Intensification of heat transfer process: Improvement of shell-and-tube heat exchanger performances by means of ultrasound

Heat transfer in the presence of a low-frequency ultrasonic field has been investigated. Experiments were performed using a home-made shell-and-tube heat exchanger. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of ultrasound on heat exchange performed by this new type of “vibrating” heat exchanger named sonoexchanger. Comparison was then made between overall heat transfer coefficients with and without ultrasound for the same hydrodynamic configurations. It was shown that under ultrasonic conditions, the overall heat transfer coefficient can be increased from 123 to 257%.