Earticle

In this study, a plate heat exchanger was developed for applying to a heat pump system using the heated effluent from a thermal power plant. Since seawater is used as a heat source and a heat sink in this heat pump system, Titanium was chosen as the heat plate material for its high corrosion resistance. One of the purposes of the study was to get an optimized distribution area in the heat plate in order that better thermal performances could be achieved through equal flow rates along the heat transfer area. It was revealed from the performance tests that the mean heat transfer rate and the overall heat transfer coefficient were enhanced by 2.9% and 7.7%, respectively, compared to those measured before the design optimization.

Thermal energy performance of a brazed plate heat exchanger has been evaluated experimentally. The effects of plate pitch as well as chevron angle of a plate heat exchanger on the heat transfer rate and pressure drop have been investigated in the wide range as mass flow rates in detail. This problem is of particular interest in the design of a plate heat exchanger. The results obtained indicate that both heat transfer rate and pressure drop are increased as mass flow rate is increased, as expected. It is also found that the heat transfer rate is increased with a decrease in the plate pitch while the heat transfer is decreased with a decrease in the chevron angle. Friction factor correlations are suggested based on the measured pressure drop and effectiveness of plate heat exchangers are also compared.

The objectives of this paper are to measure the heat transfer and pressure drop of the plate heat exchangers for absorption system applications. Three types of plate heat exchangers with different chevron angles are tested in the present experiment. Heat transfer and pressure drop performance of plate heat exchangers are measured in various operating conditions, and compared each other. The results show that the heat transfer rate of high theta ($120^{\circ}$) and mixed theta plate heat exchanger increases about 118% and 98% at the solution flow rate 350 kg/h compared to that of low theta ($60^{\circ}$), respectively. The effectiveness of high theta was evaluated about $0.70{\sim}0.83$ in this experimental range.

Purpose: To evaluate the reliability of preoperative and postoperative distal metatarsal articular angle (DMAA) measurements and to determine whether such reliability is different in accordance with the foot and ankle fellowship and the number of years in practice. Materials and Methods: Between July 2012 and June 2014, a total of 20 patients (24 feet) were treated with proximal chevron osteotomy and distal soft tissue procedure for symptomatic hallux valgus deformity. DMAA were measured twice with an interval of two weeks between the preoperative and postoperative dorsoplantar radiographs by four observers; two of whom were foot and ankle surgeons (A and B), one knee surgeon, and one senior resident. The intraobserver reproducibility and interobserver reliability were assessed by intraclass correlation coefficients. Moreover, the limit of agreement between the preoperative and postoperative DMAA measurements were assessed using a Bland-Altman plot. Results: The intraobserver reproducibility of the foot and ankle surgeon A, knee surgeon, and senior resident improved from 0.796, 0.575, and 0.586 preoperatively to 0.968, 0.864, and 0.864 postoperatively, respectively. The interobserver reliability of foot and ankle surgeon A-B, foot and ankle surgeon A-knee surgeon, and foot and ankle surgeon A-senior resident improved from 0.874, 0.688, and 0.677 preoperatively to 0.971, 0.917, and 0.838 postoperatively, respectively. Conclusion: The intra- and interobserver reliabilities for DMAA measurement improved after proximal chevron osteotomy. Therefore, the necessity of additional procedures to correct the increased DMAA should be reevaluated after proximal chevron osteotomy in the hallux valgus with an increased DMAA.