Measurement and correlation of frictional two-phase pressure drop of R410A/POE oil mixture flow boiling in a 7 mm straight micro-fin tube

Two-phase frictional pressure drop characteristics of R410A/POE oil mixture flow boiling inside a straight micro-fin tube with the outside diameter of 7.0 mm were investigated experimentally. Experimental parameters include the evaporation temperature of 5 °C, the mass flux from 200 to 400 kg/(m² s), the heat flux from 7.56 to 15.12 kW/m², the inlet vapor quality from 0.2 to 0.7, and nominal oil concentration from 0% to 5%. The test results show that frictional pressure drop of R410A/POE 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. New correlations to predict the local frictional pressure drop of R410A/POE oil mixture flow boiling inside the straight micro-fin tube are developed based on local properties of refrigerant–oil mixture, and the measured local frictional pressure drop is well correlated with the empirical correlations proposed by the authors.     

Heat transfer characteristics of gaseous flows in microtube with constant heat flux

Heat transfer characteristics of gaseous flows in a microtube with constant heat flux whose value is positive or negative are investigated on two-dimensional compressible laminar flow for no-slip regime. The numerical methodology is based on the Arbitrary–Lagrangian–Eulerian (ALE) method. The computations are performed for tubes with constant heat flux ranging from −10⁴ to 10⁴ W m⁻². The tube diameter ranges from 10 to 100 μm and the aspect ratio of the length and diameter is 200. The stagnation pressure, p_stg is chosen in such away that the Mach number at the exit ranges from 0.1 to 0.7. The outlet pressure is fixed at the atmosphere. The wall and bulk temperatures in microtubes with positive heat flux are compared with those of negative heat flux case and also compared with those of the incompressible flow in a conventional sized tube. In the case of fast flow, temperature profiles normalized by heat flux have different trends whether heat flux is positive or negative. A correlation for the prediction of the wall temperature of the gaseous flow in the microtube is proposed. Supplementary runs with slip boundary conditions for the case of D = 10 μm conducted and rarefaction effect is discussed. With increasing Ma number, the compressibility effect is more dominant and the rarefaction effect is relative insignificant where Kn number is less than Kn = 0.0096. And, the magnitudes of viscous dissipation term and compressibility term are investigated along the tube length.     

The heat transfer characteristics of liquid cooling heat sink with micro pin fins

This paper numerically and experimentally investigated the liquid cooling efficiency of heat sinks containing micro pin fins. Aluminum prototypes of heat sink with micro pin fin were fabricated to explore the flow and thermal performance. The main geometry parameters included the diameter of micro pin fin and porosity of fin array. The effects of the geometrical parameters and pressure drop on the heat transfer performance of the heat sink were studied. In the experiments, the heat flux from base of heat sink was set as 300 kW/m². The pressure drop between the inlet and the outlet of heat sink was set < 3000 Pa. Numerical simulations with similar flow and thermal conditions were conducted to estimate the flow patterns, the effective thermal resistance. It was found that the effective thermal resistance would reach an optimum value for various pressure drops. It was also noted that the effective thermal resistance was not sensitive to porosity for sparsely packed pin fins.     

The effects of micro-structured surfaces on multi-nozzle spray cooling

Experiments were conducted to investigate heat transfer characteristics of spray cooling with eight nozzles for micro-structured surfaces included cubic pin fins and straight pin fins of different sizes. Liquid volume flow rate ranged from 2.46 × 10⁻² m³/s/m² to 3.91 × 10⁻² m³/s/m² and the corresponded inlet pressures changed from 0.28 MPa to 0.6 MPa by keeping the inlet water temperature between 20.4 °C and 24.31 °C. And the input power of heat block varied from 180 W to 1080 W. The results show that the heat transfer performances of straight fins2 and straight fins3 are the best in single phase zone, but the cubic pin fins is better in two phase zone. Notably, the critical point between single phase zone and two phase zone shifts to left with the increasing of liquid volume flow rate. Moreover, with the liquid volume flow rate increasing, the heat transfer coefficient increases as well, but straight fins1 and polished surface are not sensitive to this change. For a deeper analysis of the heat transfer enhancement, a dimensionless number (DM) is created to characterize heat transfer performance of different microstructures in single phase heat transfer. We verified the dimensionless number using experimental results in this study and previous literature. Furthermore, the micro-structured surfaces have negligible effects on temperature distribution except for cubic pin fins.     

A two-phase flow pattern map for annular channels under a DC applied voltage and the application to electrohydrodynamic convective boiling analysis

An experimental study of tube side boiling heat transfer of HFC-134a has been conducted in a single-pass, counter-current flow heat exchanger under an electric field. By applying 0–8 kV to a concentric inner electrode, the mechanics of EHD induced flow and heat transfer augmentation/suppression have been investigated for flow conditions with inlet qualities of 0% to 60%, mass fluxes from 100 kg/m² s to 500 kg/m² s, and heat flux levels between 10 kW/m² and 20 kW/m². A theoretical Steiner type two-phase flow pattern map for flow boiling in the annular channel under applied DC high voltage is also developed. The flow regimes encountered in the convective boiling process have been reconstructed experimentally and compared with the proposed EHD flow regime map. The results show that when the proposed dimensionless criterion M_d Re² is satisfied, EHD interfacial forces have a strong influence on the flow pattern which is considered to be the primary mechanism affecting the increase in pressure drop and the augmentation or even suppression of heat transfer.     

Two-phase flow in converging and diverging microchannels with CO2 bubbles produced by chemical reactions

The present study investigates experimentally the evolution of two-phase flow pattern and pressure drop in the converging and diverging, silicon-based microchannels with mean hydraulic diameter of 128 μm and CO₂ bubbles produced by chemical reactions of sulfuric acid (H₂SO₄) and sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO₃). Three different concentrations of 0.2, 0.5 and 0.8 mol/L of each reactant at the inlet before mixing and 10 different flow rates from 1.60 × 10⁻⁹ m³/s to 16.0 × 10⁻⁹ m³/s are studied. Flow visualization is made possible by using a high-speed digital camera. It is found that the present design of the microchannel, with the inlet chamber, results in much more intensive chemical reactions in the diverging microchannel than that in the converging one. The void fractions at the entrance and exit regions and pressure drop through the channel are also measured. The results reveals that the presence of small void fraction, <0.1, at the inlet may promote CO₂ generation in the microchannel, irrespective of the channel is converging or diverging, indicating the agitation effects of bubbly flow in the microchannel. The increase of inlet concentration of reactants does not increase the pressure drop in the converging microchannel significantly, while the inlet concentration presents significant but mild effects on the pressure drop in the diverging microchannel. The two-phase frictional multiplier may be positively correlated with the mean void fraction in the channel linearly, and the data agree well with predictions from the correlations in the literature.     

Enhanced boiling heat transfer in mesochannels

Heat transfer characteristics are studied for a hybrid boiling case that combine features of spray cooling and flow boiling. In such a hybrid system, a liquid is atomized and the surrounding vapor is entrained into the droplet cone to provide an initial quality for enhanced boiling. An in-house experimental setup was developed to obtain surface temperature and heat flux measurements in a series of converged mesochannels for hybrid boiling. To compare the heat transfer performance of this hybrid technique, a flow boiling module was also developed using the same series of converged mesochannels. The inlet and exit hydraulic diameter of the mesochannels was 1.55 and 1.17 mm, respectively. The heat flux was in the range of 15–45 kW/m² and the estimated mass flux varied from 45 kg/m²s at the channel inlet to 110 kg/m²s at the channel outlet. Moreover, a model was presented to predict surface temperatures and heat transfer coefficients for flow boiling and hybrid boiling in mesochannels. This model was developed based on Chen’s formulation (1966) [21] but with two essential modifications. First, the laminar entry length effect was taken into consideration for heat transfer coefficient calculation. Second, the boiling enhancement factor was calculated based on the fluid properties. The model was compared to the experimental data and several other correlations for both cases. This model shows good agreement with the experimental data (mean deviations on the order of 12–16%).     

Examination of heat transfer correlations and a model for flow boiling of R134a in small diameter tubes

Analysis of various existing correlations including a three-zone evaporation model is made using a comparison with recent experimental results obtained in this study. Flow boiling heat transfer experiments were conducted with two stainless steel tubes of internal diameter 4.26 mm and 2.01 mm. The working fluid was R134a and parameters were varied in the range: mass flux 100–500 kg/m²s; pressure 8–12 bar; quality up to 0.9; heat flux 13–150 kW/m². The local heat transfer coefficient was independent of vapour quality when this was less than about 40–50% in the 4.26 mm tube and 20–30% in the 2.01 mm tube. Local transient dryout was deduced when the quality was above these values. Furthermore, at high heat flux values the heat transfer coefficient decreased with vapour quality for the entire quality range indicating early occurrence of dryout.Existing correlations, which are based on large tube boiling processes, do not predict the present small diameter data to a satisfactory degree. A better agreement is observed with the recent, state-of-the-art, three-zone evaporation model. However, the model does not predict the effect of diameter and the partial dryout. Nevertheless, the observation suggests that the flow pattern based modelling approach performs at least as well as empirical correlations that are based on macroscale modelling. Aspects of the model that need further consideration are also proposed in this study.     

Correlation of critical heat flux and two-phase friction factor for subcooled convective boiling in structured surface microchannels

Critical heat flux (CHF) and pressure drop of subcooled flow boiling are measured for a microchannel heat sink containing 75 parallel 100 μm × 200 μm structured surface channels. The heated surface is made of a Cu metal sheet with/without 2 μm thickness diamond film. Tests and measurements are conducted with de-ionized water, de-ionized water +1 vol.% MCNT additive solution, and FC-72 fluids over a mass velocity range of 820–1600 kg/m² s, with inlet temperatures of 15(8.6)°C, 25(13.6)°C, 44(24.6)°C, and 64(36.6)°C for DI water (FC-72), and heat fluxes up to 600 W/cm². The CHF of subcooled flow boiling of the test fluids in the microchannels is measured parametrically. The two-phase pressure drop is also measured. Both CHF and the two-phase friction factor correlation for one-side heating with two other side-structured surface microchannels are proposed and developed in terms of the relevant parameters.     

Effect of porous coating on two-phase pressure drop of water during up-flow boiling in tubes

This paper focuses on the effects of porous coating on two-phase flow pressure drop during up-flow boiling of water in vertical tubes. The experiments were carried out under subcooled fluid–inlet conditions (5–73 K) for different mass fluxes (200–400 kg/m² s) and pressures (0.11–0.69 MPa). The measured pressure drops were compared first with each other, and then with correlations from literature. It was found that the best agreement between predicted and measured values is obtained by the method of Thom [3] for a smooth tube and by Müller-Steinhagen and Heck's method [4] for a porous coated tube respectively.     

Effect of tube diameter on boiling heat transfer of R-134a in horizontal small-diameter tubes

The boiling heat transfer of refrigerant R-134a flow in horizontal small-diameter tubes with inner diameter of 0.51, 1.12, and 3.1 mm was experimentally investigated. Local heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop were measured for a heat flux ranging from 5 to 39 kW/m², mass flux from 150 to 450 kg/m² s, evaporating temperature from 278.15 to 288.15 K, and inlet vapor quality from 0 to 0.2. Flow patterns were observed by using a high-speed video camera through a sight glass at the entrance of an evaporator. Results showed that with decreasing tube diameter, the local heat transfer coefficient starts decreasing at lower vapor quality. Although the effect of mass flux on the local heat transfer coefficient decreased with decreasing tube diameter, the effect of heat flux was strong in all three tubes. The measured pressure drop for the 3.1-mm-ID tube agreed well with that predicted by the Lockhart–Martinelli correlation, but when the inner tube diameter was 0.51 mm, the measured pressure drop agreed well with that predicted by the homogenous pressure drop model. With decreasing tube diameter, the flow inside a tube approached homogeneous flow. The contribution of forced convective evaporation to the boiling heat transfer decreases with decreasing the inner tube diameter.     

Study of novel flow channels influence on the performance of direct methanol fuel cell

The existing flow channels like parallel and gird channels have been modified for better fuel distribution in order to boost the performance of direct methanol fuel cell. The main objective of the work is to achieve minimized pressure drop in the flow channel, uniform distribution of methanol, reduced water accumulation, and better oxygen supply. A 3D mathematical model with serpentine channel is simulated for the cell temperature of 80 °C, 0.5 M methanol concentration. The study resulted in 40 mW/cm² of power density and 190 mA/cm² of current density at the operating voltage of 0.25 V. Further, the numerical study is carried out for modified flow channels to discuss their merits and demerits on anode and cathode side. The anode serpentine channel is unmatched by the modified zigzag and pin channels by ensuring the better methanol distribution under the ribs and increased the fuel consumption. But the cathode serpentine channel is lacking in water management. The modified channels at anode offered reduced pressure drop, still uniform reactant distribution is found impossible. The modified channels at cathode outperform the serpentine channel by reducing the effect of water accumulation, and uniform oxygen supply. So the serpentine channel is retained for methanol supply, and modified channel is chosen for cathode reactant supply. In comparison to cell with only serpentine channel, the serpentine anode channel combined with cathode zigzag and pin channel enhanced power density by 17.8% and 10.2% respectively. The results revealed that the zigzag and pin channel are very effective in mitigating water accumulation and ensuring better oxygen supply at the cathode.     

Hydrodynamics of air–sand flow in a conical swirling fluidized bed: A comparative study between tangential and axial air entries

Hydrodynamic regimes and characteristics of air–sand flow were studied in a cone-shape swirling fluidized bed for two types of air entry, or swirl generator: through a four-nozzle system (tangential entry) and using an annular-spiral air distributor (axial entry). Quartz sand of four particle sizes, 180–300, 300–500, 500–600 and 850–1180 μm, was used as the bed material in experimental tests on a cold model of a conical swirling fluidized bed combustor. During each test run, the pressure drop across the bed (Δp) was measured versus superficial velocity at the lower bed basis (u) for three static bed heights (20, 30 and 40 cm). Four regimes were found in the bed behavior for both swirl generators. The Δp–u diagrams were compared between tangential and axial air entries for different operating conditions. Mathematical models for predicting major hydrodynamic characteristics, the minimum fluidization velocity (u_mf) and corresponding pressure drop across the bed (Δp_mf), were empirically developed. The dimensionless dependency of Δp/Δp_mf on u/u_mf showed the apparent common trends and similarity for most of the test trials. For the two air injection systems, a Nomograph for assessment of Δp at any arbitrary superficial velocity and bed height was proposed as well.     

Two-phase flow in high-heat-flux micro-channel heat sink for refrigeration cooling applications: Part I--pressure drop characteristics

Two-phase pressure drop was measured across a micro-channel heat sink that served as an evaporator in a refrigeration cycle. The micro-channels were formed by machining 231 μm wide × 713 μm deep grooves into the surface of a copper block. Experiments were performed with refrigerant R134a that spanned the following conditions: inlet pressure of P_in = 1.44-6.60 bar, mass velocity of G = 127-654 kg/m² s, inlet quality of x_e,in = 0.001-0.25, outlet quality of x_e,out = 0.49-superheat, and heat flux of q″ = 31.6-93.8 W/cm². Predictions of the homogeneous equilibrium flow model and prior separated flow models and correlations yielded relatively poor predictions of pressure drop. A new correlation scheme is suggested that incorporates the effect of liquid viscosity and surface tension in the separated flow model’s two-phase pressure drop multiplier. This scheme shows excellent agreement with the R134a data as well as previous micro-channel water data. An important practical finding from this study is that the throttling valve in a refrigeration cycle offers significant stiffening to the system, suppressing the large pressure oscillations common to micro-channel heat sinks.     

Direct methanol fuel cell operation with pre-stretched recast Nafion

Direct methanol fuel cell operation with uniaxially pre-stretched recast Nafion^® membranes (draw ratio of 4) was investigated and compared to that with commercial (un-stretched) Nafion^®. The effects of membrane thickness (60–250 μm) and methanol feed concentration (0.5–10.0 M) on fuel cell power output were quantified for a cell temperature of 60 °C, ambient pressure air, and anode/cathode catalyst loadings of 4.0 mg cm⁻². Pre-stretched recast Nafion^® in the 130–180 μm thickness range produced the highest power at 0.4 V (84 mW cm⁻²), as compared to 58 mW cm⁻² for Nafion^® 117. MEAs with pre-stretched recast Nafion^® consistently out-performed Nafion^® 117 at all methanol feed concentrations, with 33–48% higher power densities at 0.4 V, due to a combination of low area-specific resistance (the use of a thinner pre-stretched membrane, where the conductivity was the same as that for commercial Nafion^®) and low methanol crossover (due to low methanol solubility in the membrane). Very high power was generated with a 180-μm thick pre-stretched recast Nafion^® membrane by increasing the cell temperature to 80 °C, increasing the anode/cathode catalyst loading to 8.0 mg cm⁻², and increasing the cathode air pressure to 25 psig. Under these conditions the power density at 0.4 V for a 1.0-M methanol feed solution was 240 mW cm⁻² and the maximum power density was 252 mW cm⁻².     

Evaporation heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of R-290 (propane), R-600 (butane), and a mixture of R-290/R-600 in the three-lines serpentine small-tube bank

This paper reports an experimental investigation of heat-transfer and pressure-drop behavior of R-290, R-600, and R-290/R-600 in the three-lines serpentine small-diameter (2.46 mm) tube bank. Heat transfer coefficients and pressure drop characteristics are measured for a range of heat flux (5–21 kW/m²), mass flux (250–500 kg/m² s), equilibrium mass quality (0–0.86), and the fixed mixture composition ((R-290/R-600 (55 wt.%/45 wt.%)). The results show that the flow boiling heat transfer coefficients for R-290, R-600, and R-290/R-600 are 1.66–1.96-fold, 1.28–1.38-fold and 1.57–1.88-fold greater as compared with those for R-134a under equal heat and mass fluxes. Also, the two-phase flow frictional pressure drop for R-600, R-290/R-600 and R-290 are 1.41–1.60-fold, 1.32–1.50-fold and 1.22–1.40-fold smaller as compared with that for R-134a. A new heat transfer correlation was presented by using a superposition model to predict the experimental data for both pure refrigerants and refrigerant mixtures. Experimental results were compared with several correlations which predict the evaporative heat transfer, which are in good agreement with experimental data.     

Pressure drop studies on two-phase flow in a uniformly heated vertical tube at pressures up to the critical point

Measurements of two-phase flow pressure drop have been made during a phase-change heat transfer process with refrigerant (R-134a) as a working fluid for a wide range of pressures right up to the critical pressure. The experiments were conducted in a uniformly heated vertical tube of 12.7 mm internal diameter and 3 m length over a heat flux range of 35–80 kW/m², mass flux range of 1200–2000 kg/m² s, exit quality range of 0.19–0.81 and for reduced pressures ranging from 0.24 to 1 with a fixed inlet subcooling of 3 °C. The measurements were compared with the predictions from the homogeneous flow model, a separated flow model using correlations drawn from the literature for void fraction and frictional pressure drop, and finally, using a flow pattern-based predictive method accounting specifically for bubbly, slug and annular flow regimes. It was found that the best results were obtained with the flow pattern-based approach with a mean deviation of ±20% over the entire pressure range.     

Heat transfer and fluid flow in shrouded pin fin arrays with and without tip clearance

Shrouded pin fin arrays with tip clearances (Cg) up to 25% of pin height were experimentally evaluated. Pressure loss was measured (2 × 10² < Re_D < 2 × 10⁴) and liquid crystal thermography was employed to obtain temperature distributions from which the impact of Cg on the mean heat transfer rate was determined for 2 × 10² < Re_D < 1 × 10⁴. Cg was found to influence pressure drop performance to the greatest extent at low Re_D, (<5 × 10³), with the effect being significantly diminished by Re_D = 1.5 × 10⁴. On a per unit pumping power basis, higher heat transfer rates were observed for dimensionless clearances (Cg/D) less than 0.2 as compared to the non-clearance case.     

Solid mass flux in a chemical-looping process for hydrogen production in a multistage circulating moving bed reactor

We studied the solid flow characteristics of a multistage circulating moving bed reactor manufactured to produce high purity H₂ using a chemical-looping process at high temperature. The reactor was constructed of stainless steel 304 and comprised an inclined fuel reactor ((bottom: 0.07 m, top: 0.16 m) × 0.06 × 1 m³), a steam reactor (0.16 × 0.06 × 1.4 m³), a riser (0.03 × 0.06 × 3.8 m³), two loop-seals (0.03 × 0.06 m²), and a cyclone. Zirconia beads (d_p = 186 m, ρ_p = 3720 kg/m³, U_mf = 4.95 × 10⁻² m/s, Geldart classification B Group) were used as the bed material. To distribute compressed air, a bubble cap was used as the distributor. Solid mass flux appeared at 6.2–56.4 kg/m²s and the solid mean residence time appeared 92.5–889.3 s in the steam reactor and 75.3–717.7 s in the fuel reactor. Solid mass flux increased with increasing inlet gas velocity into the loop-seal, temperature and the bed height of the steam reactor. However, the solid mean residence time decreased with increasing inlet gas velocity into the loop-seal and the bed height of the steam reactor.     

Characterization of a porous medium employing numerical tools: Permeability and pressure-drop from Darcy to turbulence

A large set of microscopic flow simulations in the Representative Elementary Volume (REV) of a porous medium formed by staggered square cylinders is presented. For each Reynolds number selected, 10 different porosities are simulated in the 5–95% range. The Reynolds number is varied from Re = 10⁻³ to Re = 10⁵, covering the Stokes flow regime, the laminar flow regime and the turbulence flow regime. Low and moderate Reynolds number flow solutions (Re  200) are achieved by numerically solving the 2D Navier–Stokes equations. Reynolds Averaged Navier–Stokes equations are employed to simulate the turbulence regime. Numerical results allow the investigation of the microscopic features of the flow as a function of the porosity and Reynolds number. Based on these microscopic results, the permeability of the porous medium is computed and a porosity-dependent correlation is developed for this macroscopic parameter. The Darcy–Forchheimer term or, equivalently, the friction factor, is also computed to characterize the porous medium for the complete range of porosity and Reynolds number simulated. The Forchheimer coefficient is found to be weakly dependent on the Reynolds number and strongly dependent on the porosity if the flow is fully turbulent. A porosity-dependent correlation is proposed for this quantity for high Reynolds numbers.