Energy 30 (2005) 359371

www.elsevier.com/locate/energy

Development of a high eciency radiation converter

using a spiral heat exchanger
S. Maruyama a,
, T. Aoki a, K. Igarashi b, S. Sakai a
a

Institute of Fluid Science, Tohoku University, 2-1-1, Katahira, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8577, Japan
Azuma Machine Works Co., Ltd., 13-10, Motomachi, Rokuchounome, Wakabayashi-ku, Sendai 984-0014, Japan

Abstract
Heating by radiation is widely used for materials processing. Electrical radiant heaters are the most
commonly used heaters. Electricity is expensive and the combustion of fossils fuels for electricity production emits CO2. In order to convert the energy from the fuel to radiation energy directly and
eciently, our group has developed a compact, high eciency, radiation converter using a spiral heat
exchanger to recover the energy from high-temperature exhaust gas. The spiral heat exchanger has a
weld-free construction to prevent cyclic thermal stress, and is constructed from inexpensive ferrite steel
plates. The combustion chamber, equipped with a swirler to mix the gas fuel and air, can achieve stable
combustion. The distribution of the surface temperature on the radiant tube was measured by a radiation
thermometer, called a thermo viewer, and then the radiant energy emitted from the radiant tube was estimated. The eciency of the spiral heat exchanger was measured from the temperature of the inlet air and
exhaust gas. The heat exchanger achieved a high eectiveness, and heat loss from the exhaust gas was
minimized. Consequently, a highly ecient radiation converter was produced to convert the fuel energy
to radiation energy.
# 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Heating by radiation is widely used for materials processing and as the operating principle for
radiant heaters, because uniform heating and high heat ux are achievable. Furthermore, the
heat transfer does not depend on the medium. Many radiant heaters are powered by electricity.
This electricity is mainly generated by the combustion of fossil fuels distributed via a grid network to the required location, and nally converted to radiant energy by an electric heater.
Therefore, radiation energy is expensive and CO2 is emitted as a byproduct of this process.

Corresponding author. Tel./fax: +81-22-217-5243.

E-mail address: maruyama@ifs.tohoku.ac.jp (S. Maruyama).

0360-5442/$ - see front matter # 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.energy.2004.04.021

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Nomenclature
c
specic heat [kJ/(kg K)]
specic heat [kJ/(N l K)]
cpg
the equivalent diameter of ow passages [m]
De
Eb,k(T) spectral black body emissive power [W m2 lm1]
Econ energy loss of convection and conduction [W]
fuel gas energy [W]
Ef
energy loss of exhaust gas [W]
Eext
radiation energy [W]
Erad
f
Fanning friction factor []
G
mass velocity [kg/s]
L
uid ow length on one side of an exchanger [m]
N
the number of tube rows in the ow direction []
_
m
mass ow rate [kg/s]
DP
pressure drop [Pa]
_
exchanged heat [W]
Q
exhaust gas ow rate [N l/min]
qext
S
radiation converter surface area [m2]
ambient air [K]
T0
inlet temperature of cold ow [K]
Tc1
outlet temperature of cold ow [K]
Tc2
inlet temperature of hot ow [K]
Th1
outlet temperature of hot ow [K]
Th2
exhaust gas temperature [K]
Text
e
heat exchanger eectiveness []
normal spectral emissivity []
ek
q
uid density [kg/m3]
uid density of outlet [kg/m3]
qo
uid density of inlet [kg/m3]
qi

However, if direct conversion from the combustion of fossil fuel to radiation energy is eciently
achieved, energy costs and emission of CO2 to the atmosphere can be expected to decrease.
Preheating of air is an eective method to obtain radiation energy eciently by combustion.
In the case of combustion with preheated air, we can get higher ame temperatures compared
with ordinary combustion without preheating. Air preheating aids combustion stability, and
helps expand the combustible region to the rarefaction region [1]. A Swiss-roll burner is one of
the heat-recirculating burners [2], and a radiant tube burner using a regenerative heat exchanger
has been presented [3,4]. There are many examples of heat exchangers as heat recovery devices,
and the spiral heat exchanger [57] is one such device. The advantages of the spiral heat
exchanger include high thermal eectiveness and compact design, and hence it is widely utilized

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361

in industry. The authors have developed a compact, high eciency, cylindrical radiation converter using a spiral heat exchanger to recover the energy from high-temperature exhaust gas
eciently [8]. The authors have also developed a spiral heat exchanger with a weld-free construction to prevent cyclic thermal stress and developed the cylindrical radiation converter as a
production model [9]. Maruyama has proved the distribution of emissive power and directional
radiant intensity is uniform by using an involute reector [10,11]. The cylindrical radiation converter has been combined with an involute reector, and directional control of the emission has
been achieved.
The radiant tube burner is a radiant heater using combustion. It consists of double concentric
tubes with the gas fuel introduced to the inner tube which is the combustion channel. The outer
tube is heated by the high-temperature exhaust gas ow. The exhaust gas channel is located
between the inner and outer tubes [12,13]. In this case, the sensible heat from the gas is exhausted by the high-temperature exhaust gas causing heat loss.
In this study, the spiral heat exchanger has been attached to the radiant tube burner in a production model to convert the combustion energy of gas fuel to radiation energy eciently. The
energy balance of the radiation converter has been measured with respect to radiation energy,
exhaust energy, and convection energy. The performance of this spiral heat exchanger has been
estimated.
2. Experimental apparatus and procedure
2.1. Radiant tube burner
Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of the radiant tube burner used in this experiment. The
radiant tube burner is a single-end type, and the outer and inner radii of radiant tube burner are
165 and 114 mm, respectively. The radiation wall is 1000 mm in length. The fuel is propane and
is introduced to a cup nozzle center.

Fig. 1. Radiant tube burner.

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Fig. 2. Nozzle using a swirler.

The cup nozzle, as shown in Fig. 2, with several holes is set inside the inner tube of radiant
tube burner, and the burner is equipped with a swirler to mix the gas fuel and air [14]. Rectangular swash plates are attached to the nozzle, and designed to make the ow reverse. They
are 20 mm high by 50 mm long. They are attached between the inner and outer tube 400 mm
from the top of the outer tube. They help to mix the combustion gas and enhance heat transfer
between the outer wall and the gas. The radiation converter surface, namely the outer tube of
the radiant tube burner, is metallized ZrO2. Metallized ZrO2 shows high emissivity at long-wave
infrared and low emissivity at short wavelength. Then, the surface emits larger energy compared
with a metallic surface at the same temperature, resulting in minimizing the energy loss of
convection and high eciency of the radiation energy.
2.2. Spiral heat exchanger
Figs. 3 and 4 show the spiral heat exchanger set on the radiant tube burner, and the cross section of the heat exchanger, respectively. The heat exchanger is comprised of inexpensive ferrite
steel plates of 0.5 mm thickness. The heat exchanger is structured such that the air inlet channel
and exhaust gas outlet channel are located on the exterior of the spiral heat exchanger. The
channel length of the spiral is 5500 mm, the wall distance between the two channels is 7.5 mm,
and the channel height is 1000 mm. To decrease the heat loss of the heat exchanger, an air layer
was used to insulate the outer wall of the outermost channel.
As the radiant tube burner is set at the center axis of the spiral heat exchanger, the temperature at the center is high and that at the outer surface is low. To avoid deformation of the heat
exchanger and damage by the thermal stress, no welding process is used to construct the
exchanger. The heat exchanger is rolled with an inserting insulating ribbon inserted into the
space between the top end and heel of the double spiral plate. The ribbon acts as spacer and
seal.

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363

Fig. 3. Spiral heat exchanger.

2.3. Experimental procedure

Fig. 5 shows a schematic diagram of the radiation converter using the spiral heat exchanger,
and Fig. 6 shows its cross section. The inlet air from top of the spiral heat exchanger is heated
as it ows from the external channel to the internal one. The high-temperature air reaching the
internal channel is mixed and burns with propane gas supplied from the nozzle. The burned
mixture ows between the outer and inner tubes and heats the outer tube, and subsequently
re-enters the spiral heat exchanger as the exhaust gas. The exhaust gas ows from the inner
channel to the outer channel, which is exhausted through a blower after exchanging heat with
the inlet air.
An orice is inserted in the exhaust pipe and the exhaust gas ow rate is measured from the
pressure dierence of the orice. Sheath thermocouples (type K) were inserted at Th1, Th2, Tc1,

Fig. 4. Cross section of spiral heat exchanger.

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S. Maruyama et al. / Energy 30 (2005) 359371

Fig. 5. Radiation converter using spiral heat exchanger.

and Tc2 as shown in Figs. 3 and 4. Temperatures of the inlet air and the outlet exhaust of the
spiral heat exchanger, and behind the exchanger were measured and recorded in a data logger.
3. Experimental results and discussion
3.1. Eectiveness of spiral heat exchanger
Performance of the spiral heat exchanger has been measured by controlling the inlet air temperature. The air was heated by an electric heater located at the radiation converter. The temperature dierence is set at approximately 10 K in order to minimize the eect of temperature
dependent thermophysical properties.

Fig. 6. Cross section of radiation converter.

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365

Eectiveness of a heat exchanger, e, is dened as follows:

e

_
Q
;
_ cmin Th1  Tc1
m

(1)

_ is the exchanged heat, m

_ cmin is the lower heat capacity ow rate, Th1 and Tc1 are hot
where Q
and cold uid temperatures at the inlet, respectively.
Fig. 7 shows heat exchanger eectiveness for various ow rates. In Fig. 7, it can be seen that
as Reynolds number increases, the heat exchanger eectiveness decreases. This is because the
higher the ow rate becomes, the lower the number of heat transfer units (NTU) becomes.
Pressure drop of the radiation converter, DP, is estimated as follows [15]:
9




1:5G2 N 4fLG 2 1
1
1
qv2x
>
2
>
>
G


k
DP
>
>
2qi
q m
qo qi
2De
2
>
>
>
0:2
=
for spiral heat exchanger
f 0:055Re
0:42
(2)
for part of radiant tube burner >;
f 0:0035 0:264Re
>
>
2db
>
>
De
>
>
>
d b
;
k 11:70
where G is the mass velocity, N is the number of passes on the given uid side, f is the friction
coecient, L is the channel length, De is the equivalent diameter of ow passages, q is the density, qo and qi are the density of the outlet gas and inlet air, respectively, and k is the pressure
drop coecient [16].
In Eq. (2), the rst term on the right side indicates the pressure drop of the inlet and outlet
manifolds and ports, the second term is the pressure drop through the part of heat exchanger,
the third term is the pressure drop by the moment eect, and the forth term is the pressure drop
through the swirler.

Fig. 7. Heat exchanger eectiveness of spiral heat exchanger.

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S. Maruyama et al. / Energy 30 (2005) 359371

Fig. 8. Pressure drop of radiation converter.

Fig. 8 shows the comparison of the pressure drop of the radiation converter between experimental data and by calculation of Eq. (2). In Fig. 8, as Reynolds number increases, the greater
is the dierence between the calculated pressure drop and the experimental data. In the case of
high Reynolds number, there may be a leak of air and exhaust gas from the heat exchanger
through the seals.
Table 1 shows temperatures and pressure drop for the radiation converter at condition A in
the Figs. 7 and 8.
3.2. Radiation converter
The surface of radiation converter was metallized by ZrO2. Therefore, it is necessary to measure the emittance of the surface. The normal spectral emittance is measured by comparing the
radiation spectrum of ZrO2 with a black body furnace using a Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometer (FTIR). Fig. 9 shows the normal spectral emittance of the ZrO2 surface at
v
600 C. This emittance is used for the calculation, because the emittance does not change
signicantly around that temperature.
Table 1
Temperatures of various points at condition A
Cold air inlet [K]
Cold air outlet [K]
Hot air inlet [K]
Hot air outlet [K]
Reynolds number
Lower heat capacity ow rate [W/K]
Heat exchanger eectiveness
_ 1:145  102 kg=s Pa
Pressure drop at m

302.1
310.4
313.6
304.8
1261
11.53
0.722
120.6

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367

Fig. 9. Emittance of ZrO2.

The distribution of the surface temperature of the radiation converter is measured using a
radiation thermometer, called a thermo viewer (TVS-8000MkII, Nippon Avionics Co., Ltd).
The radiation energy is measured by processing the data of the surface temperature into the
analysis software. The radiation energy from the radiation converter, Ex, is derived from the
data of the surface temperature measured by the thermo viewer, and is dened as follows:

Ex
ek Eb;k Tdk dA  eSEb;k T0 dk;
(3)
S k

where Eb,k is the spectral black body emissive power, S is the radiation area (0.520 m2), and ek
is the normal spectral emissivity of ZrO2.
The radiation energy from the radiation converter, Erad, is measured from eight directions,
and these values are then averaged.
The heat loss from the exhaust gas, Eext, is expressed as follows:
Eext qext cpg Text  T0 ;

(4)

where qext is the ow rate, cpg is the specic heat and Text is the temperature of the exhaust gas.
T0 is the temperature of the surrounding air. The specic heat of the exhaust gas is obtained
from reference data [17], which is based on the ratio of exhaust gas in the case of perfect combustion.
The energy loss due to convection and conduction, Econ, is dened as follows:
Econ Ef  Erad  Eext ;

(5)

where Ef is the lower caloric value of the gas fuel, which is the remainder when the latent
heat of steam evaporation is subtracted from the gross caloric value. It is based on perfect
combustion.

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Table 2
Comparison of temperatures of various points at ow rate of 15 l/min and / 1:29
Tc1
Tc2
Th1
Th2

314.1
857.7
956.3
508.4
299.7
929.0
168.7

Air inlet [K]

Air outlet [K]
Exhaust gas inlet [K]
Exhaust gas outlet [K]
Ambient air [K]
Radiation surface average [K]
Pressure drop [mmH2O]

Table 3
Comparison of energy balance at ow rate of 15 l/min and / 1:29
Ef [kW]
Erad [kW]
(Erad =Ef [%])
Eext [kW]
(Eext =Ef [%])
Econ [kW]
(Econ =Ef [%])

20.9
11.0
(52.7)
2.09
(10.0)
7.77
(37.3)

Tables 2 and 3 show temperatures of various points and the energy balance, in the case where
fuel ow rate is 15 l/min and air ratio is 1.29. Tables 4 and 5 are for the case where fuel ow
rate is 20 l/min and air ratio is 1.38. Temperatures Th1, Th2, Tc1, and Tc2 in Tables 2 and 4 are
data at the various measuring points in Fig. 3.
Figs. 10 and 11 show the energy balance for the air ratio at ow rates of 15 and 20 l/min,
respectively. From Figs. 10 and 11, it is clear that the energy loss from the exhaust gas can be
suppressed signicantly, and it is possible for combustion to occur with low quantities of excess
air.
The higher the air ratio becomes, the lower the radiation energy and the energy loss from
convection become. The energy loss due to the exhaust gas increases. One of the reasons is that
NTU decreases and enthalpy loss of the exhaust gas increases in the case of high air ratio.
Therefore, the eciency of radiation energy conversion decreases.
Table 4
Comparison of temperatures of various points at ow rate of 20 l/min and / 1:38
Tc1
Tc2
Th1
Th2

Air inlet [K]

Air outlet [K]
Exhaust gas inlet [K]
Exhaust gas outlet [K]
Ambient air [K]
Radiation surface average [K]
Pressure drop [mmH2O]

314.0
952.1
1110.8
520.6
299.0
996.0
311.9

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Table 5
Comparison of energy balance at ow rate of 20 l/min and / 1:38
Ef [kW]
Erad [kW]
(Erad =Ef [%])
Eext [kW]
(Eext =Ef [%])
Econ [kW]
(Econ =Ef [%])

27.8
14.9
(53.7)
3.14
(11.3)
9.74
(35.0)

Fig. 10. Variation of radiation conversion eciency and losses at fuel gas ow rate of 15 l/min.

Fig. 11. Variation of radiation conversion eciency and losses at fuel gas ow rate of 20 l/min.

369

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Comparing the results in the cases of the fuel gas ow rate of 15 l/min with those of 20 l/
min, the eciency of radiation conversion at 20 l/min is slightly higher than that at 15 l/min. It
is because the energy loss from the exhaust gas and convection are proportional to the temperature of the exhaust gas and that of the radiation surface, whereas the radiation energy is proportional to the biquadratic of the temperature of the radiation surface.
In order to increase the eciency of radiation energy conversion, it is necessary to mix the
combustion gas and to enhance the heat transfer between the outer wall and the gas. Decreasing
the outlet temperature of the combustion chamber will increase the eciency.
In future, it is necessary to obtain uniform temperature distribution on the surface of the
radiation converter. Further development of the combustion chamber is required to construct a
higher eciency radiation converter.
4. Conclusion
A high eciency radiation converter has been developed as a production model. In order to
transfer the energy of the fuel to radiation energy eciently, the radiation converter is equipped
with a spiral heat exchanger. The construction is weld-free to avoid thermal stresses.
The energy balance and eciency of the spiral heat exchanger were estimated from the temperatures of the inlet air and outlet gas. The pressure drop in the radiation converter is measured, and compared with calculations. Radiation energy, the energy loss of the exhaust gas, and
energy loss due to convection and conduction are measured for the radiation converter.
Eciency of the radiation conversion was shown to be as high as 53%. It was possible for
combustion to occur with low quantities of excess air, and the energy loss from the exhaust gas
can be required signicantly.
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