Condensation Heat Transfer in Ultracompact Minichannel Heat Exchangers

Author(s):  
Zhen Zhang ◽  
Yoav Peles ◽  
Michael K. Jensen

To improve condensation heat transfer performance in a variety of systems, reduced channel sizes are used. However, few studies have been performed on complete heat exchangers. Hence, condensation heat transfer coefficients were studied experimentally in two ultracompact heat exchangers with a hydraulic diameter of 133 μm using steam as the working fluid. Effects of mass flux, average vapor quality, saturation pressure, and heat exchanger size were examined. The condensation heat transfer coefficients showed strong influence of mass flux and quality. However, the effects of saturation pressure and heat exchange size were not significant. Three conventional and three mini/microscale correlations were compared with the experimental data. The conventional and mini/microscale correlations developed for annular flow overpredict the data significantly. The Soliman correlation developed for mist flow showed the best agreement with the data.

2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (02) ◽  
pp. 1750013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pham-Quang Vu ◽  
Kwang-Il Choi ◽  
Jong-Taek Oh ◽  
Honggi Cho

The condensation heat transfer coefficients and pressure drops of R410A and R22 flowing inside a horizontal aluminum multiport mini-channel tube having 18 channels are investigated. Experimental data are presented for the range of vapor quality from 0.1 to 0.9, mass flux from 50 to 500[Formula: see text]kg/m2s, heat flux from 3 to 15[Formula: see text]kW/m2 and the saturation temperature at 48[Formula: see text]C. The pressure drop across the test section was directly measured by a differential pressure transducer. At a small scale, the noncircular cross-sections can enhance the effect of the surface tension. The average heat transfer coefficient increased with the increase of vapor quality, mass flux and heat flux. Under the same test conditions, the heat transfer coefficients of R22 are higher than those for R410A, the pressure drops for R410A are 7–19% lower than those of R22. The lower pressure drop of R410A has an important advantage as an alternative working fluid for R22 in air-conditioning and heat pump systems.


Author(s):  
Sunil Mehendale

In HVACR equipment, internally enhanced round tube (microfin) designs such as axial, cross-grooved, helical, and herringbone are commonly used to enhance the boiling and condensing performance of evaporators, condensers, and heat pumps. Typically, such tubes are mechanically expanded by a mandrel into a fin pack to create an interference fit between the tube outside surface and the fin collar to minimize the thermal contact resistance between tube and fin. However, during this expansion process, the internal enhancements undergo varying amounts of deformation, which degrades the in-tube thermal performance. Extensive data on condensing heat transfer coefficients in microfin tubes have been reported in the open literature. However, researchers have seldom used expanded tubes to acquire and report such data. Hence, it is always questionable to use such pristine tube data for designing heat exchangers and HVACR systems. Furthermore, the HVACR industry has been experiencing steeply rising copper costs, and this trend is expected to continue in coming years. So, many equipment manufacturers and suppliers are actively converting tubes from copper to aluminum. However, because of appreciable differences between the material properties of aluminum and copper, as well as other manufacturing variables, such as mandrel dimensions, lubricant used, etc., tube expansion typically deforms aluminum fins more than copper fins. Based on an analysis of the surface area changes arising from tube expansion, and an assessment of the best extant in-tube condensation heat transfer correlations, this work proposes a method of estimating the impact of tube expansion on in-tube condensation heat transfer. The analysis leads to certain interesting and useful findings correlating fin geometry and in-tube condensation thermal resistance. This method can then be applied to more realistically design HVACR heat exchangers and systems.


Energies ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 11
Author(s):  
Yanfei Liu ◽  
Xiaotian Han ◽  
Chaoqun Shen ◽  
Feng Yao ◽  
Mengchen Zhang

A vapor chamber can meet the cooling requirements of high heat flux electronic equipment. In this paper, based on a proposed vapor chamber with a side window, a vapor chamber experimental system was designed to visually study its evaporation and condensation heat transfer performance. Using infrared thermal imaging technology, the temperature distribution and the vapor–liquid two-phase interface evolution inside the cavity were experimentally observed. Furthermore, the evaporation and condensation heat transfer coefficients were obtained according to the measured temperature of the liquid near the evaporator surface and the vapor near the condenser surface. The effects of heat load and filling rate on the thermal resistance and the evaporation and condensation heat transfer coefficients are analyzed and discussed. The results indicate that the liquid filling rate that maximized the evaporation heat transfer coefficient was different from the liquid filling rate that maximized the condensation heat transfer coefficient. The vapor chamber showed good heat transfer performance with a liquid filling rate of 33%. According to the infrared thermal images, it was observed that the evaporation/boiling heat transfer could be strengthened by the interference of easily broken bubbles and boiling liquid. When the heat input increased, the uniformity of temperature distribution was improved due to the intensified heat transfer on the evaporator surface.


Author(s):  
C. Aprea ◽  
A. Greco ◽  
G. P. Vanoli

R22 is the most widely employed HCFC working fluid in vapour compression plant. HCFCs must be replaced within 2020. Major problems arise with the substitution of the working fluids, related to the decrease in performance of the plant. Therefore, extremely accurate design procedures are needed. The relative sizing of each of the components of the plant is crucial for cycle performance. For this reason, the knowledge of the new fluids heat transfer characteristics in condensers and evaporators is required. The local heat transfer coefficients and pressure drop of pure R22 and of the azeotropic mixture R507 (R125-R143a 50%/50% in weight) have been measured during convective boiling. The test section is a smooth horizontal tube made of a with a 6 mm I.D. stainless steel tube, 6 m length, uniformly heated by Joule effect. The effects of heat flux, mass flux and evaporation pressure on the heat transfer coefficients are investigated. The evaporating pressure varies within the range 3 ÷10 bar, the refrigerant mass flux within the range 200 ÷ 1000 kg/m2s, the heat flux within 0 ÷ 44 kW/m2. A comparison have been carried out between the experimental data and those predicted by means of the most credited literature relationships.


2006 ◽  
Vol 129 (8) ◽  
pp. 958-965 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yirong Jiang ◽  
Biswajit Mitra ◽  
Srinivas Garimella ◽  
Ulf C. Andresen

This paper presents the results of an experimental study on condensation heat transfer of refrigerant blends R404A and R410A flowing through horizontal tubes of 9.4 and 6.2mm inner diameter at nominal pressures of 80% and 90% of the critical pressure. Local heat transfer coefficients were measured for the mass flux range 200<G<800kg∕m2‐s in small quality increments over the entire vapor-liquid region. Heat transfer coefficients increased with quality and mass flux, while the effect of reduced pressure was not very significant within this range of pressures. The heat transfer coefficients increased with a decrease in diameter.


2020 ◽  
Vol 142 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mete Budakli ◽  
Thamer Khalif Salem ◽  
Mehmet Arik ◽  
Barca Donmez ◽  
Yusuf Menceloglu

Abstract Condensation heat transfer coefficients (HTCs) are rather low compared to thin film evaporation. Therefore, it can be a limiting factor for designing heat transfer equipment. In this work, heat transfer characteristics of water vapor condensation phenomena were experimentally studied on a vertically aligned smooth copper substrate for a range of pressures and temperatures for two different liquid wettability conditions. The heat transfer performance is dominated by the phase change process at the solid–vapor interface along with the liquid formation mechanism. Compared to heat transfer results measured at an untreated copper surface, heat transport is augmented with a thin layer of perfluoro-silane coating over the same substrate. In this work, the effect of saturation pressure on the condensation process at both surfaces has been investigated by analyzing heat transfer coefficients. The results obtained experimentally show an increase in contact angle (CA) with the surface coating. A heat transfer augmentation of about 26% over uncoated surfaces was obtained and surfaces did not show any degradation after 40 h of operation. Finally, current results are compared with heat transfer values reported in open literature.


Machines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 114
Author(s):  
Andreas Karageorgis ◽  
George Hinopoulos ◽  
Man-Hoe Kim

This paper presents the two-phase condensation heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of R-513A as an alternative refrigerant to R-134a in a 9.52-mm OD horizontal microfin copper tube. The test facility had a straight, horizontal test section with an active length of 2.0 m and was cooled by cold water circulated in a surrounding annular space. The annular-side heat transfer coefficients were obtained using the Wilson plot method. The average heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop data are presented at the condensation temperature of 35 °C in the range of 100–440 kg·m−2·s−1 mass flux. The test data of R-513A are compared with those of R-134a, R-1234yf, and R-1234ze(E). The average condensation heat transfer coefficients of the R-513A and R-1234ze(E) refrigerants were similar to R-134a at the lower mass flux (100~150 kg·m−2·s−1), while they were up to 10% higher than R-134a as the mass flux increased. The pressure drop of R-513A was similar to R-1234yf and 10% lower than that of R-134a at the higher mass flux. The R-1234ze(E) pressure drops were 20 % higher compared to those of R-134a at the higher mass flux.


Author(s):  
Saptarshi Basu ◽  
Sidy Ndao ◽  
Gregory J. Michna ◽  
Yoav Peles ◽  
Michael K. Jensen

An experimental study of two-phase heat transfer coefficients was carried out using R134a in uniformly heated horizontal circular microtubes with diameters of 0.50 mm and 1.60 mm. The effects of mass flux, heat flux, saturation pressure, and vapor quality on heat transfer coefficients were studied. The flow parameters investigated were as follows: exit pressures of 490, 670, 890, and 1160 kPa; mass fluxes of 300–1500 kg/m2s; heat fluxes of 0–350 kW/m2; inlet subcooling of 5, 20, and 40 °C; and exit qualities of 0 to 1.0. The parametric trends presented in the study are consistent with published literature. Heat transfer coefficients increased with increasing heat flux and saturation pressure while they were independent of variations in mass flux. Vapor quality had a negligible influence on heat transfer coefficients. For the conditions studied, the trends indicated that the dominant heat transfer mechanism was nucleate boiling. The experimental data was compared to three microchannel correlations — the Lazarek-Black, the Kandlikar, and the Tran Correlations. None of the correlations predicted the experimental data very well, although they all predicted the correct trend within limits of experimental error.


Author(s):  
Shulei Li ◽  
Rui Zhu ◽  
Gongnan Xie ◽  
Yiqiang Jiang ◽  
Weihua Cai

Abstract In order to explore tube-side heat transfer characteristics in the spiral wound heat exchange (SWHE) used in liquid natural gas (LNG) plants, the study on zeotropic hydrocarbon mixtures condensation heat transfer in a helical pipe is proposed. Firstly, based on two-fluid model and thermal phase change model, a numerical method coupling with empirical correlations is established to predict condensation heat transfer for zeotropic mixtures, in which the mixed effects are taken into account. Meanwhile, the rationality of the above methods is verified based on existing experimental results. Then, the effects of refrigerant components and operating parameters on flow patterns, heat transfer coefficients and heat and mass transfer resistance are discussed as the ranges of mass flux, saturation pressure and vapor quality are 200–800 kg/(m2·s), 2–4MPa and 0.15–0.90, respectively. It can be found that the predicted results coincide with the experimental ones, with deviations within ±15%. For different zeotropic hydrocarbon mixtures, as the vapor quality increases, the stratified flow, half-annular flow and annular flow appears in turn. The condensation heat transfer coefficients are always smaller than film heat transfer coefficients owing to the existence of heat and mass transfer resistance in vapor core. Besides, both film and condensation heat transfer coefficients increase with the increase of vapor quality and mass flux, while decrease with the rise in saturation pressure. Further, heat and mass transfer resistances increase as the vapor quality and saturation pressure increase and the mass flux decreases. In addition, compared to methane/ethane/propane/nitrogen (65/25/5/5, mole%) mixture, the averaged heat transfer performance for methane/ethane (90/10, mole%) mixture improves by 19.55%, whereas, the average heat and mass transfer resistance decreases by 53.51%. This study is helpful for understanding the zeotropic mixtures condensation in tubes and gives some suggestions for the choice of refrigerant components used in LNG SWHE, to design more effective SWHE.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document