (CF, how
much heat can be removed in a
certain volume)
Aim of comparison
Comparison of COP (coefficient of
performance)
The louver fin
heat exchanger
has a larger
COP value
than the
corrugated and
pin-finned foam
heat
exchangers at
low velocity.
Frontal velocity (m/s)
10
60
110
160
210
260
310
360
410
460
510
5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
C
O
P
pin-finned
louver fin
corrugated
At high
velocity,
the COP
values are
similar
Thus, by applying an appropriate configuration for graphite
foam, it is possible to reduce the input pumping power, and
have similar COP value as aluminium louver fin.
Comparison of PD (power density)
Frontal velocity (m/s)
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
P
D

(
k
W
/
k
g
)
pin-finned
louver fin
corrugated The corrugated
and pin-finned
foams have
higher PD values
than the louver
fin
This means that the corrugated or pin-finned graphite
foam heat exchanger is lighter than the louver fin heat
exchanger, when the removed heat is the same.
(Because of the low density)
Comparison of CF (compactness factor )
When the removed heat is the same, the volume of the
corrugated or pin-finned foam is much smaller than that of the
louver fin.
Because of the open cells in the foam, the heat transfer surface is
larger in the corrugated or pin-finned foam than in the louver fin.
The CF value of
the corrugated or
pin-finned foam is
higher than that of
the louver fin.
Frontal velocity (m/s)
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
12000
14000
16000
18000
5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
C
F

(
k
W
/
m
3
)
pin-finned
louver fin
corrugated
High
compactnes
s in graphite
foam
Conclusion of graphite foam heat
exchanger
Low pressure drop and high thermal performance have
been provided by the corrugated and pin-finned graphite
foams.
The corrugated and pin-finned graphite foams have
higher PD and CF values than the aluminium louver fin.
This implies a light or compact cooling system in vehicles.
By using an appropriate configuration of the graphite
foam, it is possible to have the similar COP value as the
aluminum louver fin.
Future work
New structure for heat exchangers
Due to space limitation, it might be good to change the position of heat
exchanger. But when the position of the heat exchanger is changed,
maybe a new structure of the heat exchanger is appropriate for the new
position.
1) Maybe a countercurrent exchanger is good for the radiator which is on the
top of driver compartment.
2) Designing a new configuration of heat exchanger, first the aluminum heat
exchanger will be considered and analyzed. Later the graphite foam heat
exchanger will be considered.
radiator 2
compartment
radiator 3
Radiator 1:
countercurrent
exchanger
Ideas about countercurrent HEX
a.Louverfin(crossflow)
b.Louverfin(countercurrentflow)
d.Wavefin(countercurrentflow)
c.Pinfin(countercurrentflow)
Thank you
Discussion and Questions