The Use of an Organic Self-Assembled Monolayer Coating to Promote Dropwise Condensation of Steam on Horizontal Tubes

1999 ◽  
Vol 122 (2) ◽  
pp. 278-286 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. K. Das ◽  
H. P. Kilty ◽  
P. J. Marto ◽  
G. B. Andeen ◽  
A. Kumar

Hydrophobic coatings have been created through self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) on gold, copper, and copper-nickel alloy surfaces that enhance steam condensation through dropwise condensation. The monolayer is formed by chemisorption of alkylthiols on these metal surfaces. Due to their negligible thickness (10–15 Å), SAMs have negligible heat transfer resistance, and involve a minuscule amount of the organic material to pose any contamination problem to the system from erosion of the coating. The coating was applied directly to copper and 90/10 copper-nickel tubes, and to previously gold-sputtered aluminum tubes. The quality of the drops on SAMs, based on visual observation, was found to be similar for the three surfaces, with the gold surface showing a slight superiority. When compared to complete filmwise condensation, the SAM coating increased the condensation heat transfer coefficient by factors of 4 for gold-coated aluminum, and by about 5 for copper and copper-nickel tubes, under vacuum operation (10 kPa). The respective enhancements under atmospheric conditions were about 9 and 14. Comparatively, the heat transfer coefficient obtained with a bare gold surface (with no organic coating) was 2.5 times that of the filmwise condensation heat transfer coefficient under vacuum, and 3.4 at atmospheric conditions. [S0022-1481(00)02502-0]

RSC Advances ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (64) ◽  
pp. 59405-59409 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mengnan Qu ◽  
Jia Liu ◽  
Jinmei He

A copper-based zinc oxide nanopencil array film was reported. Compared with hydrophobic flat Cu surface, it exhibits condensate microdrop self-propelling function and maximal ∼140% enhancement in dropwise condensation heat transfer coefficient.


Author(s):  
Atsushi Tokunaga ◽  
Masaki Mizutani ◽  
Gyoko Nagayama ◽  
Takaharu Tsuruta

The micro/nano scale phase change phenomena become more and more important because the MEMS technology develops rapidly in the fields of electro- and bio-devices [1][2] and the MEMS enable us to control the surface wettability. In the dropwise condensation on the hydrophobic surface, the heat transfer coefficient is determined by the departing droplet size. In our previous paper, it was found that the droplets in radius around 7 μm made more significant contribution to the condensation heat transfer under the low-pressure conditions. That is, when the smaller droplets less than 7 μm cover the condensing surface, the higher condensing heat flux would be achieved than that of the ordinary dropwise condensation. However, it is still very difficult to keep the droplets to be continuous condensed within 7 μm at the surface. A challenging work has been conducted to fabricate a droplets exclusion structure on the condensing surface for the purpose of the enhancement of condensation heat transfer in our previous experiment [3]. By using the MEMS technology, we made the hybrid-condensing surface with hydrophobic and hydrophilic patterns in order to remove the grown droplets effectively. It was found that the hybrid-surface has a possibility to increase the condensation heat transfer coefficient but its drainage-ability of the condensate has the limitation due to the occurrence of the flooding over the surface structures. In order to reduce the flooding at the hydrophobic area, in this study, the new design of the condensing surface has been proposed and the condensation heat transfer coefficient is evaluated.


Author(s):  
Brandon Hulet ◽  
Andres Martinez ◽  
Melanie Derby ◽  
Amy Rachel Betz

This research experimentally investigates the heat transfer performance of open-micro channels under filmwise condensation conditions. Filmwise condensation is an important factor in the design of steam condensers used in thermoelectric power generation, desalination, and other industrial applications. Filmwise condensation averages five times lower heat transfer coefficients than those present in dropwise condensation, and filmwise condensation is the dominant condensation regime in the steam condensers due to a lack of a durable dropwise condensation surface. Film thickness is also of concern because it is directly proportional to the condenser’s overall thermal resistance. This research focuses on optimizing the channel size to inhibit the creation of a water film and/or to reduce its overall thickness in order to maximize the heat transfer coefficient of the surface. Condensation heat transfer was measured in three square channels and a plane surface as a control. The sizes of the square fins were 0.25 mm; 0.5 mm; and 1 mm, and tests were done at a constant pressure of 6.2 kPa. At lower heat fluxes, the 0.25mm fins perform better, whereas at larger heat fluxes a smooth surface offers better performance. At lower heat fluxes, droplets are swept away by gravity before the channels are flooded. Whereas, at higher heat fluxes, the channels are flooded increasing the total film thickness, thereby reducing the heat transfer coefficient.


2000 ◽  
Vol 122 (3) ◽  
pp. 613-620 ◽  
Author(s):  
Z. Guo ◽  
N. K. Anand

An analytical model to predict condensation heat transfer coefficient in a horizontal rectangular channel was developed. The total local condensation heat transfer coefficient was represented as the weighted average of heat transfer coefficients for each wall. The analytical predictions compared well with the experimental data on the condensation of R-410A in a rectangular channel. The mean deviation was 6.75 percent. [S0022-1481(00)00503-X]


2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pradeep A. Patil ◽  
S. N. Sapali

An experimental test facility is designed and built to calculate condensation heat transfer coefficients and pressure drops for HFC-134a, R-404A, R-407C, R-507A in a smooth and micro-fin tube. The main objective of the experimentation is to investigate the enhancement in condensation heat transfer coefficient and increase in pressure drop using micro-fin tube for different condensing temperatures and further to develop an empirical correlation for heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop, which takes into account the micro-fin tube geometry, variation of condensing temperature and temperature difference (difference between condensing temperature and average temperature of cooling medium). The experimental setup has a facility to vary the different operating parameters such as condensing temperature, cooling water temperature, flow rate of refrigerant and cooling water etc and study their effect on heat transfer coefficients and pressure drops. The hermetically sealed reciprocating compressor is used in the system, thus the effect of lubricating oil on the heat transfer coefficient is taken in to account. This paper reports the detailed description of design and development of the test apparatus, control devices, instrumentation, and the experimental procedure. It also covers the comparative study of experimental apparatus with the existing one from the available literature survey. The condensation and pressure drop of HFC-134a in a smooth tube are measured and obtained the values of condensation heat transfer coefficients for different mass flux and condensing temperatures using modified Wilson plot technique with correlation coefficient above 0.9. The condensation heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop increases with increasing mass flux and decreases with increasing condensing temperature. The results are compared with existing available correlations for validation of test facility. The experimental data points have good association with available correlations except Cavallini-Zecchin Correlation.


Author(s):  
Wei Li ◽  
Dan Huang ◽  
Zan Wu ◽  
Hong-Xia Li ◽  
Zhao-Yan Zhang ◽  
...  

An experimental investigation was performed for convective condensation of R410A inside four micro-fin tubes with the same outside diameter (OD) 5 mm and helix angle 18°. Data are for mass fluxes ranging from about 180 to 650 kg/m2s. The nominal saturation temperature is 320 K, with inlet and outlet qualities of 0.8 and 0.1, respectively. The results suggest that Tube 4 has the best thermal performance for its largest condensation heat transfer coefficient and relatively low pressure drop penalty. Condensation heat transfer coefficient decreases at first and then increases or flattens out gradually as G decreases. This complex mass-flux effect may be explained by the complex interactions between micro-fins and fluid. The heat transfer enhancement mechanism is mainly due to the surface area increase over the plain tube at large mass fluxes, while liquid drainage and interfacial turbulence play important roles in heat transfer enhancement at low mass fluxes. In addition, the experimental data was analyzed using seven existing pressure-drop and four heat-transfer models to verify their respective accuracies.


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