Condensing two-phase pressure drop and heat transfer coefficient of propane in a horizontal multiport mini-channel tube: Experimental measurements

This article reports the condensing flow heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop results of propane (R290) flowing through a square section horizontal multiport mini-channel tube made of aluminium having an internal diameter of 1.16 mm and a condensing length of 259 mm. Pressure drop and two phase flow experiments were performed at saturation temperatures of 30, 40 and 50 °C. Heat flux was varied from 15.76 to 32.25 kWm⁻² and mass velocity varied from 175 to 350 kg m⁻² s⁻¹. The results show that the two-phase friction pressure gradient increases with the increase of mass velocity and vapour quality and with the decrease of saturation temperature. The heat transfer coefficients showed to increase with increases of vapour quality and mass velocity while increases of saturation temperature were observed to reduce heat transfer coefficient. The two phase frictional pressure drop correlations of Sun and Mishima and Agarwal and Garimella, and the two-phase flow heat transfer correlations of Koyama et al. and Wang et al. predicted well the experimental results.     

Comparison and development of new correlation for adiabatic two-phase pressure drop of refrigerant flowing inside a multiport minichannel with and without fins

This study examines the experimental adiabatic two-phase frictional pressure drop of R134a in rectangular multiport minichannel with and without fins having 20 channels with hydraulic diameters of 0.64 mm and 0.81 mm, respectively. The pressure drop measurements were done under mass flux range of 50–200 kg m⁻² s⁻¹, saturation temperature range of 20–35 °C, and inlet vapor quality range of 0.1–0.9. The effects of mass flux, saturation temperature, inlet vapor quality and channel geometry on frictional pressure drop were investigated. The results discovered that the mass flux, inlet vapor quality, saturation temperature and channel geometry play an important role in increasing or decreasing the frictional pressure drop. The present experimental data were compared with eleven existing well known frictional pressure drop correlation available in the open literature. In addition, a new two-phase frictional pressure drop correlation is proposed considering the effects of inertia, viscous force, fluid properties, channel geometry and surface tension and also validated the correlation with the available data.     

Discussion on the validity of prediction tools for two-phase flow pressure drops from experimental data obtained at high saturation temperatures

In order to evaluate the validity of prediction tools for two-phase flow pressure drops for conditions of high saturation temperatures, this paper focuses on the comparison between new experimental results and theoretical results predicted with the commonly used methods. The original dataset was obtained in a horizontal 3.00 mm inner diameter during adiabatic flow with R-245fa as working fluid. The mass velocity ranges from 100 to 1500 kg m⁻² s⁻¹, the saturation temperature varies from 60 to 120 °C and the inlet vapor quality from 0 to 1. The database is composed of 249 data points covering four flow patterns: (i) intermittent flow, (ii) annular flow, (iii) dryout flow, and (iv) mist flow regimes. The dataset is compared against 23 well-known two-phase frictional pressure drop prediction methods. The effect of the saturation temperature and of the flow pattern on the ability of the methods to predict the frictional pressure drop was pointed out.     

Two-phase pressure drop and flow boiling heat transfer in an enhanced dimpled tube with a solid round rod insert

An experimental study was conducted on a 19.05 mm (outer diameter) dimpled enhanced tube to evaluate the in-tube two phase heat transfer and pressure drop performance in an annular section created between the enhanced tube and a solid round PVC rod. The purpose of the study was to understand the effect of forced early transition to annular flow on the pressure drop and heat transfer coefficient in a horizontal tube. The refrigerant studied was R-134a at a saturation temperature of 5 °C, heat flux range 2.5 to 15 kW m⁻², mass flux from 80 to 200 kg m⁻² s⁻¹ and inlet vapor quality of 0.12 to 0.72. Flow pattern and pressure drop results were obtained under adiabatic conditions. Under similar operating conditions the enhanced tube with a rod exhibited three times higher heat transfer performance versus same size smooth empty tube with lower pressure drop penalty at lower mas flux.     

Two-phase frictional pressure drop in horizontal micro-scale channels: Experimental data analysis and prediction method development

An investigation was conducted on the effects of fluid refrigerant and channel geometry on the frictional pressure drop during two-phase flow inside microchannels. Experimental results for two-phase frictional pressure drop were obtained for the refrigerants R134a, R1234ze(E), R1234yf and R600a in a circular channel and for R134a in square and triangular channels. The experiments were performed for mass velocities from 100 to 1600 kg m⁻² s⁻¹, saturation temperatures of 31 and 41 °C, and vapor qualities from 0.05 to 0.95. The experimental data have been analyzed focusing on the effects of the geometry and fluid on the two-phase pressure drop. Then, the data were compared with the most quoted predictive methods from the literature. Based on the broad database obtained, a new method for prediction of the two-phase frictional pressure drop was proposed. The new method provided accurate predictions of the database, predicting 89% of the results within an error band of ±20%.     

Detailed experimental investigations on frictional pressure drop of R134a during flow boiling in 5 mm diameter channel: The influence of acceleration pressure drop component

This article presents detailed two-phase diabatic pressure drop data for refrigerant R134a at a saturation pressure of 5.5 bar corresponding to the saturation temperature of 19.4 °C. Study cases have been set for a mass flux varying from 100 to 500 kg m⁻² s⁻¹.The obtained data are used as a validation of the void fraction literature models, a set of graphs shows comparisons, for a representative set of experimental conditions, of the two-phase frictional pressure gradients for the adiabatic and diabatic flow.Verification of the acceleration pressure drop predictions for two-phase adiabatic flow showed that all correlations predict that over 60% of experimental data fit in the range of ±30%. The model proposed in this article predicts 63% of presented data within 10% error, and 96% of the data are predicted within 30% error.     

Experimental observations of flow boiling of liquid helium I in vertical channels

Results are reported of the flow structure and pressure drop of helium 1 flowing upwards in a vertical heated circular glass tube. The experiments covered heat fluxes from 4.5 to 600 Wm^?2, mass fluxes from 2 to 12 kg m^?2 s^?1 and pressures between 1 and 1.2 atm. The use of a glass tube made it possible to study with both high speed and ordinary photography the changing flow regimes in evaporating helium. For the bubble flow regime the shape, size and drag coefficient of the observed bubbles are reported.Slip velocity, void fraction and pressure drop measurements are compared with generally accepted two-phase flow theories. A void fraction correlation for two-phase helium flow is proposed.     

Experimental investigation on flow boiling pressure drop of R-290 and R-600a in a horizontal small tube

Pressure drop for propane and isobutane were performed in a horizontal small tube of stainless steel with 1.0 mm inner diameter. The tests were conducted at mass fluxes from 240 to 480 kg m⁻²s⁻¹ and heat fluxes from 5 to 60 kW m⁻² at 25 °C saturation temperature. The effect of flow patterns, mass flux, vapour quality and heat flux are discussed. Strong influence of mass flux and vapour quality on pressure drop was found. The comparisons of experimental data with predicted value proposed by existing correlations available in literature for pressure drop are analyzed.     

Condensation of refrigerants in a multiport tube with rectangular minichannels

This study investigated the condensation heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of refrigerants R134a, R32, R1234ze(E), and R410A in a horizontal multiport tube with rectangular minichannels, in the mass velocity range of 100–400 kg m⁻² s⁻¹ and saturation temperature set at 40 and 60 °C. The effect of mass velocity, vapor quality, saturation temperature, refrigerant properties, and hydraulic diameter of rectangular channels on condensation characteristics is clarified. A new correlation is proposed for predicting the frictional pressure drop for condensation flow in minichannels. A heat transfer model for condensation heat transfer in rectangular minichannels is developed considering the flow patterns and effects of vapor shear stress and surface tension. Then, based on this model, a new heat transfer correlation is proposed. The proposed correlations successfully predict the experimental frictional pressure drop and heat transfer coefficients of the test refrigerants in horizontal rectangular minichannels.     

New experimental data of CO2 flow boiling in mini tube with micro fins of zero helix angle

Heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of CO₂ flow boiling in mini tube with micro fins of zero helix angle were experimentally investigated. The working conditions cover mass flux from 100 to 600 kg m⁻² s⁻¹, heat flux from 1.67 to 8.33 kW m⁻², vapor quality from 0 to 0.9 and saturation temperature from 1 to 15 °C. The results show that the heat transfer coefficient increases with increasing vapor quality, but sharply decreases at vapor quality around 0.2~0.4 under most conditions, and the dryout vapor quality decreases with the increasing heat flux and saturation temperature. Pressure drop increases with increasing mass flux and heat flux, or decreasing saturation temperature, and mass flux is the major influence factors. The enhancement ratio of heat transfer coefficient is higher than that of pressure drop, which shows potentials of using such kind tubes to enhance the overall heat transfer performance. A heat transfer coefficient correlation and a pressure drop correlation for 0° helix angle micro-fin tube were developed, and they agree well with the experimental data.     

Experimental investigation of critical heat flux under boiling in subcooled swirling flow under conditions of one-sided heating

Results are given of an experimental investigation of critical heat flux in a turbulent swirling flow of subcooled water under one-sided heating. The parameters of flow are varied in the following ranges: the pressure of water at the inlet, 0.7 and 1.0 MPa; mass velocity ρw, 1100 to 9900 kg/(m² s); flow swirl coefficient k = 0.19 and 0.37; the temperature of water at the inlet—20, 40, and 60°C; and the hydraulic diameter of the channel, 2.16 mm.     

Experimental investigation on flow condensation heat transfer and pressure drop of R170 in a horizontal tube

Condensation heat transfer and pressure drop of R170 were studied experimentally in a horizontal tube with inner diameter of 4 mm. The tests were conducted at saturation pressures from 1 MPa to 2.5 MPa, mass fluxes from 100 kg (m²∙s)⁻¹ to 250 kg (m²∙s)⁻¹ and average heat fluxes from 55.3 kW m⁻² to 96.3 kW m⁻² over the entire vapor quality range. The effects of vapor quality, mass flux and saturation pressure on condensation heat transfer and pressure drop were examined and analyzed. The experimental data were compared with various well-known correlations of condensation heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop. The comparison results showed that Koyama et al. correlation agreed with the experimental heat transfer coefficient with a mean absolute relative deviation less than 25%, and the Yan and Lin correlation can accurately predict the experimental pressure drop with a mean absolute relative deviation less than 18%.     

Heat rejection from R744 flow under uniform temperature cooling in a horizontal smooth tube around the critical point

Heat rejection from CO₂ flow near the critical point, where commercial refrigerators spend most of their operating hours, was investigated in this study. Experimental results on the heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop of mass flux from 100 to 240 kg m⁻² s⁻¹ at pressures from 5 to 7.5 MPa in a horizontal smooth tube of 6.1 mm inner diameter are provided and compared with correlations. The heat rejection process below critical pressure was categorized into superheat, two-phase, and subcool zones in which the bulk-mean temperature was superheated, saturated, and subcooled, respectively. The results indicated that the heat transfer coefficient in superheat zone is significantly higher than correlations proposed for single-phase turbulent flow, and the condensation was identified from the tube wall temperature below saturation temperature. This superheat zone accounts for a significant portion of the heat rejected in the subcritical cycle and affects on condenser sizing.     

Two-phase heat transfer and pressure drop of LNG during saturated flow boiling in a horizontal tube

Two-phase heat transfer and pressure drop of LNG (liquefied natural gas) have been measured in a horizontal smooth tube with an inner diameter of 8 mm. The experiments were conducted at inlet pressures from 0.3 to 0.7 MPa with a heat flux of 8–36 kW m⁻², and mass flux of 49.2–201.8 kg m⁻² s⁻¹. The effect of vapor quality, inlet pressure, heat flux and mass flux on the heat transfer characteristic are discussed. The comparisons of the experimental data with the predicted value by existing correlations are analyzed. Zou et al. (2010) correlation shows the best accuracy with 24.1% RMS deviation among them. Moreover four frictional pressure drop methods are also chosen to compare with the experimental database.     

Charge reduction experimental investigation of CO2 single-phase flow in a horizontal micro-channel with constant heat flux conditions

The use of carbon dioxide as alternative refrigerant in refrigeration plants and heat pumps has been focused recently. Through the specific properties of CO₂, the use of very compact heat exchangers is relevant and the technology of micro-channel heat exchangers rises as a suitable solution. The experimental investigation of CO₂ flow in a single micro-channel with an inner diameter of 529 μm is planned with an original test section. This test section is initially dedicated for further CO₂ two-phase flow analysis. The local heat transfer coefficients are estimated with micro-thermocouples stuck on the micro-channel wall. The pressure drop is also measured. This paper presents the first results in single-phase pressure drop and heat transfer and exhibits promising coming data in two-phase flow pressure drop and heat transfer for mass velocity between 200 kg/m²/s and 1400 kg/m²/s and working saturation temperature between −10 °C and 5 °C. The results stress on the good accuracy of suitable classical laws to predict pressure drop and heat transfer in single-phase flow in micro-channel.     

Experimental investigation and correlation of two-phase frictional pressure drop of R410A–oil mixture flow boiling in a 5 mm microfin tube

This study presents experimental two-phase frictional data for R410A-oil mixture flow boiling in an internal spiral grooved microfin tube with outside diameter of 5 mm. Experimental parameters include the evaporation temperature of 5 °C, the mass flux from 200 to 400 kg m^?2 s^?1, the heat flux from 7.46 to 14.92 kW m^?2, the inlet vapor quality from 0.1 to 0.8, and nominal oil concentration from 0 to 5%. The test results show that the frictional pressure drop of R410A initially increases with vapor quality and then decreases, presenting a local maximum in the vapor quality range between 0.7 and 0.8; the frictional pressure drop of R410A–oil mixture increases with the mass flux, the presence of oil enhances two-phase frictional pressure drop, and the effect of oil on frictional pressure drop is more evident at higher vapor qualities where the local oil concentrations are higher. The enhanced factor is always larger than unity and increases with nominal oil concentration at a given vapor quality. The range of the enhanced factor is about 1.0–2.2 at present test conditions. A new correlation to predict the local frictional pressure drop of R410A-oil mixture flow boiling inside the internal spiral grooved microfin tube is developed based on local properties of refrigerant–oil mixture, and the measured local frictional pressure drop is well correlated with the empirical equation proposed by the authors.     

Two-phase pressure drop of R-410A in horizontal smooth minichannels

Convective boiling pressure drop experiments were performed in horizontal minichannels with a binary mixture refrigerant, R-410A. The test section was made of stainless steel tubes with inner diameters of 1.5 mm and 3.0 mm and with lengths of 1500 mm and 3000 mm, respectively. This test section was uniformly heated by applying electric current directly to the tubes. Experiments were performed at inlet saturation temperature of 10 °C, mass flux ranges from 300 to 600 kg m⁻² s⁻¹ and heat flux ranges from 10 to 40 kW m⁻². The current study showed the significant effect of mass flux and tube diameter on pressure drop. The experimental results were compared against 15 two-phase pressure drop prediction methods. The homogeneous model predicted well the experimental pressure drop, generally. A new pressure drop prediction method based on the Lockhart–Martinelli method was developed with 4.02% mean deviation.     

Convective boiling performance of refrigerant R-134a in herringbone and microfin copper tubes

This paper reports an experimental investigation of convective boiling heat transfer and pressure drop of refrigerant R-134a in smooth, standard microfin and herringbone copper tubes of 9.52 mm external diameter. Tests have been conducted under the following conditions: inlet saturation temperature of 5 °C, qualities from 5 to 90%, mass velocity from 100 to 500 kg s⁻¹ m⁻², and a heat flux of 5 kW m⁻². Experimental results indicate that the herringbone tube has a distinct heat transfer performance over the mass velocity range considered in the present study. Thermal performance of the herringbone tube has been found better than that of the standard microfin in the high range of mass velocities, and worst for the smallest mass velocity (G=100 kg s⁻¹ m⁻²) at qualities higher than 50%. The herringbone tube pressure drop is higher than that of the standard microfin tube over the whole range of mass velocities and qualities. The enhancement parameter is higher than one for both tubes for mass velocities lower than 200 kg s⁻¹ m⁻². Values lower than one have been obtained for both tubes in the mass velocity upper range as a result of a significant pressure drop increment not followed by a correspondent increment in the heat transfer coefficient.     

Two-phase pressure drop in return bends: Experimental results for R-410A

This study presents 238 pressure drop data points measured for two-phase flow of R-410A in horizontal return bends. The tube diameter (D) varies from 7.90 to 10.85 mm and the curvature ratio (2R/D) from 3.68 to 4.05. The mass velocity ranges from 179 to 1695 kg m⁻² s⁻¹ and the saturation temperatures from 4.6 °C to 20.7 °C. Preliminary tests show that the recovery length necessary for a correct pressure drop measurement downstream of the return bend is less than 20D, for the experimental conditions covered in this study. The singular pressure drop is determined by subtracting the regular pressure drop in straight tube from the total pressure drop. The experimental data are compared against four available correlations found in the literature. The present experimental database for the return bend pressure drop is presented in the Appendix A.     

An experimental investigation and modelling of flow boiling heat transfer of isobutane-compressor oil solution in a horizontal smooth tube

Experimental results of local heat transfer coefficients for the boiling of working fluids (solutions of R600a with mineral naphthenic oil ISO VG 15) in a smooth tube with a small diameter (5.4 mm) are presented. The experiments have been performed in the following ranges: for the inlet pressure from 65.7 kPa to 82.2 kPa, for the heat flux from 2500 to 3300 W m⁻², and for the mass velocity of the working fluid from 11.90 to 15.99 kg m⁻² s⁻¹). The quantitative estimation in reduction of the heat transfer coefficient of the wetted surface in the evaporator at a high oil concentration in the mixture is examined. The influence of heat flux and mass velocities on the values of the local heat transfer coefficients is analyzed. The equation for the modelling of the local heat transfer coefficient for boiling of an isobutane/compressor oil solution flow in the tube is suggested.