An experimental study for the characterization of fluid dynamics and heat transport within the spacer-filled channels of membrane distillation modules

Abstract The thermo-fluid dynamic behavior of spacer-filled channels for membrane distillation was investigated experimentally. Several different geometry were investigated thanks to customized reference spacers manufactured using a 3D printer. In particular, two sets of experiments were conducted: in the first set, cylindrical filaments were orthogonally arranged and the flow attack angle was made to vary from 0o to 90o; in the second set, the flow attack angle was kept symmetrical and the filament angle was made to vary from 30° to 150°. Each spacer was tested for Reynolds numbers between 200 and 900 in the hot channel, while maintaining a constant temperature difference of 13 °C between …