Predicting particle deposition on HVAC heat exchangers

Particles in indoor environments may deposit on the surfaces of heat exchangers that are used in heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. Such deposits can lead to performance degradation and indoor air quality problems. We present a model of fin-and-tube heat-exchanger fouling that deterministically simulates particle impaction, gravitational settling, and Brownian diffusion and uses a Monte Carlo simulation to account for impaction due to air turbulence. The model predicts that <2% of submicron particles will deposit on heat exchangers with air flows and fin spacings that are typical of HVAC systems. For supermicron particles, deposition increases with particle size. The dominant deposition mechanism for 1–10 μm particles is impaction on fin edges. Gravitational settling, impaction, and air turbulence contribute to deposition for particles larger than 10 μm. Gravitational settling is the dominant deposition mechanism for lower air velocities, and impaction on refrigerant tubes is dominant for higher velocities. We measured deposition fractions for 1–16 μm particles at three characteristic air velocities. On average, the measured results show more deposition than the model predicts for an air speed of 1.5 m s⁻¹. The amount that the model underpredicts the measured data increases at higher velocities and especially for larger particles, although the model shows good qualitative agreement with the measured deposition fractions. Discontinuities in the heat-exchanger fins are hypothesized to be responsible for the increase in measured deposition. The model and experiments reported here are for isothermal conditions and do not address the potentially important effects of heat transfer and water phase change on deposition.