CFD simulations of plate-fin cross-counter flow compact heat exchanger.

Energy recovery ventilation plays a crucial role in providing fresh air and managing respiratory diseases, such as COVID-19. This study focuses on the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis of a compact heat exchanger within a heat recovery ventilator and discusses the findings. However, conducting such an analysis is challenging due to the complex nature of the desired modules, which include intricate fin geometry and the combination of crossflow and counterflow regions in a compact heat exchanger, requiring extensive computational resources. To overcome these limitations, the entire model is treated as a computable unit cell, and the complex calculations involving crossflow and counterflow are simplified by summing individual simulations for each flow type. Furthermore, the detailed numerical modeling method is compared with experimental results, demonstrating the utility of the proposed CFD modeling approach for analyzing plate–fin compact heat exchangers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]