The ultrasounds as a mean for the enhancement of heat exchanger performances: an analysis of the available data

The aim of this paper is to investigate the potential use of ultrasounds for improving the performances of heat exchangers. In a heat exchanger, the effect of ultrasonic vibrations is important both for heat transfer intensification and for the possibility of obtaining fouling reduction: the cumulative effect can determine an interesting advantage in term of overall heat transfer coefficient increase. After a general analysis of the topic, the paper analyse the results recently obtained in the two main fields of analysis, heat transfer coefficient enhancement and fouling reduction. The perspective of the use of acoustic fields and ultrasound for optimization of heat exchangers operation is some particular fields of application are discussed.