Experimental investigation on heat transfer characteristics of low mass flux rifled tube with upward flow

An experiment for heat transfer of water flowing in a vertical rifled tube was conducted at subcritical and supercritical pressure. The main purpose is to explore the heat transfer characteristics of the new-type rifled tube at low mass flux. Operating conditions included pressures of 12–30 MPa, mass flux of 232–1200 kg/(m² s), and wall heat fluxes of 133–719 kW/m². The heat transfer performance and wall temperature distribution at various operating conditions were captured in the experiment. In the present paper, the heat transfer mechanism of the rifled tube was analyzed, the effects of pressure, wall heat flux and mass flux on heat transfer were discussed, and corresponding empirical correlations were also presented. The experimental results exhibit that the rifled tube has an obvious enhancement in heat transfer, even at low mass flux. In comparison with a smooth tube, the rifled tube efficiently prevents Departure from Nucleate Boiling (DNB) and delays dryout at subcritical pressure, and also improves the heat transfer of supercritical water remarkably, especially near pseudo-critical point. An increase in pressure or wall heat flux impairs the heat transfer at both subcritical and supercritical pressure, whereas the increasing mass flux has a contrary effect.     

Downscaling a supercritical water loop for experimental studies on system stability

In industry, supercritical water is being used as e.g. separation agent, solvent or coolant due to the unique fluid properties near the critical point. This has lead to the proposal for a nuclear reactor based on supercritical water, operating at a pressure of 25 MPa and bulk temperatures between 280 °C and 500 °C. The large change of the water density in such a reactor may cause the system to become thermal-hydraulically unstable. Numerical as well as experimental investigation of this phenomenon is therefore essential. The rather high pressure, temperatures and power significantly push up the costs of an experimental facility. For this reason, we propose a scaling procedure based on Freon R-23 as the working fluid so that (i) pressure, power and temperatures are significantly reduced and (ii) the physics determining the dynamics of the system are almost completely preserved. Practical issues, such as the onset of deterioration of heat transfer, are touched upon as well.     

Laminar convective heat transfer and viscous pressure loss of alumina–water and zirconia–water nanofluids

Laminar convective heat transfer and viscous pressure loss were investigated for alumina–water and zirconia–water nanofluids in a flow loop with a vertical heated tube. The heat transfer coefficients in the entrance region and in the fully developed region are found to increase by 17% and 27%, respectively, for alumina–water nanofluid at 6 vol % with respect to pure water. The zirconia–water nanofluid heat transfer coefficient increases by approximately 2% in the entrance region and 3% in the fully developed region at 1.32 vol %. The measured pressure loss for the nanofluids is in general much higher than for pure water. However, both the measured nanofluid heat transfer coefficient and pressure loss are in good agreement with the traditional model predictions for laminar flow, provided that the loading- and temperature-dependent thermophysical properties of the nanofluids are utilized in the evaluation of the dimensionless numbers. In other words, no abnormal heat transfer enhancement or pressure loss was observed within measurement errors.     

Natural convective flow and heat transfer of supercritical CO2 in a rectangular circulation loop

Fluid dynamics and heat transfer of supercritical CO₂ natural convection are important for nuclear engineering and new energy system design etc. In this paper, in order to study the flow and heat transfer behavior of supercritical CO₂ natural circulation system, a computational simulation on a closed natural circulation loop (NCL) model has been carried out. The fluid temperature in the loop varies between 298.15 K and 323.15 K, which is across the CO₂ critical temperature, and the density is found to be in the range of 250–800 kg/m³. The results show a small temperature difference of 25 °C between heating and cooling sources can induce a mass flow with the Reynolds number up to 6 × 10⁴ using supercritical CO₂ fluid. A periodic reversal flow pattern is found and presented in this paper. Enhanced heat transfer phenomenon is also found for the supercritical CO₂ natural convective flow. The mechanisms to this enhancement and the heating effect on the flow are also discussed in detail in the present study.     

Effects of the location of side inflow holes on pool boiling heat transfer in a vertical annulus

To investigate effects of the location of side inflow holes on pool boiling heat transfer in a vertical annulus, the location of the holes has been changed from 0.1 to 0.4 m. For the test, a heated tube of 34 mm diameter and the water at atmospheric pressure have been used. To clarify effects of the location of the inflow holes on heat transfer results of the annulus are compared to the data of a single unrestricted tube and the annulus with closed bottoms. Adoption of the side inflow holes results in higher heat transfer than that of the single unrestricted tube as the heat flux is less than 100 kW/m². Moreover, it can remove the possibility of heat transfer deterioration at higher heat fluxes, which is a general characteristic of pool boiling in the annulus with closed bottoms. As the holes are located at 0.3 m from the bottom of the tube the most attractive results have been obtained and the enhancement in the heat transfer coefficient is 26.9% comparing to the single unrestricted tube at 160 kW/m².     

Effect of particle size on the convective heat transfer in nanofluid in the developing region

An experimental investigation on the convective heat transfer characteristics in the developing region of tube flow with constant heat flux is carried out with alumina–water nanofluids. The primary objective is to evaluate the effect of particle size on convective heat transfer in laminar developing region. Two particle sizes were used, one with average particle size off 45 nm and the other with 150 nm. It was observed that both nanofluids showed higher heat transfer characteristics than the base fluid and the nanofluid with 45 nm particles showed higher heat transfer coefficient than that with 150 nm particles. It was also observed that in the developing region, the heat transfer coefficients show higher enhancement than in the developed region. Based on the experimental results a correlation for heat transfer in the developing region has been proposed for the present range of nanofluids.     

Experimental investigation of oxide nanofluids laminar flow convective heat transfer

In the present investigation nanofluids containing CuO and Al₂O₃ oxide nanoparticles in water as base fluid in different concentrations produced and the laminar flow convective heat transfer through circular tube with constant wall temperature boundary condition were examined. The experimental results emphasize that the single phase correlation with nanofluids properties (Homogeneous Model) is not able to predict heat transfer coefficient enhancement of nanofluids. The comparison between experimental results obtained for CuO / water and Al₂O₃ / water nanofluids indicates that heat transfer coefficient ratios for nanofluid to homogeneous model in low concentration are close to each other but by increasing the volume fraction, higher heat transfer enhancement for Al₂O₃ / water can be observed.     

Experimental investigation of fluid flow and heat transfer in a single-phase liquid flow micro-heat exchanger

This work presents an experimental analysis of the hydrodynamic and thermal performance of micro-heat exchangers. Two micro-heat exchangers, characterized by microchannels of 100 × 100 and 200 × 200 μm square cross-sections, were designed for that purpose. The fluid used was deionized water and there was no phase change along the fluid circuit. The fluid pressure drop along the heat exchanger and the heat transfer were measured and corrections were made to isolate the contribution of the microchannels. The results were compared with the predictions of the classical viscous flow and heat transfer theory. The main conclusions show that the experimental results fit well with these theories. No effects of heat transfer enhancement or pressure drop increase were observed as a consequence of the small scale of the microchannels.     

Heat transfer and single-phase flow in internally grooved tubes

This study investigates heat transfer and flow characteristics of water flowing through horizontal internally grooved tubes. The test tubes consisted of one smooth tube, one straight grooved tube, and four grooved tubes with different pitches. All test tubes were made from type 304 stainless steel. The length and inner diameter of the test tube were 2 m and 7.1 mm, respectively. Water was used as working fluid, heated by DC power supply under constant heat flux condition. The test runs were performed at average fluid temperature of 25 °C, heat flux of 3.5 kW/m², and Reynolds number range from 4000 to 10,000. The effect of grooved pitch on heat transfer and pressure drop was also investigated. The performance of the grooved tubes was discussed in terms of thermal enhancement factor. The results showed that the thermal enhancement factor obtained from groove tubes is about 1.4 to 2.2 for a pitch of 0.5 in.; 1.1 to 1.3 for pitches of 8, 10, and 12 in., respectively; and 0.8 to 0.9 for a straight groove.     

Effects of superheat and temperature-dependent thermophysical properties on evaporating thin liquid films in microchannels

A model based on the augmented Young–Laplace equation and the Clausius–Clapeyron equation was developed to describe the extended evaporating meniscus in a microchannel. The effects of the adsorbed film thickness, channel height and temperature-dependent thermophysical properties of the fluid are included in the model at wall superheats up to 50 K. The liquid flow is coupled with the vapor flow to obtain the mass transport across the liquid–vapor interface. The results show that the constant thermophysical property model greatly overestimates the liquid pressure difference and the total thin film heat transfer rate at higher superheats compared with the variable thermophysical property model. The adsorbed film thickness, which is controlled by the disjoining pressure limit, reaches a minimum near about 20 K superheat for water. The maximum film curvature and liquid pressure difference then decrease at superheats larger than 20 K. The effects of the capillary pressure limit produced by the channel height can be reduced by increasing the superheat.     

Wall temperature measurements with turbulent flow in heated vertical circular/non-circular channels of supercritical pressure carbon-dioxide

Experimental data are presented which illustrate heat transfer characteristics of the turbulent supercritical flow in vertical circular/non-circular channels. The working fluid was carbon-dioxide operating at a constant pressure of 8 MPa. Experiments were conducted at various conditions with inlet bulk fluid temperatures ranging from 15 to 32 °C, imposed heat fluxes from 3 to 180 kW/m², and mass fluxes from 209 to 1230 kg/m² s. The corresponding Reynolds numbers were within the range of 3 × 10⁴ to 1.4 × 10⁵. Wall temperatures are presented for the three channels with different cross-sectional shapes. These were measured by thermocouples installed on the outer surface of the heating section, and are compared with each other at the same heat flux and mass flux conditions.     

Influence of carbon nanotube suspension on the thermal performance of a miniature thermosyphon

An experimental study was carried out to understand the heat transfer performance of a miniature thermosyphon using water-based carbon nanotube (CNT) suspensions as the working fluid. The suspensions consisted of deionized water and multi-wall carbon nanotubes with an average diameter of 15 nm and a length range of 5–15 μm. Experiments were performed under three steady operation pressures of 7.4 kPa, 13.2 kPa and 20 kPa, respectively. Effects of the CNT mass concentration and the operation pressure on the average evaporation and condensation heat transfer coefficients, the critical heat flux and the total heat resistance of the thermosyphon were investigated and discussed. Experimental results show that CNT suspensions can apparently improve the thermal performance of the thermosyphon and there is an optimal CNT mass concentration (about 2.0%) to achieve the maximum heat transfer enhancement. The operation pressure has a significant influence on the enhancement of the evaporation heat transfer coefficient, and slight influences on the enhancement of the critical heat flux. The enhanced heat transfer effect is weak at low heat fluxes while it is increased gradually with increasing the heat flux. The present experiment confirms that the thermal performance of a miniature thermosyphon can be strengthened evidently by using CNT suspensions.     

Experimental investigation of heat transfer and friction factor with water–propylene glycol based CuO nanofluid in a tube with twisted tape inserts

Convective heat transfer and friction factor characteristics of water/propylene glycol (70:30% by volume) based CuO nanofluids flowing in a plain tube are investigated experimentally under constant heat flux boundary condition. Glycols are normally used as an anti-freezing heat transfer fluids in cold climatic regions. Nanofluids are prepared by dispersing 50 nm diameter of CuO nanoparticles in the base fluid. Experiments are conducted using CuO nanofluids with 0.025%, 0.1% and 0.5% volume concentration in the Reynolds numbers ranging from 1000 < Re < 10000 and considerable heat transfer enhancement in CuO nanofluids is observed. The effect of twisted tape inserts with twist ratios in the range of 0 < H/D < 15 on nanofluids is studied and further heat transfer augmentation is noticed. The increment in the pressure drop in the CuO nanofluids over the base fluid is negligible but the experimental results have shown a significant increment in the convective heat transfer coefficient of CuO nanofluids. The convective heat transfer coefficient increased up to 27.95% in the 0.5% CuO nanofluid in plain tube and with a twisted tape insert of H/D = 5 it is further increased to 76.06% over the base fluid at a particular Reynolds number. The friction factor enhancement of 10.08% is noticed and increased to 26.57% with the same twisted tape, when compared with the base fluid friction factor at the same Reynolds number. Based on the experimental data obtained, generalized regression equations are developed to predict Nusselt number and friction factor.     

Pool boiling of perfluorocarbon mixtures on silicon surfaces

The need for higher pool boiling critical heat flux (CHF) in electronic cooling applications has turned attention to the use of binary mixtures of dielectric liquids. The available literature demonstrates that the addition of a liquid with higher saturation temperature, higher molecular weight, higher viscosity and higher surface tension can lead to significant enhancement of CHF, beyond what can be achieved through changes in pressure, liquid subcooling, and the product of surface effusivity and heater thickness. The current study focuses on extending the available data on mixture CHF enhancement, as well as pool boiling, on polished silicon surfaces to FC-72/FC-40 mixture ratios of 10%, 15%, and 20% of FC-40 by weight, a pressure range of between 1 and 3 atm, and fluid temperature from 22 to 45 °C, leading to high subcooling conditions. It is found that peak heat flux can be increased to as high as 56.8 W/cm² compared to 25.2 W/cm² for pure FC-72 at 3 atm and 22 °C. It is believed that the increase in the mixture latent heat of evaporation and surface tension, accompanying the depletion of the lower boiling point fluid in the wall region plays the major role in enhancing the critical heat flux for binary mixtures.     

Experimental investigation of capillary-assisted evaporation on the outside surface of horizontal tubes

Capillary-assisted evaporation is a typical heat transfer method in heat pipes which is characterized by high evaporation coefficient due to extremely thin liquid film. This paper introduces such a micro-scale heat transfer method into normal-scale applications. A series of enhanced heat transfer tubes with circumferential rectangular micro-grooves on the outside surfaces have been experimentally investigated. The aim is to investigate the influence of the tubes’ geometries and operating parameters on the evaporation heat transfer coefficients. In the experiment, the tested tubes are hold horizontally and the bottom surfaces are immersed into a pool of liquid. The heat is added to the thin liquid film inside the micro-grooves through the heating fluid flowing inside the tubes. The factors influencing the capillary-assisted evaporation performance, such as the immersion depth, evaporation pressure, superheating degree, etc. are considered. The experimental results have indicated that there is a positive correlation between the evaporation heat transfer coefficient and evaporation pressure, and negative for the superheating and immersion depth. For water, under the evaporation saturated temperature of 5.0 ± 0.1 °C, the superheating of 4.0 ± 0.1 °C and the dimensionless liquid level of 1/2, the film side evaporation heat transfer coefficients are 3100–3500 W/m² K, which are equivalent to those of the falling film evaporator in LiBr–water absorption machine (2800–4500 W/m² K [Y.Q. Dai, Y.Q. Zheng, LiBr–water Absorption Machine, first ed., Chinese National Defence Industry Press, Beijing, China, 1980.]).     

Experimental investigation and modelling of heat transfer during convective boiling in a minichannel

Flow boiling heat transfer characteristics of water are experimentally studied in a circular minichannel with an inner diameter of 1500 μm. The fluid flows upwards and the test section, made of the nickel alloy Inconel 600, is directly electrically heated. Thus, the evaporation takes place under the defined boundary condition of constant heat flux. Mass fluxes between 50 and 100 kg/(m² s) and heat fluxes from 10 to 115 kW/m² at an inlet pressure of 3 bar are examined.Infrared thermography is applied to measure the outer wall temperatures of the minichannel. This experimental method permits the identification of different boiling regions, boiling mechanisms and the determination of local heat transfer coefficients. Measurements are carried out in single-phase flow, subcooled and saturated boiling regions. The experimental heat transfer coefficients in the region of saturated boiling are compared with correlations available in literature and with a physically founded model developed for convective boiling.     

Numerical investigation for natural convection of a nanofluid in an inclined L-shaped cavity in the presence of an inclined magnetic field

The problem of natural convection in an inclined L-shaped enclosure filled with Cu/water nanofluid that operates under differentially heated walls in the presence of an inclined magnetic field is presented in this paper. The fully implicit finite difference method is used to solve the governing equations. A comparison with previously published results in special case of the present study is performed and a very good agreement is found. Heat transfer and fluid flow are examined for parameters of the Hartmann number (0 ≤ Ha ≤ 100), the nanoparticles volume fraction (0% ≤ ϕ ≤ 20%), the cavity inclination angle (0° ≤ ϑ ≤ 300°), the magnetic field inclination angle (0° ≤ γ ≤ 270°), the cavity aspect ratio (0.25 ≤ AR ≤ 0.6) and the Rayleigh number (10³ ≤ Ra ≤ 10⁶). It is found that, the presence of the magnetic field in the fluid region causes a significant reduction in the fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics. Also, a good enhancement in the heat transfer rate can be obtained by adding the copper nanoparticles to the base fluid.     

Heat transfer and pressure drop during HFC refrigerant saturated vapour condensation inside a brazed plate heat exchanger

This paper presents the heat transfer coefficients and the pressure drop measured during HFC refrigerants 236fa, 134a and 410A saturated vapour condensation inside a brazed plate heat exchanger: the effects of saturation temperature (pressure), refrigerant mass flux and fluid properties are investigated. The heat transfer coefficients show weak sensitivity to saturation temperature (pressure) and great sensitivity to refrigerant mass flux and fluid properties. A transition point between gravity controlled and forced convection condensation has been found for a refrigerant mass flux around 20 kg/m²s that corresponds to an equivalent Reynolds number around 1600–1700. At low refrigerant mass flux (G_r < 20 kg/m²s) the heat transfer coefficients are not dependent on mass flux and are well predicted by the Nusselt [20] analysis for vertical surface: the condensation process is gravity controlled. For higher refrigerant mass flux (G_r > 20 kg/m²s) the heat transfer coefficients depend on mass flux and are well predicted by Akers et al. [21] equation: forced convection condensation occurs. In the forced convection condensation region the heat transfer coefficients show a 25–30% increase for a doubling of the refrigerant mass flux.The frictional pressure drop shows a linear dependence on the kinetic energy per unit volume of the refrigerant flow and therefore a quadratic dependence on mass flux.HFC-410A shows heat transfer coefficients similar to HFC-134a and 10% higher than HFC-236fa together with frictional pressure drops 40-50% lower than HFC-134a and 50–60% lower than HFC-236fa.     

Effect of open microchannel geometry on pool boiling enhancement

Pool boiling enhancement through surface modification has garnered the attention of many researchers for extending the limits of heat flux dissipation. Simulated copper chips were used in a pool boiling setup with water boiling at atmospheric pressure. Heat transfer performance of different microchanneled surfaces was compared to that of a plain surface. The results of the study showed that the mechanism at work for the bubble dynamics was the ability of the surface to pull liquid through the channels to induce heat transfer. Geometrical trends were observed from the study as well with the wider and deeper channels and thinner finned surfaces showing the best heat transfer results. Without reaching the critical heat flux condition, the best performing chip dissipated a heat flux of 244 W/cm² corresponding to a record heat transfer coefficient of 269 kW/m² K.     

Local heat transfer distribution and effect of instabilities during flow boiling in a silicon microchannel heat sink

Flow boiling of the perfluorinated dielectric fluid FC-77 in a silicon microchannel heat sink is investigated. The heat sink contains 60 parallel microchannels each of 100 μm width and 389 μm depth. Twenty-five evenly distributed temperature sensors in the substrate yield local heat transfer coefficients. The pressure drop across the channels is also measured. Experiments are conducted at five flow rates through the heat sink in the range of 20–80 ml/min with the inlet subcooling held at 26 K in all the tests. At each flow rate, the uniform heat input to the substrate is increased in steps so that the fluid experiences flow regimes from single-phase liquid flow to the occurrence of critical heat flux (CHF). In the upstream region of the channels, the flow develops from single-phase liquid flow at low heat fluxes to pulsating two-phase flow at high heat fluxes during flow instability that commences at a threshold heat flux in the range of 30.5–62.3 W/cm² depending on the flow rate. In the downstream region, progressive flow patterns from bubbly flow, slug flow, elongated bubbles or annular flow, alternating wispy-annular and churn flow, and wall dryout at highest heat fluxes are observed. As a result, the heat transfer coefficients in the downstream region experience substantial variations over the entire heat flux range, based on which five distinct boiling regimes are identified. In contrast, the heat transfer coefficient midway along the channels remains relatively constant over the heat flux range tested. Due to changes in flow patterns during flow instability, the heat transfer is enhanced both in the downstream region (prior to extended wall dryout) and in the upstream region. A previous study by the authors found no effect of instabilities during flow boiling in a heat sink with larger microchannels (each 300 μm wide and 389 μm deep); it appears therefore that the effect of instabilities on heat transfer is amplified in smaller-sized channels. While CHF increases with increasing flow rate, the pressure drop across the channels has only a minimal dependence on flow rate once boiling is initiated in the microchannels, and varies almost linearly with increasing heat flux.