In-tube passive heat transfer enhancement in the process industry

Enhanced heat transfer surfaces are used in heat exchangers to improve performance and to decrease system volume and cost. In-tube heat transfer enhancement usually takes the form of either micro-fin tubes (of the helical micro-fin or herringbone varieties), or of helical wire inserts. Despite a substantial increase in heat transfer, these devices also cause non-negligible pressure drops.By making use of well-proven flow pattern maps for smooth tubes and the new ones for smooth and enhanced tubes, it is shown from the refrigerant condensation data that flow patterns have a strong influence on heat transfer and pressure drop. This is done for data obtained from in-tube condensation experiments for mass fluxes ranging from 300 to 800 kg/m² s at a saturation temperature of 40 °C, for refrigerants R-22, R-134a, and R-407C. The flow regimes, pressure drops, heat transfer coefficients, and the overall performance of three different tubes, namely a smooth-, 18° helical micro-fin-, and a herringbone micro-fin tube (each having a nominal diameter of 9.51 mm), are presented and compared to the performance of smooth tubes with helical wire inserts (with pitches of 5 mm, 7.77 mm and 11 mm corresponding to helical angles of 78.2°, 72°, and 65.3°, respectively).     

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.     

Condensation heat transfer of R-134a inside a microfin tube with different tube inclinations

Experimental heat transfer studies during condensation of pure R-134a vapor inside a single microfin tube have been carried out. The microfin tube has been provided with different tube inclination angles of the direction of fluid flow from horizontal, α. The data are acquired for seven different tube inclinations, α, in a range of −90 to +90° and three mass velocities of 54, 81, and 107 kg/m²-s for each inclination angle during condensation of R-134a vapor. The experimental results indicate that the tube inclination angle of, α, affects the condensation heat transfer coefficient in a significant manner. The highest heat transfer coefficient is attained at inclination angle of α = +30°. The effect of inclination angle, α, on heat transfer coefficient, h, is more prominent at low vapor quality and mass velocity. A correlation has also been developed to predict the condensing side heat transfer coefficient for different vapor qualities and mass velocities.     

The Effect of the Electrohydrodynamic on the Two-Phase Flow Pressure Drop of R-134a during Evaporation inside Horizontal Smooth and Micro-Fin Tubes

This article concerns the pressure drop caused by using the electrohydrodynamic (EHD) technique during evaporation of pure R-134a inside smooth and micro-fin tubes. The test section is a counter-flow concentric tube-in-tube heat exchanger where R-134a flows inside the inner tube and hot water flows in the annulus. A smooth tube and micro-fin tube having an inner diameter of 8.12 mm and 8.92 mm, respectively, are used as an inner tube. The length of the inner tube is 2.50 m. The outer tube is a smooth copper tube having an inner diameter of 21.2 mm. The electrode, which is a cylindrical stainless steel wire having diameter of 1.47 mm, is placed in the center of the inner tube. The electrical field is established by connecting a DC high voltage power supply of 2.5 kV to the electrode while the inner tube is grounded. Experiments are conducted at saturation temperatures of 10–20°C, mass fluxes of 200–600 kg/m²s, and heat fluxes of 10–20 kW/m². The experimental results indicate that the application of EHD introduces a small pressure drop penalty. New correlations for the pressure drop are proposed for practical applications.     

Free Convective Heat Transfer in Tilted Longitudinal Open Cavity

Heat transfer experiments were performed to investigate the effects of inclination and channel height-to-gap ratio on free convection in a simulated fin-passage with a strategic aim of devising a criterion for selecting the optimal fin length that could provide the maximum free convective capability. The ranges of parameters investigated include the Grashof number, up to 500,000; channel height-to-gap ratios of 1, 2, and 3; and tilt angles of 0°, 30°, 60°, 90°, 120°, 150°, and 180°. Selections of local and spatially averaged Nusselt number results demonstrate the manner by which the Grashof number, tilt angle, and channel height-to-gap ratio interactively affect the heat transfer. In conformity with the experimentally revealed heat transfer physics, the correlation of a spatially-averaged Nusselt number over two parallel walls and the bottom surface of an open-ended channel is derived that permits the individual and interactive effects of the Grashof number, tilt angle, and channel height-to-gap ratio on heat transfers to be evaluated. A criterion for selecting the optimal height-to-gap ratio of the fin channel is subsequently formulated as a design tool for maximizing the convective capability of a free convective fin assembly.     

Battery module thermal management based on liquid cold plate with heat transfer enhanced fin

Battery, as the main energy storage element, directly affects the performance of electric vehicle. Battery thermal management research is required as the battery performance influenced by temperature obviously. This article selects liquid cold plate with different heat transfer enhanced fins as the research object. The angle and length of fins are chosen as the variables. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methods and experiments are used in this research. The fin angle of 15°, 30°, and 45° and fin length of 8, 10, 12 mm are selected to compose enhanced fins. The results indicate that heat transfer fins inside liquid cold plate can significantly decrease the highest temperature of battery module and temperature difference among cells. Otherwise, different fin angle and fin length can achieve different heat dissipation performance, which is not positive correlation. Then the design reference of heat transfer enhanced fin in liquid cold plate is offered.     

Investigation on the heat transfer characteristics of propylene glycol–water mixture in the shell side of a spiral‐wound heat exchanger

The heat transfer characteristics of propylene glycol–water (PG–W) mixture (10%, 20%, and 30% propylene glycol) on the shell side of a spiral‐wound heat exchanger (SWHE) were investigated experimentally. Among the SWHE selected, there are 18 twined tubes with a diameter of 8 mm. PG–W mixture is on the shell side and water is on the tube side. The results show that the heat transfer coefficient of PG–W mixture flowing downwards is higher than upwards under countercurrent conditions. The heat transfer coefficient decreases with the increasing of concentration of PG–W mixture. When the inclination angle of the SWHE is 90°, the heat transfer coefficient of PG–W mixture is the largest; and when the inclination angle is less than 90°, the heat transfer coefficient decreases with the decrease of inclination angle. The inclination angle has a great effect on the heat transfer coefficient at a high concentration. The fitting correlation equations between Nu, Re, Pr, and inclination angles of SWHE are established.     

Refrigerant Condensation Flow Regimes in Enhanced Tubes and Their Effect on Heat Transfer Coefficients and Pressure Drops

Flow regimes influence the heat and mass transfer processes during two-phase flow, implying that any statistically accurate and reliable prediction of heat transfer and pressure drop during flow condensation should be based on the analysis of the prevailing flow pattern. Many correlations for heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop during flow condensation completely ignored flow regime effects and treated flows as either annular or non-stratified flow or as stratified flow. This resulted in correlations of poor accuracy and limited validity and reliability. Current heat transfer coefficient, pressure drop, and void fraction models are based on the local flow pattern, though, resulting in deviations of around 20% from experimental data. There are, however, several inconsistencies and anomalies regarding these models, which are discussed in this paper. A generalized solution methodology for two-phase flow problems still remains an elusive goal, mainly because gas-liquid flow systems combine the complexities of turbulence with those of deformable vapor-liquid interfaces. The paper focuses on the state of the art in correlating flow condensation in micro-fin tubes and proposes flow regime-based correlations of heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop for refrigerant condensation in smooth, helical micro-fin, and herringbone micro-fin tubes.     

Numerical simulation of R410A condensation in horizontal microfin tubes

The heat transfer characteristics of condensation for R410A inside horizontal microfin tubes with 0° and 18° helical angles were investigated numerically. The numerical data fit well with the experimental results and with the empirical correlations. The results indicate that local heat transfer coefficients increase with increasing mass flux, vapor quality, and helical angle. The heat transfer enhancement in the helical microfin tubes is more pronounced at higher mass flux and vapor quality. The centrifugal force induced by the microfin with a 18° helical angle tends to spread the liquid from the bottom to the top, leading to a nearly symmetrical liquid–vapor interface during condensation. Swirling flows in the liquid phase are observed in the tube with the 18° helical angle, but the liquid phase tends to flow to the bottom due to gravity in the tube with the 0° helical angle.     

Evaporation Heat Transfer Coefficients of R-446A

ABSTRACT

The present study investigated the evaporation heat transfer coefficients of R-446A, as a low global warming potential alternative refrigerant to R-410A. The evaporation heat transfer coefficients were obtained by measuring the wall temperature of a straight stainless tube and refrigerant pressure. The heat transfer coefficients were measured for the quality range from 0.05 to 0.95, the mass flux from 100 to 400 kg/m²s, heat flux from 10 to 30 kW/m², and saturation temperature from 5 to 10°C. The evaporation heat transfer coefficient of R-410A was verified by comparing the measured evaporation heat transfer coefficient with the value predicted by the existing correlation. The evaporation heat transfer coefficient of R-446A was measured using a proven experimental apparatus. When the heat flux was 10 kW/m², the evaporation heat transfer coefficient of R-446A was always higher than that of R-410A. But, when the heat flux was 30 kW/m², the evaporation heat transfer coefficient of R-446A was measured to be lower than that of R-410A near the dry-out point. The effect of the tube diameter on the R-446A evaporation heat transfer coefficient was negligible. The effect of saturation pressure on the evaporation heat transfer coefficient was prominent in the low quality region where the nucleate boiling was dominant.     

Condensation heat transfer coefficients of the zeotropic refrigerant mixture R-22/R-142b in smooth horizonal tubes

Heat transfer coefficients during condensation of the zeotropic refrigerant mixture R-22 with R-142b are presented. Measurements were obtained at different mass fractions in a smooth horizontal tube. All measurements were conducted at a high condensing saturation pressure of 2.43 MPa, which corresponds to a condensation temperature of 60 °C for R-22. The measurements were taken in 8.11 mm inner diameter smooth tubes with lengths of 1 603 mm. The heat transfer coefficients were determined with the Log Mean Temperature Difference equations. It was found that at low mass fluxes, between 40 kg·m⁻²·s⁻¹ to 350 kg·m⁻²·s⁻¹, the refrigerant mass fraction influences the heat transfer coefficient by up to a factor of two. The heat transfer coefficients decrease as the fraction of R-142b is increased. At high mass fluxes, of 350 kg·m⁻²·s⁻¹ and more the heat transfer coefficients were not strongly influenced by the refrigerant mass fraction. The average heat transfer coefficient decreased by only 7% as the refrigerant mass fraction changed from 100% R-22 to 50%/50% R-22/R142b.     

Condensation of R-113 on Pin-Fin Tubes: Effect of Circumferential Pin Thickness and Spacing

New experimental data are reported for condensation of R-113 at near atmospheric pressure and low velocity on five three-dimensional pin-fin tubes. The only geometric parameters varied were circumferential spacing and thickness, since these have been shown to have a strong effect on condensate retention on pin-fin tubes. Heat transfer enhancement was found to be strongly dependent on the active-area enhancement, i.e., on the parts of the tube and pin surface not covered by condensate retained by surface tension. For all the tubes, vapor-side heat transfer enhancements were found to be approximately 2.5 times the corresponding active-area enhancements, and this finding was in line with earlier data for R-113. An increase in the vapor-side heat transfer enhancement is noticed with the decreasing values of pin spacing. The best performing pin-fin tube gave a heat transfer enhancement about 14% higher than the “equivalent” two-dimensional integral-fin tube (i.e., with the same fin root diameter, longitudinal fin spacing, and thickness and fin height).     

Condensation of R-134a on horizontal integral-fin titanium tubes

Experimental research was conducted to evaluate the condensation of R-134a on horizontal smooth and integral-fin (32 fpi) titanium tubes of 19.05 mm outer diameter. Experiments were carried out at saturation temperatures of 30, 40 and 50 °C and wall subcoolings from 0.5 to 9 °C. The results show that the condensation heat transfer coefficients (HTCs) on the smooth tubes are well predicted by the Nusselt theory with an average error of +2.38% and within a deviation between +0.13% and +5.42%. The enhancement factors provided by the integral-fin tubes on the overall condensation HTCs range between 3.09–3.94, 3.27–4 and 3.54–4.1 for the condensation temperatures of 30, 40 and 50 °C, respectively. The enhancement factors increase by increasing the wall subcooling and with the rise of the condensing temperature. The condensate flooded fraction of the integral-fin tubes perimeter varies from 25% to 20% at saturation temperatures of 30 °C and 50 °C, respectively. The correlation reported by Kang et al. (2007) [1] predicted the experimental data with a mean deviation of ?5.5%.     

Heat Transfer Correlations for Single-Phase Flow,Condensation, and Boiling in Microfin Tubes

Experimental single-phase, condensation and flow boiling heat transfer data from the literature and our previous studies were collected to evaluate existing heat transfer correlations for microfin tubes of different geometries. The Ravigururajan and Bergles correlation modified by using the hydraulic diameter proposed by Li et al. (2012) can predict single-phase heat transfer data relatively well. Among the four reviewed condensation heat transfer correlations, the Yu and Koyama (1998) correlation presents the best prediction. However, all the four condensation correlations are prone to overpredict the carbon dioxide data. For flow boiling in microfin tubes, the general semiempirical correlation developed by Wu et al. (2013), applicable for intermittent and annular flow patterns, is the most reliable predictive method among the five evaluated correlations. It can predict 90% of the overall 754 data points within a ±30% error band, with a mean absolute deviation and a standard deviation equal to 18.2% and 21.9%, respectively, covering pure halogenated refrigerants, near azeotropic refrigerant mixtures, and carbon dioxide with the following applicable range: fin root diameter 2.1 to 14.8 mm, mass flux 100 to 800 kg/m²s, heat flux 4.5 to 59 kW/m², and reduced pressure 0.07 to 0.7.     

Theoretical Analysis and Experimental Investigation on Local Heat Transfer Characteristics of HFC-134a Forced-Convection Condensation inside Smooth Horizontal Tubes

An improved analysis model is presented for predicting the local heat transfer coefficient of forced condensation in the annular flow region inside smooth horizontal tubes. Heat transfer experiments for R-12 and R-134a are conducted inside a condensing tube with an inner diameter of 11 mm and a length of 13 m. The mass flux ranged from 200 to 510 kg/m²s, and the vapor qualities varied from 1.0 to 0.0. Compared with the experimental data, the numerical results have a deviation of not more than 20% and 25% for 80% of the total 47 points of R-12 and 88% of the total 226 points of R-134a, respectively.     

Modeling of condensation heat transfer of pure refrigerants in micro-fin tubes

A new semi-empirical condensation model for heat transfer coefficient of pure refrigerants flowing inside micro-fin tubes is presented. The new model is developed based on a theoretical analysis of turbulent film condensation inside smooth tubes. Several modifications have been implemented in the original smooth-tube model to account for the heat transfer enhancement effects due to the presence of micro-fins on the internal wall surface. The new condensation model is compared with a set of around 400 experimental data points. The comparison shows that the new model is capable of producing consistent prediction results with a mean absolute deviation less than 20% for most of the available data sets.     

Heat Transfer Enhancement during Condensation in Smooth Tubes with Helical Wire Inserts

This study investigates the heat transfer characteristics of a horizontal tube-in-tube heat exchanger with a helical wire inserted in the inner tube. The influence of the pitch (or helix angle) of the wire on the heat transfer performance and pressure drop during condensation (having all other geometric parameters the same) was investigated experimentally. Tests were conducted for condensing refrigerants R22, R134a, and R407C at an average saturation temperature of 40°C, with mass fluxes ranging from 300–800 kg/m²s and with vapor qualities ranging from 0.85–0.95 at condenser inlet to 0.05–0.15 at condenser outlet. Measurements were made for three helical wire-inserted tubes with different pitches of 5, 7.77, and 11 mm. The local and average heat transfer coefficients were compared not only with the measured data of a smooth tube, but also with the results of micro-fin tubes. The tube with a helical wire pitch of 5 mm inserts was found to have the highest enhancement factor, which can be elucidated by the extension of the annular flow regime. Heat transfer coefficient correlations for helical wire inserts were deduced, and they predicted the experimental data to within 20%.     

An Experimental Study of Condensation Heat Transfer in Sub-Millimeter Rectangular Tubes

The characteristics of local heat transfer and pressure drops were experimentally investigated using condensing R134a two-phase flow, in single rectangular tubes, with hydraulic diameter of 0.494, 0.658, and 0.972 mm. New experimental techniques were used to measure the in-tube condensation heat transfer coefficient especially for the low heat and mass flows. Tests were performed for a mass flux of 100, 200, 400, and 600 kg/m2s, a heat flux of 5 to 20 kW/m2, and a saturation temperature of 40℃. In this study, effect of heat flux, mass flux, vapor qualities, and hydraulic diameter on flow condensation were investigated and the experimental local condensation heat transfer coefficients and frictional pressure drop are shown. The experimental data of condensation Nusselt number are compared with previous correlations, most of which are proposed for the condensation of pure refrigerant in a relatively large inner diameter round tubes.     

Influence of Inclination Angle on the Start-up Performance of a Sodium-Potassium Alloy Heat Pipe

ABSTRACT

Alkali metal heat pipes play significant role in various high-temperature engineering applications because of their excellent heat transfer capacity. Inclination angle is one of major factors which significantly affect start-up and heat transfer characteristics especially for thermosiphons. A sodium-potassium alloy (Na-K) gravity-driven heat pipe (GHP), in which the content of potassium in Na-K is wt. 55%, was fabricated to study the effect of inclination angle on start-up and heat transfer capacities of high-temperature GHPs. The Na-K GHPs was fixed by the adjusting bracket in 9 inclination angles (0°, 10°, 20°, 30°, 40°, 50°, 60°, 70° and 80°). Outside wall temperature was measured by eleven thermocouples which calibrated by the China Institute of Metrology prior to using them in the experiments. Results show that inclination angle has a significant impact on start-up and heat transfer performances of the Na-K GHP because of the impact of gravity on the two-phase flow inside the heat pipe and effective heating area in the evaporator. Start-up and heat transfer characteristics are dramatically improved and temperature difference significantly decreases as the inclination angle increases from 0° to 50°, but slightly decreases when the inclination angle exceeds 60°.     

3-D Numerical study on the correlation between variable inclined fin angles and thermal behavior in plate fin-tube heat exchanger

In this study, the heat transfer enhancement and pressure drop values of seven different fin angles with plain fin-tube heat exchangers were investigated. The numerical simulation of the fin-tube heat exchanger was performed by using a three dimensional (3-D) numerical computation technique. Therefore, a CFD computer code, the FLUENT was used to solve the equation for the heat transfer and pressure drop analyses in the fin-tube heat exchanger. The model drawing was created and meshed by using GAMBIT software. The heat transfer and pressure drop values of the vertical fin angle (θ = 0°) were provided to compare with variable inclined fin angles (θ = 5°, 10°, 15°, 20°, 25°, 30°). The heat transfer values were normalized to compare all cases. For inclined fin angle θ = 30°, which is the optimum angle, the maximum heat transfer enhancement per segment was obtained 1.42 W (the normalized value 105.24%), the maximum loss power associated with pressure drop per segment was only 0.54 mW.