Multi-level Coil Bundle for Efficient Cargo Tank Heating

This paper proposes and analyzes a novel heating coil bundle with the tubes arranged in a multi-level manner. The bundle generates a heated cargo large-scale circulation that enables a superposition of the circulation-driven forced convection on the buoyancy-driven natural convection, providing a more efficient mixed convection heat transfer mechanism. A simulation-based comparison of the proposed design and the conventional design is provided. The test case comprising an actual tank heating of an RMH 45 residual fuel oil by an 8-bar steam is simulated by a finite volume method and an OpenFOAM computational fluid dynamics software. The simulation results reveal that a 47.1% higher average heat transfer coefficient may be achieved, allowing a 32.0% reduction of the required heating coil area.