Effect of Fin Spacing on the Performance of Horizontal Integral-Fin Condenser Tubes

1985 ◽  
Vol 107 (2) ◽  
pp. 377-383 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. K. Yau ◽  
J. R. Cooper ◽  
J. W. Rose

The dependence of heat transfer performance on fin spacing has been investigated for condensation of steam on horizontal integral-fin tubes. Thirteen tubes have been used with rectangular section fins having the same width and height (0.5 mm and 1.6 mm) and with fin pitch varying from 1.0 mm to 20.5 mm. For comparison, tests were made using a plain tube having the same inside diameter and an outside diameter equal to that at the root of the fins for the finned tubes. All tests were made at near-atmospheric pressure with vapor flowing vertically downward with velocities between 0.5 m/s and 1.1 m/s. The observed heat transfer enhancement for the finned tubes significantly exceeded that to be expected on grounds of increased area. Plots of enhancement against fin density were repeatable and showed local maxima and minima. The dependence of enhancement on fin density did not depend appreciably on vapor velocity or condensation rate for the ranges used. The maximum vapor-side enhancement (i.e., vapor-side heat transfer coefficient of finned tube/vapor-side coefficient for plain tube) was found to be around 3.6 for the tube with a fin spacing of 1.5 mm.

1986 ◽  
Vol 108 (4) ◽  
pp. 946-950 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. K. Yau ◽  
J. R. Cooper ◽  
J. W. Rose

The paper reports a continuation of an experimental investigation of the effect of fin pitch on the heat transfer performance of horizontal, integral-fin tubes for condensation of steam at near-atmospheric pressure. The effects of “drainage strips” located along the lower edge of finned and plain tubes have been studied. These gave significant increases in the heat transfer coefficient for finned tubes but had only marginal effect for the plain tube. Condensate retention angles have also been measured for simulated condensation using water, ethylene glycol, and refrigerant-113 for finned tubes with and without drainage strips. In the latter case the data agreed satisfactorily with theory. Drainage strips were found to reduce the extent of holdup significantly.


Author(s):  
Claire L. Fitzgerald ◽  
Adrian Briggs ◽  
Huasheng Wang ◽  
John W. Rose

Heat-transfer data are reported for forced-convection filmwise condensation of ethylene glycol flowing vertically downward over two single, horizontal instrumented integral-fin tubes and one plain tube. Vapor-side, heat-transfer coefficients were obtained by direct measurement of the tube wall temperature using two specially manufactured, instrumented tubes with thermocouples embedded in the tube walls. Both tubes have fin height of 1.6 mm and fin root diameter and 12.7 mm, with fin thickness and spacings of 0.3 mm and 0.6 mm, respectively for one of the tubes and 0.5 mm and 1 mm, respectively for the other. Tests were performed at low pressures; 5.59kPa, 8.15kPa and 11.23kPa, at nominal vapour velocities from 13m/s to 82 m/s. All the data show that both of the finned tubes provided an increase in heat flux at the same vapour-side temperature difference with increasing vapour velocity. Visual observations were made and photographs obtained of the fluid retention angle φf at each combination of vapor velocity and pressure tested. It was observed that the curvature of the meniscus was distorted by the increase in vapor velocity and in many cases, the extent of condensate flooding decreased compared to its value in the quiescent vapor case.


1991 ◽  
Vol 113 (2) ◽  
pp. 479-486 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Honda ◽  
B. Uchima ◽  
S. Nozu ◽  
H. Nakata ◽  
E. Torigoe

Film condensation of R-113 on in-line bundles of horizontal finned tubes with vertical vapor downflow was experimentally investigated. Two tubes with flat-sided annular fins and four tubes with three-dimensional fins were tested. The test sections were 3×15 tube bundles with and without two rows of inundation tubes at the top. Heat transfer measurements were carried out on a row-by-row basis. The heat transfer enhancement due to vapor shear was much less for a finned tube bundle than for a smooth tube bundle. The decrease in heat transfer due to condensate inundation was more marked for a three-dimensional fin tube than for a flat-sided fin tube. The predictions of the previous theoretical model for a bundle of flat-sided fin tubes agreed well with the measured data for low vapor velocity and a small to medium condensate inundation rate. Among the six tubes tested, the highest heat transfer performance was provided by the flat-sided fin tube with fin dimensions close to the theoretically determined optimum values.


2002 ◽  
Vol 124 (4) ◽  
pp. 754-761 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Belghazi ◽  
A. Bontemps ◽  
C. Marvillet

Condensation heat transfer in a bundle of horizontal enhanced surface copper tubes (Gewa C+ tubes) has been experimentally investigated, and a comparison with trapezoidal shaped fin tubes with several fin spacing has been made. These tubes have a specific surface three-dimensional geometry (notched fins) and the fluids used are either pure refrigerant (HFC134a) or binary mixtures of refrigerants (HFC23/HFC134a). For the pure fluid and a Gewa C+ single tube, the results were analyzed with a specifically developed model, taking into account both gravity and surface tension effects. For the bundle and for a pure fluid, the inundation of the lowest tubes has a strong effect on the Gewa C+ tube performances contrary to the finned tubes. For the mixture, the heat transfer coefficient decreases dramatically for the Gewa C+ tube.


2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-25
Author(s):  
Arkan Altaie ◽  
Moayed R. Hasan ◽  
Farhan Lafta Rashid

Turbulent forced convection of coolant air flow (10 m/s velocity) in a steel tube of 50 cm long having outside diameter of 60 mm and inside diameter of 30 mm with constant outside surface temperature of 1000, 1200 and 1400 Ko is numerically analyzed. The renormalization group k-ε model is used to simulate turbulence in ANSYS - FLUENT 14.5. An opened ring of rectangular cross section (5x7 mm) is fitted in the tube and separated by 8cm pitch. Results of temperature and velocity distribution along the tube center line for the case of tube with internal ribs  were compared with that of plain tube  , these results show that the use of internal ribs enhance the heat transfer rate and found to possess the highest performance factors for turbulent flow.


2004 ◽  
Vol 127 (6) ◽  
pp. 571-580 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrian Briggs ◽  
Sritharan Sabaratnam

Data are reported for condensation of steam with and without the presence of air on three rows of integral-fin tubes situated in a bank of plain tubes. The data cover a wide range of vapor velocities and air concentrations. Unlike previously reported data for plain tubes using the same test bank and apparatus, the heat-transfer coefficients for the finned tubes were largely unaffected by vapor velocity. When compared to a plain tube of fin-tip diameter and at the same vapor side temperature difference, heat-transfer enhancement ratios between 3.7 and 4.9 were found for the finned tubes compared to a plain tube in quiescent vapor conditions, while values between 1.9 and 3.9 were found when compared to a plain tube at the same vapor velocity. When compared to the plain tubes, the heat transfer to the finned tubes was much more susceptible to the presence of noncondensing gas (air) in the vapor, with enhancement ratios falling as low as 1.5 compared to the plain tubes when even small concentrations of air were present.


1989 ◽  
Vol 111 (2) ◽  
pp. 525-532 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Honda ◽  
S. Nozu ◽  
Y. Takeda

The previous theoretical model of film condensation on a single horizontal low finned tube is extended to include the effect of condensate inundation. Based on the flow characteristics of condensate on a vertical column of horizontal low finned tubes, two major flow modes, the column mode and the sheet mode, are considered. In the column mode, the surface of the lower tubes is divided into the portion under the condensate column where the condensate flow is affected by the impinging condensate from the upper tubes, and the portion between the condensate columns where the condensate flow is not affected by the impinging condensate. In the sheet mode, the whole tube surface is assumed to be affected by the impinging condensate. Sample calculations for practical conditions show that the effects of the fin spacing and the number of vertical tube rows on the heat transfer performance is significant for R-12, while the effects are small for steam. The predicted value of the heat transfer coefficient for each tube row compares well with available experimental data, including four fluids and five tube bundles.


Author(s):  
Ignacio Carvajal-Mariscal ◽  
Florencio Sanchez-Silva ◽  
Georgiy Polupan

In this work the heat transfer and pressure drop experimental results obtained in a two step finned tube bank with conical fins are presented. The tube bank had an equilateral triangle array composed of nine finned tubes with conical fins inclined 45 degrees in respect with the tube axis. The heat exchange external area of a single tube is approximately 0.07 m2. All necessary thermal parameters, inlet/outlet temperatures, mass flows, for the heat balance in the tube bank were determined for different air velocities, Re = 3400–18400, and one constant thermal charge provided by a hot water flow with a temperature of 80 °C. As a result, the correlations for the heat transfer and pressure drop calculation were obtained. The experimental results were compared against the analytical results for a tube bank with annular fins with the same heat exchange area. It was found that the proposed tube bank using finned tubes with conical fins shows an increment of heat transfer up to 58%.


1981 ◽  
Vol 103 (4) ◽  
pp. 705-714 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. C. Biery

A new method is presented to predict heat transfer coefficients for gas flow normal to smooth and finned tube tanks with triangular pitch. A transformation from the actual tube bank to an equivalent equilateral triangular pitch infinite smooth tube bank (ETP-I-STB) is made. A function of Ch(Ch = NSTNPR2/3NRe0.4) versus (Xt D0)Δ, ratio of transverse pitch to tube diameter for the ETP-I-STB, was developed. The Ch for the equivalent ETP-I-STP then applies to the actual tube bank. The method works with circular finned tubes, smooth tubes, continuous finned tubes, and segmented finned tubes with any triangular pitch. Also, fair predictions were made for in-line tubes with high Reynolds numbers.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document