Thermal Performance of a PCM-Filled Finned Tube Heat Exchanger for Energy Recovery of Hot Exhaust Gases

Abstract

This study explores the experimental and mathematical modeling of energy recovery from hot exhaust gases using a finned tube heat exchanger filled with paraffin. The experimental setup employs air as the heating fluid, water as the cooling fluid, and paraffin with a melting point of 68°C as the phase change material. Key parameters investigated include inlet air temperature, air mass flux during heating, and water mass during cooling. The system's thermal behavior is modeled mathematically by assuming heat accumulation in the paraffin-filled finned tubes. Numerical solutions of the equations are compared with experimental data, and dimensionless parameters are used to evaluate system performance under varying conditions. The model also examines the effects of structural features, such as fin height and the number of fins per unit tube length. The results show that increasing inlet air temperature and reducing air mass flux improve the heating and cooling efficiencies and overall system performance. Enhancing fin height from 0 to 1.5 cm and the number of fins from 0 to 20 within a 10 cm tube length leads to heating efficiency gains of 10.88% and 15%, respectively. © 2025 Wiley Periodicals LLC.