A simple method for prediction of chilling times: extension to three-dimensional irregular shapes

The extension of a previously published empirical chilling time prediction method to three-dimensional irregular shapes was investigated. The real geometric shapes were related to equivalent ellipsoids using simple geometric measurements. Chilling time estimates were made using two shape-dependent parameters in conjunction with the first term in the series-analytical solution for convective cooling of a sphere. Experiments for eight geometric shapes (21 runs) were used to validate the model for thermal centre temperature predictions. The accuracy of the model for predicting mass-average temperatures of irregular shapes was not tested. Accurate chilling time prediction by a method employing only simple algebraic expressions is now possible for objects of any shape.     

Neutron radiography study of pulsed boiling in a water-filled heat pipe

The boiling and condensation processes in a water-filled industrial heat pipe have been investigated by dynamic neutron radiography. Pulsed boiling was visualized and analysed up to a characteristic temperature depending on the filling quantity. Three typical regions were distinguished in the heat pipe: that constantly filled by the liquid; a periodically wetted zone; and a region constantly filled by the vapour. Pulsation was found to be not strictly periodic and its mean amplitude and frequency were determined. It is concluded that any models based on the equilibrium state are incorrect.     

Measuring the convective heat transfer coefficient while chilling carcasses

The importance of the heat transfer coefficient when chilling carcasses justifies its re-examination and work to its magnitude and variation. While the air velocity at the surface of carcass (with its rather irregular configuration) is an elusive quantity, the author demonstrates that the measurement of the transfer coefficient and its variation should be based on the rate of air flow over unit mass of carcass and on the rate of weight loss through evaporation.     

Distributed and non-steady-state modelling of an air cooler

The refrigerant flow inside the coils of a dry expansion plate-finned air cooler can be distinguished into two completely different types: two-phase flow and single-phase flow. The most difficult part of non-steady-state modelling of an air cooler is to describe the liquid and vapour mass transport phenomena occurring in the two-phase flow region, as this determines the boundary position between the two regions and then the superheat temperature, which is in turn the feedback signal of the thermostatic expansion valve. In fact, the mass transport is mainly governed by the momentum exchange between refrigerant liquid and vapour, which is usually called slip-effect. Because the momentum or force equilibrium is so fast compared to the thermal equilibrium, the slip-effect can be considered as a steady-state phenomenon. With this assumption, the mass transport in an air cooler can be described by using a simple propagation equation. The steady-state slip-effect, however, is found by solving the momentum equations for one-dimensional two-phase flow using advanced computer packages such as . This paper presents the derivation of the equations in non-steady-state modelling of an air cooler as well as the results obtained from the model. Because the model is purely distributed, it is applicable to various kinds of tube circuit arrangements of air coolers. The purpose of the model is studying and optimization of non-steady-state behaviour of refrigerating systems with capacity control.     

Predicting heat pump performance by thermodynamic generalizations of fluid flow and heat transfer data

Thermodynamic generalizations based on reduced pressure proposed in the 1960s are reviewed and updated to reflect the current state of the art. The application of the method is illustrated by analytical and numerical examples and an assessment made of its value in heat exchanger design practice with special emphasis on two-phase forced convection refrigeration cycle applications. It is shown that this thermodynamic approach provides the heat exchanger designer, and to some extent the system engineer with an additional tool which is simple, effective and above all more reliable, particularly in evaporator and condenser design practice, than current conventional semi-empirical correlations.     

Design and operating characteristics of evaporative cooling systems

Evaporative cooling systems are commonly used in countries where the climate is hot and dry, as found in most zones of India and Australia. The potential energy savings envisaged by replacing conventional refrigerated systems by evaporative systems is ≈75%. Indirect systems can achieve comfort conditions similar to refrigerated systems in climatic zones where the wet bulb temperature is usually <25°C. The comfort afforded by indirect evaporative systems is superior to that achieved by direct evaporative systems. An 8.5 ton indirect-direct evaporative cooling system has been fabricated and tested and its performance compared with a computer prediction. The system's scope for use in India and Australia is analysed.     

Thermal design calculations for food freezing equipment--past, present and future

The literature on methods for thermal design of food freezing equipment is reviewed with emphasis on two questions: what do those who design, build and commission freezers most need from researchers in terms of improved design calculation methods, and what are the most limiting factors in determining whether a particular freezer design will satisfactorily freeze the product at the required throughput rate? Freezing time prediction methods have been significantly improved over the last two decades and are now infrequently the factor most limiting accurate design. There is a much greater need for more accurate thermophysical properties and better information on heat transfer coefficients for a variety of practical situations. The failure of many industrial freezers to deliver the design conditions to product in all parts of the freezer is also important. Future research should address the full range of factors limiting accurate freezer design, which may mean less emphasis on freezing time prediction.

Résumé

La littérature concernant la conception thermique des congélateurs industriels est passée en revue et l'accent est mis sur deux aspects: qu'est ce que les concepteurs, les fabricants et les installateurs attendent le plus des chercheurs en termes d'amélioration des méthodes de calculs de conception, et quels sont les facteurs dans la conception d'un congélateur qui exercent la plus grande influence sur la performance, c'est à dire qui déterminent si une conception donnée va permettre de congeler un produit à la vitesse voulue? Pendant les deux dernières décennies, on a amélioré de façon significative les méthodes qui prédisent le temps de congélation, et de nos jours, ces méthodes sont rarement le facteur qui limite le plus la conception précise. On a nettement plus besoin de précision sur les propriétés thermophysiques et les coefficients de transfert de chaleur pour différentes situations. Il est important de savoir que beaucoup de congélateurs industriels n'arrivent pas à reproduire les performances prévues lors de leur conception en tout point de l'appareil. Dans l'avenir, la recherche devrait être axée sur tous les facteurs limitant la conception précise des congélateurs, quitte à mettre moins l'accent sur la prédiction du temps de congélation.     

Design considerations for refrigeration cycles

The Carnot COP, which assumes a thermodynamically ideal cycle in which no irreversibilities exist, is often considered to be a design goal for actual cycles. However, the Carnot COP does not consider heat transfer mechanisms. Heat transfer at a finite rate is necessarily an irreversible process and unavoidable in a refrigeration cycle. The lack of consideration of rate processes reduces the usefulness of the Carnot COP as a realistic design goal. In this paper, the limitations of both thermodynamics and heat transfer are considered to identify a more realistic design goal for the COP of refrigeration cycles. The consideration of heat transfer limitations leads to a design rule for the optimum distribution of heat exchange area between the low- and high-temperature heat exchangers.     

Thermal uniformity and rapid cooling inside refrigerators

The authors developed a new air-supply system for improving the thermal uniformity and the cooling rate inside a fresh food cabinet of a household refrigerator. For these purposes, we added a blower and jet slots to a conventional cooled air supply system. The jet slots circulate the air inside the cabinet at a higher velocity to optimize airflow velocity and its distribution. The jet stirs the air inside the cabinet and improves thermal uniformity, which resulted in half the temperature deviation in the cabinet as that of the conventional systems. The jet also improves the heat transfer on the surface of foods. We achieved a four times higher cooling rate with the new system than that with the conventional ones. In order to cut down the development period, we applied computational fluid dynamics to study air distribution inside the cabinet with the new system. We also derived the model of the cooling process by the jet using theoretical and empirical equations and applied it to decide the jet velocity for the rapid cooling.     

Radiation and natural convection heat transfer from wire-and-tube heat exchangers in refrigeration appliances

The air-side heat transfer from wire-and-tube heat exchangers of the kind widely used in small refrigeration appliances has been studied. Radiation and free-convection components have been separately investigated. The radiation component was theoretically computed using a diffuse, gray-body network with interactions between each part of the heat exchanger and the surroundings. For the free-convection heat transfer component, a semiempirical correlation was developed on the basis of experimental tests conducted on a set of 42 low-emittance exchangers with various geometrical characteristics. Comparisons between overall heat transfer predictions and a second, independent set of experiments on eight high-emittance exchangers showed satisfactory agreement. The proposed analysis is suitable either to determine the heat transfer performance of an existing (already sized) exchanger or to design a new one for prescribed heat duty and working temperatures.     

A method for evaluating the heat and mass transfer characteristics in a reversibly used water cooling tower (RUWCT) for heat recovery

In sub-tropical regions, a standard water cooling tower may be reversibly used, as part of a desuperheater heat recovery system for service hot water heating, to extract free heat from ambient air in colder seasons when building cooling load is reduced. Chilled water is pumped into a reversibly used water cooling tower (RUWCT) where it is heated by warmer ambient moist air. This paper presents a method by which the heat and mass transfer characteristics in a counter-flow RUWCT can be evaluated. The method is developed by introducing to the Merkel's equation for standard water cooling towers the revisions that account for the differences in heat and mass transfer characteristics between a water cooling tower and a RUWCT. Field experimental results from a RUWCT installed in a sub-tropical region in China indicated that the method developed could be used to evaluate the thermal performance of a RUWCT with an acceptable accuracy.     

Absorption of water vapour into falling films of aqueous lithium bromide

In this study, experiments have been performed for water vapour absorption into 50 and 60 mass% aqueous lithium bromide solution films flowing down a vertical surface to investigate the effects of liquid diffusivity values, molecular properties of the concentrated solutions and non-absorbable gases. The experimental results for wavy films over a film Reynolds number range of 15–90 indicate larger dimensionless mass transfer rates than for strictly laminar flow when the diffusivity of water in a concentrated lithium bromide solution is less than that in a dilute solution. The complete set of results shows that the physical property data for lithium bromide solutions including the diffusivities measured by Kashiwagi are sufficient to explain mass transfer behavior.     

A simple method for prediction of heating and cooling cooling in solids of various shapes

Methods for prediction of temperature-time profiles in solids undergoing heating or cooling are examined. Because physical data are often uncertain a prediction method that is accurate to ±10% is adequate in many situations. A procedure is proposed that meets this criterion, is simple to use, and is applicable to a wide range of regular and irregular shapes. The method introduces a concept of the number of equivalent heat transfer dimensions to take account of the solid's geometry. Alignment charts can then be used to find the centre temperature of a body as a function of time and the external heat transfer conditions.     

Condensation of downward-flowing HFC134a in a staggered bundle of horizontal finned tubes: effect of fin geometry

Experimental results are presented that show the effect of fin geometry on condensation of refrigerant HFC134a in a staggered bundle of horizontal finned tubes. Two types of conventional low-fin tubes and three types of three-dimensional fin tubes were tested. The refrigerant mass velocity ranged from 8 to 23 kg/m²s and the condensation temperature difference from 1.5 to 12 K. The effect of condensate inundation was more significant for the three-dimensional fin tubes than for the low-fin tubes. In most cases, the highest performance was obtained by the tube with a three-dimensional structure at the tip of low fins. In the case of high mass velocity and high condensate inundation rate, however, the highest performance was obtained by one of the low-fin tubes. The results were compared with previous results for bundles of smooth tubes and low-fin tubes.     

A general dynamic simulation model for evaporators and condensers in refrigeration. Part II: simulation and control of an evaporator

A mathematical model of an evaporator based on one-dimensional partial differential equations representing mass conservation, and tube wall energy has been formulated. These equations are then restructured and linked to a program data base of all major refrigerants and refrigerant mixtures. The result is a simulation model of an evaporator that is general and flexible. The model is tested over a wide range of operating conditions and a simple controller is implemented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the model for controller and systems design.

Résumé

On a établi un modèle mathématique d'un évaporateur basé sur des équations aux dérivés partielles unidimensionnelles qui représentent la conservation de masse et l'énergie de la paroi du tube. Ces équations ont été restructurées ensuite, puis reliées à une base de données sur les principaux frigorigènes purs et en mélanges. De cette manière, on obtient un modèle d'évaporateur d'application générale et souple. Ce modèle a été éprouvé dans des conditions de fonctionnement très variées et on a employé un système de régulation simple pour montrer l'efficacité du modèle pour la conception et la régulation des systèmes.     

An experimental study on heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of carbon dioxide during gas cooling process in a horizontal tube

The heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop during gas cooling process of CO₂ (R744) in a horizontal tube were investigated experimentally. The experiments are conducted without oil in the refrigerant loop. The main components of the refrigerant loop are a receiver, a variable-speed pump, a mass flow meter, a pre-heater and a gas cooler (test section). The water loop consists of a variable speed pump, an isothermal tank, and a flow meter. The refrigerant, circulated by the variable-speed pump, condenses in the inner tube while water flows in the annulus. The gas cooler of tube diameter is 6000 mm in length, and it is divided into 12 subsections.The pressure drop of CO₂ in the gas cooler shows a relatively good agreement with those predicted by Blasius's correlation. The local heat transfer coefficient of CO₂ agrees well with the correlation by Bringer–Smith. However, at the region near Pseudo-critical temperature, the experiments indicate higher values than the Bringer–Smith correlation. Based on the experimental data presented in this paper, a new correlation to predict the heat transfer coefficient of supercritical CO₂ during in-tube cooling has been developed. The majority of the experimental values are within 18% of the values predicted by the new correlation.     

Critical review of available correlations for two-phase flow heat transfer of ammonia

Although ammonia has been used for decades as a refrigerant of choice for selected large- and small-scale applications, no formal database is available on heat transfer of ammonia. A critical review of the published literature on heat transfer of ammonia is provided in this paper. The available correlations for in-tube and external boiling/evaporation and condensation heat transfer of ammonia are discussed and evaluated where possible. Supported by the findings of this effort, research areas of relevance that can contribute to expanded use of ammonia as an environmentally friendly refrigerant are suggested.     

Prediction of evaporation heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop of refrigerant mixtures in horizontal tubes

A study on the prediction of heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop of refrigerant mixtures is reported. Heat transfer coefficients and pressure drops of prospective mixtures to replace R12 and R22 are predicted on the same cooling capacity basis assuming evaporation in horizontal tubes. Results indicate that nucleate boiling is suppressed at qualities greater than 20% for all mixtures, and evaporation becomes the main heat transfer mechanism. For the same capacity, some mixtures containing R32 and R152a show 8–10% increase in heat transfer coefficients. Some mixtures with large volatility difference exhibit as much as 55% reduction compared to R12 and R22, caused by mass transfer resistance and property degradation due to mixing (32%) and reduced mass flow rates (23%). Other mixtures with moderate volatility difference exhibit 20–30% degradation due mainly to reduced mass flow rates. The overall impact of heat transfer degradation, however, is insignificant if major heat transfer resistance exists in the heat transfer fluid side (air system). If the resistance in the heat transfer fluid side is of the same order of magnitude as that on the refrigerant side (water system), considerable reduction in overall heat transfer coefficient of up to 20% is expected. A study of the effect of uncertainties in transport properties on heat transfer shows that transport properties of liquid affect heat transfer more than other properties. Uncertainty of 10% in transport properties causes a change of less than 6% in heat transfer prediction.