Experimental investigation of twisted tape inserts performance on condensation heat transfer enhancement and pressure drop

A comprehensive experimental investigation is conducted on the augmentation of heat transfer coefficients and pressure drop during condensation of HFC-134a in a horizontal tube at the presence of different twisted tape inserts. The test section is a 1.04 m long double-tube counter-flow heat exchanger. The refrigerant flows in the inner copper and the cooling water flows in annulus. The experiments are performed for a plain tube and four tubes with twisted tapes inserts of 6, 9, 12 and 15 twist ratios. The pressure drop is directly measured by a differential pressure transducer. It is found that the twisted tape with twist ratio of 6 gives the highest enhancement in the heat transfer coefficient and the maximum pressure drop compared to the plain tube on a nominal area basis. For this case the enhancement in heat transfer and the pressure drop are increased by 40 and 240% in comparison with to the plain tube. It is observed that the twisted tape with the twist ratio of 9 has the best performance enhancing the heat transfer with the minimum pressure drop. Also empirical correlations are developed to predict smooth tube and swirl flow pressure drop. Predicted results are compared to experimental data and it is found that these correlations are reliable for pressure drop estimation.     

铝扁管内R410A冷凝传热特性研究

为了探究制冷剂在多孔铝扁管内的冷凝传热特性,采用实验方法对 R410A在多孔铝扁管内的冷凝传 热和压降特性进行了研究。冷凝温度分别为47、40和30℃,单位截面质量流率在200~600kg/(m2·s)。给 出了实验 测 试 结 果,并 采 用 公 开 发 表 的 学 术 文 献 中 的 模 型 与 这 些 实 验 测 试 结 果 进 行 了 对 比。 Müller- Steinhagen和 Heck模型预测压降的精度最高,它预测93.3%测试点的偏差在±20%之内,预测100%测试点 的偏差在±30%之内。Koyama等模型预 测 传 热 系 数 的 精 度 最 高,它 预 测 93.3%测 试 点 的 偏 差 在 ±10%之 内,预测100%测试点的偏差在±20%之内。     

Experimental study on condensation heat transfer enhancement and pressure drop penalty factors in four microfin tubes

Heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of four microfin tubes were experimentally investigated for condensation of refrigerants R134a, R22, and R410A in four different test sections. The microfin tubes examined during this study consisted of 8.92, 6.46, 5.1, and 4 mm maximum inside diameter. The effect of mass flux, vapor quality, and refrigerants on condensation was investigated in terms of the heat transfer enhancement factor and the pressure drop penalty factor. The pressure drop penalty factor and the heat transfer enhancement factor showed a similar tendency for each tube at given vapor quality and mass flux. Based on the experimental data and the heat-momentum analogy, correlations for the condensation heat transfer coefficients in an annular flow regime and the frictional pressure drops are proposed.     

Condensation heat transfer and pressure drop of refrigerant R-410A flow in a vertical plate heat exchanger

Heat transfer and associated frictional pressure drop in the condensing flow of the ozone friendly refrigerant R-410A in a vertical plate heat exchanger (PHE) are investigated experimentally in the present study. In the experiment two vertical counter flow channels are formed in the exchanger by three plates of commercial geometry with a corrugated sinusoidal shape of a chevron angle of 60°. Downflow of the condensing refrigerant R-410A in one channel releases heat to the upflow of cold water in the other channel. The effects of the refrigerant mass flux, imposed heat flux, system pressure (saturated temperature) and mean vapor quality of R-410A on the measured data are explored in detail. The results indicate that the R-410A condensation heat transfer coefficient and associated frictional pressure drop in the PHE increase almost linearly with the mean vapor quality, but the system pressure only exhibits rather slight effects. Furthermore, increases in the refrigerant mass flux and imposed heat flux result in better condensation heat transfer accompanying with a larger frictional pressure drop. Besides, the imposed heat flux exhibits stronger effects on the heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop than the refrigerant mass flux especially at low refrigerant vapor quality. The friction factor is found to be strongly influenced by the refrigerant mass flux and vapor quality, but is almost independent of the imposed heat flux and saturated pressure. Finally, an empirical correlation for the R-410A condensation heat transfer coefficient in the PHE is proposed. In addition, results for the friction factor are correlated against the Boiling number and equivalent Reynolds number of the two-phase condensing flow.     

Comparative study on evaporator heat transfer characteristics of revolving heat pipes filled with R134a, R22 and R410A

Heat pipes are used extensively in various applications including the heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. The high thermal conductivity of the device, attributed from the two-phase heat transfer processes within the heat pipe, made them superior heat exchanger devices. Heat pipes had been widely used in HVAC applications in energy conservation, dehumidification enhancement, heat dissipation, etc. A number of researches have been conducted to expand the applicability of heat pipes in HVAC in Malaysia, especially in air-to-air heat recovery using stationary heat pipes. However, the potential usage of rotating heat pipe in heat recovery in tropical countries like Malaysia was yet to be explored. Hence, the potential of rotating heat pipe in the HVAC systems used in tropics was explored through a parametric study that incorporates rotational speeds, off-axis displacements and varied refrigerants. The rotating heat pipes charged with R134a, R22 and R410A were tested with varied radial displacement from the rotational axis. The straight and leveled heat pipe with the furthest radial displacement yields the most significant heat transfer, which was attributed to the magnitude of the generated centrifugal force, and effective distribution of liquid in the evaporator.     

Numerical investigation of heat transfer and pressure drop in enhanced tubes

This study investigates passive heat transfer enhancement techniques to determine the distribution of temperature and static pressure in test tubes, the friction factor, the heat flux, the temperature difference between the inlet and outlet fluid temperatures, the pressure drop penalty and the numerical convective heat transfer coefficient, and then compares the results to the experimental data of Zdaniuk et al. It predicts the single-phase friction factors for the smooth and enhanced tubes by means of the empirical correlations of Blasius and Zdaniuk et al. This study performed calculations on a smooth tube and two helically finned tubes with different geometric parameters also used in the analyses of Zdaniuk et al. It also performed calculations on two corrugated tubes in the simulation study. In Zdaniuk et al.'s experimental setup, the horizontal test section was a 2.74 m long countercurrent flow double tube heat exchanger with the fluid of water flowing in the inner copper tube (15.57–15.64 mm i.d.) and cooling water flowing in the annulus (31.75 mm i.d.). Their test runs were performed at a temperature around 20 °C for cold water flowing in the annulus while Reynolds numbers ranged from 12,000 to 57,000 for the water flowing in the inner tube. A single-phase numerical model having three-dimensional equations is employed with either constant or temperature dependent properties to study the hydrodynamics and thermal behaviors of the flow. The temperature contours are presented for inlet, outlet and fully developed regions of the tube. The variations of the fluid temperature and static pressure along tube length are shown in the paper. The results obtained from a numerical analysis for the helically tubes were validated by various friction factor correlations, such as those found by Blasius and Zdaniuk et al. Then, numerical results were obtained for the two corrugated tubes as a simulation study. The present study found that the average deviation is less than 5% for the friction factors obtained by the Fluent CFD program while Blasius's correlation has the average deviation of less than 10%. The corrugated tubes have a higher heat transfer coefficient than smooth tubes but a lower coefficient than helically finned tubes. The paper also investigates the pressure drop penalty for the heat transfer enhancement.     

Saturated flow boiling heat transfer and pressure drop of refrigerant R-410A in a vertical plate heat exchanger

Saturated flow boiling heat transfer and the associated frictional pressure drop of the ozone friendly refrigerant R-410A (a mixture of 50 wt% R-32 and 50 wt% R-125) flowing in a vertical plate heat exchanger (PHE) are investigated experimentally in the study. In the experiment two vertical counter flow channels are formed in the exchanger by three plates of commercial geometry with a corrugated sinusoidal shape of a chevron angle of 60°. Upflow boiling of saturated refrigerant R-410A in one channel receives heat from the downflow of hot water in the other channel. The experimental parameters in this study include the refrigerant R-410A mass flux ranging from 50 to 125 kg/m² s and imposed heat flux from 5 to 35 kW/m² for the system pressure fixed at 1.08, 1.25 and 1.44 MPa, which respectively correspond to the saturated temperatures of 10, 15 and 20 °C. The measured data showed that both the boiling heat transfer coefficient and frictional pressure drop increase almost linearly with the imposed heat flux. Furthermore, the refrigerant mass flux exhibits significant effect on the saturated flow boiling heat transfer coefficient only at higher imposed heat flux. For a rise of the refrigerant pressure from 1.08 to 1.44 MPa, the frictional pressure drops are found to be lower to a noticeable degree. However, the refrigerant pressure has very slight influences on the saturated flow boiling heat transfer coefficient. Finally, empirical correlations are proposed to correlate the present data for the saturated boiling heat transfer coefficients and friction factor in terms of the Boiling number and equivalent Reynolds number.     

Experimental investigation of heat transfer and pressure drop in serrated-fin tube bundles with staggered tube layouts

An experimental investigation of the heat transfer and pressure drop performance of ten finned tube bundles using serrated fins is presented. All tube bundles had staggered layouts, and the influence on varying tube bundle layout, tube and fin parameters are presented. The heat transfer coefficient experienced a maximum when the flow areas in the transversal and diagonal planes were equal. An increase in the fin pitch increased the heat transfer coefficient; the same was observed with an increase in fin height. The pressure drop coefficient showed no influence of the tube bundle layout for small pitch ratios, but dropped significantly for higher ratios. Increasing fin pitch reduced the pressure drop, whereas varying fin height had insignificant effect. None of the literature correlations were able to reproduce the experiments for the entire range of tested conditions. A set of correlations were developed, reproducing the experimental data to within ±5% at a confidence interval of 95%.     

Comparison of R407C and R417A heat transfer coefficients and pressure drops during flow boiling in a horizontal smooth tube

The sizing of evaporators for refrigeration and air conditioning applications is essential for good cycle performance. For this reason, accurate knowledge of the heat transfer coefficients and pressures drops of refrigerants is mandatory. In order to identify the best substitute for R22, in this paper, the experimental local heat transfer coefficients and pressure drops during flow boiling of R407C and R417A were compared.

The test section was a smooth, horizontal, stainless steel tube (6.0 mm I.D., 8.0 mm O.D., 6.0 m length) uniformly heated by the Joule effect. The experimental tests were conducted by varying the evaporating pressures within the range from 3.6 to 10.3 bar, heat fluxes within the range from 7.6 to 28.5 kW/m² and refrigerant mass fluxes within the range from 195 to 706 kg/m² s.     

板式换热器传热和阻力特性的实验研究

利用搭建的液-液型板式换热器试验平台,根据实验数据运用定性雷诺数法拟合出传热关联式,找出Nu与摩擦因子f之间的通用关系式,为板式换热器的设计计算提供了依据。运用传热量与功率的消耗比来评价板式换热器的性能,找出了影响其性能的主要因素,进一步澄清了单纯依靠提高流速来增加传热性能是不经济的。     

Experimental evaluation of electronic and thermostatic expansion valves performances using R22 and R407C

An experimental study to evaluate the energetic performances in steady-state and in transient operating modes of an electronic and thermostatic expansion valve is presented. Both valves have been assembled to feed an air cooled evaporator connected to an experimental vapour compression plant with a water cooled condenser operating with a semihermetic compressor. The performances of the valves have been examined at different conditions when the experimental plant works with R22 and with a substitute as the non-azeotropic blend R407C that is chlorine free. Indeed the HCFC designated as R22 contains chlorine that is harmful for the ozone layer and must be replaced in the future. The final results of this study show an overall better performance of the electronic expansion valve compared with the thermostatic expansion valve under transient conditions while in steady-state conditions both the valves are equal in performance. These results apply to both R22 and R407C.     

大管径下R152a冷凝流动与传热特性研究

工质在大管径通道内的流动与传热特性对于有机朗肯循环系统冷凝器设计至关重要。本文实验研究了内径为9 mm的水平光滑管内R152a在质量流速131～306 kg/(m²·s)、饱和温度303～323 K下的冷凝流动与传热特性,在实验数据与传统传热流动关联式对比基础上,对关联式进行了修正。结果表明：R152a冷凝传热系数和摩擦压降梯度在干度、质量流速和饱和温度的影响下呈现相同的变化趋势和变化幅度;质量流速增大对传热的强化作用在高干度区域更加明显;修正后的传热和摩擦压降梯度关联式对实验数据的平均预测偏差分别为5.3%和6.3%,预测精度显著提高。     

Experimental investigation on heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics in a smooth tube with different twisted tape inserts

Experiments are performed to investigate the impact of inserts (TTI, TBI, and TBHI) accompanied by different twist ratios (ie, y/w = 3.69, 4.39, and 5.25) with uniform heat flux condition to study the performance characteristics of pressure drop, rate of heat flow, and heat transfer enhancement. Experiments were carried out on different twisted tape inserts in a turbulent flow regime by choosing suitable Reynolds number between 3100 and 39 000. A plain tube is tested and compared with the empirical correlations and are found to be in good agreement with the experimental data. In the case of twisted tape inserts stronger swirl flow is observed along the length of the tube. The variation of reduction in pressure along the length of tube and heat flux in the form of the friction factor and Nusselt number are represented graphically. Thermal performance factor tends to increase with a decrease in the taper twist ratio. The maximum enhancement in Nusselt number and friction factor was found to be in the case of TBI and TBHI. Experimental results are justified and are found to be reliable and accurate with the analytical results, with ±5% and ±4.2% deviation for Dittus‐Boelter and Petukhov correlation in the case of Nusselt number and ±7.2% deviation, respectively, for loss in the friction.     

Experimental investigation of condensation heat transfer of R600a/POE/CuO nano-refrigerant in flattened tubes

In this study, the effect of addition of copper oxide nanoparticles on condensing heat transfer coefficient of R600a refrigerant flowing in a flat tube condenser has been investigated experimentally. The test setup consists of a pump, condenser test, second condenser, evaporator, heaters, and flow meter. The validation of the study was done by comparing the obtained condensation heat transfer coefficients with different empirical correlations in the literature. Different fluids including pure R600a, R600a-oil with Polyester oil (POE) mass percentage of 1%, and three R600a-oil-nanoparticle mixtures with mass percentages of 0.5%, 1%, and 1.5% were studied experimentally. It was shown that adding nanoparticles will result in 4.1%, 8.11%, and 13.7% average increase in condensing heat transfer coefficient with respect to the R600a-oil mixture. The greatest amount of increase was reported for the weight fraction of 1.5%, where it was observed that the condensing heat transfer coefficient for the mixture passing through the flattened tube is averagely 109.3% higher than its corresponding value for the pure refrigerant flowing in the round tube with the same mass flux. It was also found that an increase in mass flux resulted in an increase the heat transfer coefficient at all vapor qualities.     

Experimental evaluation of the internal heat exchanger influence on a vapour compression plant energy efficiency working with R22, R134a and R407C

Internal or liquid-suction heat exchangers are used in many refrigeration and air conditioning systems based on the vapour compression cycle, with the basic objective of assuring the entrance of refrigerant in liquid phase to the expansion device. This purpose is achieved by exchanging energy between the cool gaseous refrigerant leaving the evaporator and warm liquid refrigerant exiting the condenser. These devices can have positive or negative influences on the plant overall energy efficiency, depending on the working fluid and the operating conditions. In this paper the experimental results obtained from a refrigeration test facility with and without the presence of an internal heat exchanger, using R22, R134a and R407C as working fluids, are presented and analyzed, including the impact of pressure drops and variations of refrigerant mass flow rate. A comparison between experimental and theoretical results is also enclosed.     

Experimental Study on Pool Boiling Heat Transfer for R22, R407c,and R410a on a Horizontal Tube Bundle With Enhanced Tubes

An experimental test rig for study of the pooling-boiling heat transfer performance of pure and mixed refrigerants was designed and established. The test section is a horizontal tube bundle evaporator with nine mechanically fabricated porous surface tubes in a triangular layout. With this test system, the heat transfer coefficients of the nucleate boiling in the evaporator were measured for R22, R407c, and R410a. Extensive experimental measures were made for those pure and mixed refrigerants at different heat fluxes from 10 kW m^?2 to 43 kW m^?2 at saturation temperature of 9°C. Comprehensive measured data are presented in this paper. From experimental results, it is found that the pool boiling heat transfer coefficient increases with increasing the heat flux. It is also found that boiling heat transfer coefficients for R410a are 1.25–1.81 times and 6.33–7.02 times higher than that for R22 and R407c, respectively. The experimental correlations for the pool boiling heat transfer coefficients of R22, R407c, and R410a on the present enhanced tubes bundle are developed. The thermal resistance analysis reveals that the thermal resistance of the water side is a controlling factor for the evaporator for R22 and R410a. However, for R407c, the thermal resistance of the refrigerant side is slightly higher than that of the water side. To further improve the overall heat transfer coefficient in the evaporator of R22 and R410a, the enhancement for both the inside and outside is equally important, and the effectively enhanced boiling surface must be developed for the evaporator of R407c.     

Experimental shell-side heat transfer and pressure drop in gas flow for spiral-wound LNG heat exchanger

A test plant has been constructed for measurements of local heat-transfer coefficients and frictional pressure drops on the shell side of spiral-wound LNG heat exchangers. Measurements have been performed with gas flow, liquid film flow and two-phase shear flow. This paper focuses on the measurements and the results from the gas flow measurements. 221 gas flow heat-transfer measurements and 80 gas flow frictional pressure drop measurements have been performed at a Re-number range of 5000-170 000 with nitrogen, methane, ethane and methane/ethane mixture as test fluids.     

Vapor pressure of R-410A/oil and R-407C/oil mixtures

An experimental study was carried out to examine the vapor pressure of R-410A and R-407C in the presence of lubricant oil. The grades of the tested lubricants are ISO-32 and ISO-100. For R-410A refrigerant, the vapor pressure decreases with the increase of oil concentration. In addition, it is found that there are no significant changes of vapor pressures for the presence of lubricant oils for T_s⩽25°C. For R-407C refrigerant, the change of vapor pressure with oil concentration is comparatively small. It is likely that this phenomenon is related to the zeotropic nature of R-407C.     

Experimental and numerical investigation of thermophysical properties,heat transfer and pressure drop of covalent and noncovalent functionalized graphene nanoplatelet-based water nanofluids in an annular heat exchanger

The new design of heat exchangers utilizing an annular distributor opens a new gateway for realizing higher energy optimization. To realize this goal, graphene nanoplatelet-based water nanofluids with promising thermophysical properties were synthesized in the presence of covalent and noncovalent functionalization. Thermal conductivity, density, viscosity and specific heat capacity were investigated and employed as a raw data for ANSYS-Fluent to be used in two-phase approach. After validation of obtained results by analytical equations, two special parameters of convective heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop were investigated. The study followed by studying other heat transfer parameters of annular pass in the presence of graphene nanopleteles-based water nanofluids at different weight concentrations, input powers and temperatures. As a result, Nusselt number profiles and friction factor are measured for both synthesized nanofluids.