Critical heat flux performance for flow boiling of R-134a in vertical uniformly heated smooth tube and rifled tubes

In the present paper, critical heat flux (CHF) experiments for flow boiling of R-134a were performed to investigate the CHF characteristics of four-head and six-head rifled tubes in comparison with a smooth tube. Both of rifled tubes having different head geometry have the maximum inner diameter of 17.04 mm while the smooth tube has the average inner diameter of 17.04 mm. The experiments were conducted for the vertical orientation under outlet pressures of 13, 16.5, and 23.9 bar, mass fluxes of 285-1300 kg/m²s and inlet subcooling temperatures of 5-40 °C in the R-134a CHF test loop. The parametric trends of CHF for the tubes show a good agreement with previous understanding. In particular, CHF data of the smooth tube for R-134a were compared with well-known CHF correlations such as Bowring and Katto correlations. The CHF in the rifled tube was enhanced to 40-60% for the CHF in the smooth tube with depending on the rifled geometry and flow parameters such as pressure and mass flux. In relation to the enhancement mechanism, the relative vapor velocity is used to explain the characteristics of the CHF performance in the rifled tube.     

New proposed two-phase multiplier and evaporation heat transfer coefficient correlations for R134a flowing at low mass flux in a multiport minichannel

New correlations of the two-phase multiplier and heat transfer coefficient of R134a during evaporation in a multiport minichannel at low mass flux are proposed. The experimental results were obtained from a test using a counter-flow tube-in-tube heat exchanger with refrigerant flowing in the inner tube and hot water in the gap between the outer and inner tubes. Test section is composed of the extruded multiport aluminium inner tube with an internal hydraulic diameter of 1.2 mm and an acrylic outer tube with an internal hydraulic diameter of 25.4 mm. The experiments were performed at heat fluxes between 10 and 35 kW/m², and a refrigerant mass flux between 45 and 155 kg/(m² s). Some physical parameters that influenced the frictional pressure drop and heat transfer coefficient are examined and discussed in detail. The pressure drop and heat transfer coefficient results are also compared with existing correlations. Finally, new correlations for predicting the frictional pressure drop and heat transfer coefficient at low mass fluxes are proposed.     

Evaporative characteristics of R-134a and R-600a in horizontal tubes with perforated strip-type inserts

Experimental heat transfer coefficients for R-134a and R-600a in horizontal tubes with vertically positioned perforated strip-type inserts are reported in this paper. Tests were conducted using a single-tube evaporator test facility. The test section used was 2000 mm long, 10.6 mm inside diameter, horizontal, smooth copper tube with perforated strip-type inserts made from the same material (copper). Test parameters were varied as follows: heat flux 9.1-31.2 kW/m²; mass velocity 82.3-603.3 kg/m² s; quality 0-0.85, and a saturation temperature of 6 °C. The flow pattern were identified for different test tubes and flow conditions. The heat transfer coefficients for R-600a were higher than those for R-134a. The heat transfer performance and pressure drop can be improved up to 2.5 and 1.5, respectively for a 96 perforated holes enhanced tube. All comparisons were based on the same nominal mass flow rate. Finally, an empirical correlation was developed.     

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.     

Correlation of Evaporation Heat Transfer Inside 8.8 mm and 7.14 mm Horizontal Round Micro-Fin Tubes

Experimental investigations of evaporation heat transfer of R22 and R410A inside a horizontal micro-fin copper tube have been conducted and are reported here. Six micro-fin tubes with inner diameter of 7.14 mm and three micro-fin tubes with inner diameter of 8.8 mm but with different geometric parameters, such as the apex angle, the helical angle, fin height, fin pitch, and starts were tested. The evaporation experiments were taken at a constant temperature of 6°C. Moreover, working conditions of the experiments varied with the mass flux ranging from 100 kg/(m².s) to 400 kg/(m².s). For the evaporation experiments of Tube 1 – Tube 6 with R22, the inlet and outlet vapor quality is set as 0.1 and 0.9, respectively. For the evaporation experiments of Tube 7 – Tube 9 with R410A, the inlet and outlet vapor quality is set as 0.2 and 0.9, respectively. The heat transfer coefficients and the changing trend of the heat transfer coefficients vary among these tubes. The influence of each geometric parameter on the heat transfer performance of the micro-fin tube has been analyzed and is reported. Besides, correlations of evaporation heat transfer inside 8.8 mm or less horizontal round micro-fin tubes were developed.     

Numerical simulation and performance analysis of horizontal-tube falling-film evaporators in seawater desalination

A comprehensive distributed parameter model for simulating the steady-state performance of a practical horizontal-tube falling-film evaporator has been developed and validated. This model is capable of predicting the distributions of thermal parameters in the tube-side and shell-side, which provide important information of heat and mass exchange processes. The fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics in tubes are analyzed in detail. The computational time is reduced significantly in comparison with the Computational Fluid Dynamics. Based on the numerical results, it is found that the steam is not evenly distributed in the horizontal tubes of each tube pass, which is favorable for parallel channels with uneven heat fluxes. The mass and heat flux of steam are mutually matched, indicating that the self-compensation characteristic appears among the tubes. In addition, the overall heat transfer coefficient reaches the maximum value of about 3300 W/m² K at the entrance region of each tube pass, and then decreases gradually along the flow direction. As liquid film falls downward from tube to tube, the liquid flow rate of seawater continually decreases from 0.063 kg/ms to 0.04 kg/ms with the corresponding salinity gradually increasing from 36 g/kg to 56 g/kg.     

Two-phase friction factor in vertical downward flow in high mass flux region of refrigerant HFC-134a during condensation

The two-phase pressure drop of the pure refrigerant HFC-134a during condensation inside a vertical tube-in-tube heat exchanger was investigated. The double tube test section was 0.5 m long with refrigerant flowing in the inner tube and cooling water flowing in the annulus. The inner tube was constructed from smooth copper tubing of 8.1 mm inner diameter and 9.52 mm outer diameter. The test runs were performed at average condensing temperatures of 40–50 °C. The mass fluxes were between 260 and 515 kg m^− 2 s^− 1 and the heat fluxes between 11.3 and 55.3 kW m^− 2. The quality of the refrigerant in the test section was calculated using the temperature and pressure obtained from the experiment. The pressure drop across the test section was directly measured by a differential pressure transducer. A new correlation for the two-phase friction factor of R134a flow is proposed by means of the equivalent Reynolds number model. The effects of heat flux, mass flux and condensation temperature on the pressure drop are also discussed.     

Nucleate pool boiling heat transfer over a bundle of vertical tubes

An experimental investigation has been carried out to determine the heat transfer coefficient during pool boiling of water over a bundle of vertical stainless steel heated tubes of 19.0 mm diameter and 850 mm height. The p/D of bundle was 1.66 and was placed inside a glass tube of 100 mm diameter and 900 mm length. The data were acquired for the heat flux range of 2–32 kWm^− 2.     

Saturated flow boiling heat transfer and critical heat flux in small horizontal flattened tubes

This paper presents experimental results for flow boiling heat transfer coefficient and critical heat flux (CHF) in small flattened tubes. The tested flattened tubes have the same equivalent internal diameter of 2.2 mm, but different aspect height/width ratios (H/W) of ¼, ½, 2 and 4. The experimental data were compared against results for circular tubes using R134a and R245fa as working fluids at a nominal saturation temperature of 31 °C. For mass velocities higher than 200 kg/m²s, the flattened and circular tubes presented similar heat transfer coefficients. Such a behavior is related to the fact that stratification effects are negligible under conditions of higher mass velocities. Heat transfer correlations from the literature, usually developed using only circular-channel experimental data, predicted the flattened tube results for mass velocities higher than 200 kg/m²s with mean absolute error lower than 20% using the equivalent diameter to account for the geometry effect. Similarly, the critical heat flux results were found to be independent of the tube aspect ratio when the same equivalent length was kept. Equivalent length is a new parameter which takes into account the channel heat transfer area. The CHF correlations for round tubes predicted the flattened tube data relatively well when using the equivalent diameter and length. Furthermore, a new proposed CHF correlation predicted the present flattened tube data with a mean absolute error of 5%.     

Experimental study on condensation and evaporation flow inside horizontal three dimensional enhanced tubes

Experimental investigations of tube side condensation and evaporation in two 3-D enhanced heat transfer (2EHT) tubes were compared to the performance of a smooth surface copper tube. The equivalent outer diameter of all the tubes was 12.7 mm with an inner diameter of 11.5 mm. Both the inner and outer surfaces of the 2EHT tubes are enhanced by longitudinal grooves with a background pattern made up by an array of dimples/embossments. Experimental runs were performed using R410A as the working fluid, over the quality range of 0.2–0.9. For evaporation, the heat transfer coefficient ratio (compares the heat transfer coefficient of the enhanced tube to that of a smooth tube) of the 2EHT tubes is 1.11–1.43 (with an enhanced surface area ratio of 1.03) for mass flux rate that ranges from 80 to 200 kg/m² s. For condensation, the heat transfer coefficient ratio range is 1.1–1.16 (with an enhanced surface area ratio of 1.03) for mass flux that ranges from 80 to 260 kg/m² s. Frictional pressure drop values for the 2EHT tubes are very similar to each other. Heat transfer enhancement in the 2EHT tubes is mainly due to the dimples and grooves in the inner surface that create an increased surface area and interfacial turbulence; producing higher heat flux from wall to working fluid, flow separation, and secondary flows. A comparison was performed to evaluate the enhancement effect of the 2EHT tubes using a defined performance factor and this indicates that the 2EHT tubes provides a better heat transfer coefficient under evaporation conditions.     

Convective boiling heat transfer characteristics of CO2 in microchannels

Convective boiling heat transfer coefficients and dryout phenomena of CO₂ are investigated in rectangular microchannels whose hydraulic diameters range from 1.08 to 1.54 mm. The tests are conducted by varying the mass flux of CO₂ from 200 to 400 kg/m² s, heat flux from 10 to 20 kW/m², while maintaining saturation temperature at 0, 5 and 10 °C. Test results show that the average heat transfer coefficient of CO₂ is 53% higher than that of R134a. The effects of heat flux on the heat transfer coefficient are much significant than those of mass flux. As the mass flux increases, dryout becomes more pronounced. As the hydraulic diameter decreases from 1.54 to 1.27 mm and from 1.27 to 1.08 mm at a heat flux of 15 kW/m² and a mass flux of 300 kg/m² s, the heat transfer coefficients increase by 5% and 31%, respectively. Based on the comparison of the data from the existing models with the present data, the Cooper model and the Gorenflo model yield relatively good predictions of the measured data with mean deviations between predicted and measured data of 21.7% and 21.2%, respectively.     

Experimental study of the thermal hydraulic performance of sub-cooled refrigerants flowing in smooth,micro-fin and herringbone tubes

The present paper reports an investigation of the thermo-hydraulic performance of two standard microfin tubes with different number of fins and a herringbone microfin tube. As a reference for comparison purposes a smooth tube of equal external diameter and wall thickness has been tested for similar operational conditions. Copper tubes of 9.52 mm external diameter, electrically heated, have been used in the investigation. Most of the reported data has been gathered with refrigerant R134a though refrigerant R22 was also used in some of the tests with both the smooth and one of the standard microfin tubes. The test tube entrance state of the working fluid was kept constant at a temperature of the order of −2.5 °C and a pressure of 500 kPa, whereas its mass velocity varied in the range between 100 kg/s m² and 1350 kg/s m². It has been found that the thermal performance of the herringbone tube is superior to that of the two standard microfin tubes though the pressure drop obtained with the former is clearly higher. All the microfin tubes present significant heat transfer enhancement with respect to the smooth tube. According to the present results, the enhancement ratio of the microfin tubes attains an asymptotic value for Reynolds numbers of the order of 20,000, the herringbone tube presenting the higher asymptotic value. A figure of merit parameter has been introduced to qualify each of the microfin tubes tested, with the both standard microfin tubes being the best qualified with respect to the herringbone one, especially for applications that operate at the intermediate Reynolds numbers range.     

Subcooled flow boiling heat transfer in narrow passages

Subcooled flow boiling heat transfer coefficients for refrigerants R11 and HCFC123 in smooth copper tubes of small diameter have been investigated experimentally. The parameter ranges examined are: tube diameters of 0.92 and 1.95 mm; heat fluxes 11-170 kW m⁻²; mass fluxes 110-1840 kg m⁻² s⁻¹. The range of liquid Reynolds numbers encompassed by the data set is 450 to 12,000.The data in the subcooled and saturated regions are well represented by the simple addition of convective and nucleate boiling heat transfer contributions

     

Experimental investigation of heat transfer coefficient of R134a during condensation in vertical downward flow at high mass flux in a smooth tube

The two-phase heat transfer coefficients of pure HFC-134a condensing inside a smooth tube-in-tube heat exchanger are experimentally investigated. The test section is a 0.5 m long double tube with refrigerant flowing in the inner tube and cooling water flowing in the annulus. The inner tube is constructed from smooth copper tubing of 9.52 mm outer diameter and 8.1 mm inner diameter. The test runs are performed at average saturation condensing temperatures between 40–50 °C. The mass fluxes are between 260 and 515 kg m^− 2s^− 1 and the heat fluxes are between 11.3 and 55.3 kW m^− 2. The quality of the refrigerant in the test section is calculated using the temperature and pressure obtained from the experiment. The average heat transfer coefficient of the refrigerant is determined by applying an energy balance based on the energy transferred from the test section. The effects of heat flux, mass flux and condensation temperature on the heat transfer coefficients are also discussed. Eleven well-known correlations for annular flow are compared to each other using a large amount of data obtained from various experimental conditions. A new correlation for the condensation heat transfer coefficient is proposed for practical applications.     

Size optimization of a PV/wind hybrid energy conversion system with battery storage using response surface methodology

This paper aims to show the use of the response surface methodology (RSM) in size optimization of an autonomous PV/wind integrated hybrid energy system with battery storage. RSM is a collection of statistical and mathematical methods which relies on optimization of response surface with design parameters. In this study, the response surface, output performance measure, is the hybrid system cost, and the design parameters are the PV size, wind turbine rotor swept area and the battery capacity. The case study is realized in ARENA 10.0, a commercial simulation software, for satisfaction of electricity consumption of the global system for mobile communications (GSM) base station at Izmir Institute of Technology Campus Area, Urla, Turkey. As a result, the optimum PV area, wind turbine rotor swept area, and battery capacity are obtained to be 3.95 m², 29.4 m², 31.92 kWh, respectively. These results led to $37,033.9 hybrid energy system cost, including auxiliary energy cost. The optimum result obtained by RSM is confirmed using loss of load probability (LLP) and autonomy analysis.     

An experimental study of heat transfer to turbulent separation fluid flow in an annular passage

The effect of step height on heat transfer to a radially outward expanded air flow stream in a concentric annular passage was studied experimentally. Separation, subsequent reattachment and developed air flow occurred in the test section at a constant heat flux boundary condition. The experimental investigation was focused on the effect of separation flow on the local and average convection heat transfer. The experimental set-up consists of concentric tubes to form annular passage with a sudden reduction in passage cross-section created by the variations of outer tube diameter at the annular entrance section (D). The outer tube of test section was made of aluminium having 83 mm inside diameter and 600 mm heated length, which was subjected to a constant wall heat flux boundary condition. The investigation was performed in a Re range of 17050-44545, heat flux varied from 719 W/m² to 2098 W/m² and the enhancement of step heights were, s = 0 (without step), 6 mm, 14.5 mm and 18.5 mm, which refer to d/D = 1, 1.16, 1.53 and 1.80, respectively.For all cases, an increase in the local heat transfer coefficient was obtained against enhanced heat flux and or Re. The effect of step variation is prominent in heat transfer at the separation region which increases with the rise of step height and it shows a little effect in the redevelopment region. In the separation region, the local heat transfer coefficient increases up to the maximum value at the reattachment point and then decreases gradually in the redevelopment region. The results have been correlated and compared with forced convection heat transfer in annular passage and show a maximum enhancement of 18% (S_max = 18.5 mm) within the range of step height. The present results show good agreement with previous works and have followed similar trends.     

Internal thermal coupling in direct-flow coaxial vacuum tube collectors

This investigation covers the impact of low flow rates on the efficiency of coaxial vacuum tube collectors. Measurements show an efficiency reduction of 10% if reducing the flow rate from 78 kg/m² h to 31 kg/m² h for a collector group with 60 parallel vacuum tubes with a coaxial flow conduit at one-sided connection. For a more profound understanding a model of the coaxial tube was developed which defines the main energy fluxes including the internal thermal coupling. The tube simulations show a non-linear temperature profile along the tube with the maximum temperature in the outer pipe. Due to heat transfer to the entering flow this maximum is not located at the fluid outlet. The non-linearity increases with decreasing flow rates. The experimentally determined flow distribution allows simulating the measured collector array. The simulation results confirm the efficiency decrease at low flow rates. The flow distribution has a further impact on efficiency reduction, but even at an ideal uniform flow, a considerable efficiency reduction at low flow rates is to be expected. As a consequence, low flow rates should be prevented for coaxial tube collectors, thus restricting the possible operation conditions. The effect of constructional modifications like diameter or material variations is presented. Finally the additional impact of a coaxial manifold design is discussed.     

The Effect of Tube Flattening on Flow Boiling Heat Transfer Enhancement

The present study investigated the effect of smooth tube flattening on heat transfer enhancement in an evaporator. The tubes with internal diameter of 8.7 mm were flattened into an oblong shape with different inside heights. The test setup was basically a vapor compression refrigeration system equipped with all necessary measuring instruments. Refrigerant R-134a flowing inside the tube was heated by an electrical coil heater wrapped around it. The ranges of mass velocities were from 74 to 106 kg/m²-s and vapor quality varied from 25% to 95%. Analysis of the collected data indicated that the heat transfer coefficient elevates by increasing the mass velocity and vapor quality in flattened tubes just like the round tube. The flow boiling heat transfer coefficient increases when the flattened tube is used instead of the round tube. The highest heat transfer coefficient enhancement of 172% was achieved for the tube with the lowest inside height at mass velocity of 106 kg/m²-s and vapor quality of 85%. Finally, based on the present experimental results, a correlation was developed to predict the heat transfer coefficient in flattened tubes.     

Experimental analysis for the determination of the convective heat transfer coefficient by measuring pressure drop directly during annular condensation flow of R134a in a vertical smooth tube

This study investigated the direct relationship between the measured condensation pressure drop and convective heat transfer coefficient of R134a flowing downward inside a vertical smooth copper tube having an inner diameter of 8.1 mm and a length of 500 mm during annular flow. R134a and water were used as working fluids on the tube side and annular side of a double tube heat exchanger, respectively. Condensation experiments were performed at mass fluxes of 260, 300, 340, 400, 456 and 515 kg m⁻² s⁻¹ in the high mass flux region of R134a. The condensing temperatures were around 40 and 50 °C; the heat fluxes were between 10.16 and 66.61 kW m⁻². Paliwoda’s analysis, which focused mainly on the determination of the two-phase flow factor and two-phase length of evaporators and condensers, was adapted to the in-tube condensation phenomena in the test section to determine the condensation heat transfer coefficient, heat flux, two-phase length and pressure drop experimentally by means of a large number of data points obtained under various experimental conditions.