Condensation heat transfer characteristics of R-22, R-134a and R-410A in a single circular microtube

The condensation heat transfer coefficients of R-22, R-134a and R-410A in a single circular microtube were investigated experimentally. The experiments are conducted without oil in the refrigerant loop. The test section is a smooth, horizontal copper tube of 1.77 mm inner diameter. The experiments were conducted at mass flux of 450-1050 kg/m² s, saturation temperature of 40 °C. The test results showed that in case of single-phase flow, the single-phase Nusselt Number measured by experimental data was higher than that calculated by Gnielinski correlation. In case of two-phase flow, the condensation heat transfer coefficient of R-410A was higher than that of R-22 and R-134a at the given mass flux. The condensation heat transfer coefficient of R-22 showed almost a similar value to that of R-134a. Most of the existing correlations which were proposed in the large diameter tube failed to predict condensing heat transfer. And also, recently proposed correlation in the single circular microtube is considered not adequate for small diameter tube. Therefore, it is necessary to develop accurate and reliable correlation to predict heat transfer characteristics in the single circular microtube.     

Evaporation flow pattern and heat transfer of R-22 and R-134a in small diameter tubes

The flow patterns and heat transfer coefficients of R-22 and R-134a during evaporation in small diameter tubes were investigated experimentally. The evaporation flow patterns of R-22 and R-134a were observed in Pyrex sight glass tubes with 2 and 8 mm diameter tube, and heat transfer coefficients were measured in smooth and horizontal copper tubes with 1.77, 3.36 and 5.35 mm diameter tube, respectively. In the flow patterns during evaporation process, the annular flows in 2 mm glass tube occurred at a relatively lower vapor quality compared to 8 mm glass tube. The flow patterns in 2 mm glass tube did not agree with the Mandhane’s flow pattern maps. The evaporation heat transfer coefficients in the small diameter tubes (d _i  < 6 mm) were observed to be strongly affected by tube diameters, and to differ from those in the large diameter tubes. The heat transfer coefficients of 1.77 mm tube were higher than those of 3.36 mm and 5.35 mm tube. Most of the existing correlations failed to predict the evaporation heat transfer coefficient in small diameter tubes. Therefore, based on the experimental data, the new correlation is proposed to predict the evaporation heat transfer coefficients of R-22 and R-134a in small diameter tubes.     

Condensation heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of R-290, R-600a, R-134a and R-22 in horizontal tubes

This paper presents the experimental results of condensation heat transfer coefficients of hydrocarbon (HC) refrigerants R-290 and R-600a, hydrochlorofluorocarbon (HCFC) refrigerant R-22, and hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerant R-134a in a horizontal double-pipe heat exchanger having pipe inner diameters of 10.07, 7.73, 6.54, and 5.80 mm. The condensation process experiments were conducted at mass flux of 35.5–210.4 kg/m² s and condensation temperature of 40°C. The main results were summarized as follows: The average condensation heat transfer coefficients of R-290 and R-600a were higher than those of R-22 and R-134a. The pressure drops of the four refrigerants were in the order of R-600a > R-290 > R-134a > R-22. The pressure drops of R-600a, R-290, R-134a, and R-22 were approximately 6–15, 9.8–12.5, 4.3–6.7, and 2.1–4.6% higher, respectively, in the 10.7 mm diameter tubes compared to the 5.80 mm diameter tubes. Comparing the condensation heat transfer coefficients of our experimental results with those of other correlations, our experimental data in all the test tubes coincided best with that of Haraguchi et al.     

Evaporation heat transfer and flow characteristics of R-134a flowing through internally grooved tubes

This article describes experimental investigations of the heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop of R-134a flowing inside internally grooved tubes. The test tubes are one smooth tube and four grooved tubes. All test tubes are made from type 304 stainless steel, have an inner diameter of 7.1 mm, are 2,000 mm long and are installed horizontally. The test section is uniformly heated by a DC power supply to create evaporation conditions. The groove depth of all grooved tubes is fixed at 0.2 mm. The experimental conditions are conducted at saturation temperatures of 20, 25 and 30°C, heat fluxes of 5, 10 and 15 kW/m², and mass fluxes of 300, 500 and 700 kg/m² s. The effects of groove pitch, mass flux, heat flux, and saturation temperature on heat transfer coefficient and frictional pressure drop are discussed. The results illustrate that the grooved tubes have a significant effect on the heat transfer coefficient and frictional pressure drop augmentations.     

Condensation pressure drop of R22, R134a and R410A in a single circular microtube

The condensation pressure drop characteristics for pure refrigerants R22, R134a, and a binary refrigerant mixture R410A without lubricating oil in a single circular microtube were investigated experimentally. The test section consists of 1,220?mm length with horizontal copper tube of 3.38?mm outer diameter and 1.77?mm inner diameter. The experiments were conducted at refrigerant mass flux of 450–1,050?kg/m²s, and saturation temperature of 40°C. The main experimental results showed that the condensation pressure drop of R134a is higher than that of R22 and R410A for the same mass flux. The experimental data were compared against 14 two-phase pressure drop correlations. A new pressure drop model that is based on a superposition model for refrigerants condensing in the single circular tube is presented.     

Flow regimes and two-phase pressure gradient in horizontal straight tubes: Experimental results for HFO-1234yf, R-134a and R-410A

Two-phase flow regime visualizations of HFO-1234yf and R-134a in a 6.70 mm inner diameter glass straight tube have been simultaneous investigated by top and side views with a high speed high resolution camera. No major difference was observed between both refrigerants. HFO-1234yf flow regimes were satisfactorily predicted by the Wojtan et al. [1] flow pattern map. In addition, 819 pressure drop data points measured during two-phase flow of refrigerants HFO-1234yf, R-134a and R-410A in horizontal straight tubes are presented. The tube diameter (D) varies from 7.90 to 10.85 mm. The mass velocity ranges from 187 to 1702 kg m⁻² s⁻¹ and the saturation temperatures from 4.8 °C to 20.7 °C. The results are compared against 10 well-known two-phase frictional pressure drop prediction methods. For the entire database, the best accuracy is given by the method of Müller-Steinhagen and Heck [2] with around 90% of the data predicted within a ±30% error band. An analysis was carried out on the maximum pressure gradient and on the corresponding vapor quality. A statistical analysis for each flow regime was also carried out.     

Prediction of heat transfer coefficients and friction factors for evaporation of R-134a flowing inside corrugated tubes

In this study, experimental and simulation studies of the evaporation heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop of R-134a flowing through corrugated tubes are conducted. The test section is a horizontal counter-flow concentric tube-in-tube heat exchanger 2.0 m in length. A smooth tube and corrugated tubes with inner diameters of 8.7 mm are used as the inner tube. The outer tube is made from a smooth copper tube with an inner diameter of 21.2 mm. The corrugation pitches used in this study are 5.08, 6.35, and 8.46 mm. Similarly, the corrugation depths are 1, 1.25, and 1.5 mm, respectively. The results show that the maximum heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop obtained from the corrugated tube are up to 22 and 19 % higher than those obtained from the smooth tube, respectively. In addition, the average difference of the heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop between the simulation model and experimental data are about 10 and 15 %, respectively.     

Subcooled flow boiling of R-134a in vertical channels of small diameter

Subcooled flow boiling heat transfer for refrigerant R-134a in vertical cylindrical tubes with 0.83, 1.22 and 1.70 mm internal diameter was experimentally investigated. The effects of the heat flux, q″ = 1–26 kW/m², mass flux, G = 300–700 kg/m² s, inlet subcooling, ΔT_sub,i = 5–15 °C, system pressure, P = 7.70–10.17 bar, and channel diameter, D, on the subcooled boiling heat transfer were explored in detail. The results are presented in the form of boiling curves and heat transfer coefficients. The boiling curves evidenced the existence of hysteresis when increasing the heat flux until the onset of nucleate boiling, ONB. The wall superheat at ONB was found to be essentially higher than that predicted with correlations for larger tubes. An increase of the mass flux leads, for early subcooled boiling, to an increase in the heat transfer coefficient. However, for fully developed subcooled boiling, increases of the mass flux only result in a slight improvement of the heat transfer. Higher inlet subcooling, higher system pressure and smaller channel diameter lead to better boiling heat transfer. Experimental heat transfer coefficients are compared to predictions from classical correlations available in the literature. None of them predicts the experimental data for all tested conditions.     

Evaporation heat transfer and friction characteristics of R-134a flowing downward in a vertical corrugated tube

Differently from most previous studies, the heat transfer and friction characteristics of the pure refrigerant HFC-134a during evaporation inside a vertical corrugated tube are experimentally investigated. The double tube test sections are 0.5 m long with refrigerant flowing in the inner tube and heating water flowing in the annulus. The inner tubes are one smooth tube and two corrugated tubes, which are constructed from smooth copper tube of 8.7 mm inner diameter. The test runs are performed at evaporating temperatures of 10, 15, and 20 °C, heat fluxes of 20, 25, and 30 kW/m², and mass fluxes of 200, 300, and 400 kg/m² s. The quality of the refrigerant in the test section is calculated using the temperature and pressure obtained from the experiment. The pressure drop across the test section is measured directly by a differential pressure transducer. The effects of heat flux, mass flux, and evaporation temperature on the heat transfer coefficient and two-phase friction factor are also discussed. It is found that the percentage increases of the heat transfer coefficient and the two-phase friction factor of the corrugated tubes compared with those of the smooth tube are approximately 0-10% and 70-140%, respectively.     

Two-phase heat transfer characteristics for R-22/R-407C in a 6.5-mm smooth tube

Two-phase friction and heat transfer characteristics for R-22/R-407C inside a 6.5-mm smooth tube are reported in this study. The heat transfer results for G=100 and 400 kg/m² s were reported in the present study, and the adiabatic frictional pressure drop was recorded in the range of 100 to 700 kg/m² s. It is found that the development of flow pattern for R-407C falls behind R-22. This may explain the lower pressure drops for R-407C. The major heat transfer mechanism at low mass flux is nucleate boiling, and virtually becomes the convective evaporation as mass flux increase to G=400 krg/m² s, Meanwhile, the reduction of heat transfer coefficients for R-407C mixtures are especially profound at low mass flux, and the reduction of heat transfer coefficient decreases with the increase of mass flux.     

Flow boiling heat transfer study of R-134a/R-290/R-600a mixture in 9.52 and 12.7 mm smooth horizontal tubes: Experimental investigation

A detailed experimental investigation is carried out to study the flow boiling heat transfer behavior of R-134a/R-290/R-600a (91%/4.068%/4.932% by mass) refrigerant mixture in smooth horizontal tubes of diameter 9.52 and 12.7 mm. The heat transfer coefficients of the mixture are experimentally measured under varied heat flux conditions for stratified flow patterns using a coaxial counter-current heat exchanger test section. The tests are conducted for refrigerant inlet temperatures between ?9 and 5 °C and mass flow rates ranging from 3 to 5 g s^?1. Kattan–Thome–Favrat maps are used to confirm the flow patterns for the tested conditions. The magnitude of the heat transfer coefficient with respect to flow patterns and different mechanisms of boiling are discussed. The heat transfer coefficient of the refrigerant mixture is also compared with that of R-134a for selected working conditions. The significance of nucleate boiling in the overall heat transfer process under these testing conditions is highlighted.     

Heat and mass transfer characteristics of a horizontal tube falling film absorber with small diameter tubes

This paper presents experimental results of the heat and mass transfer characteristics of a water–LiBr horizontal tube absorber made of small diameter tubes. The experimental set up includes a tube absorber, a generator, solution distribution system and cooling water system. Three different tube diameters of 15.88, 12.70 and 9.52 mm have been installed inside the absorber to investigate the effect of the tube diameter on the absorber performance. The experimental results show that the heat and mass transfer performance of the absorber increases as the tube diameter decreases. A comparison of the heat and mass transfer coefficients of the present study agree reasonable well with that of the previous studies.     

Condensation pressure drop of HFC-134a and R-404A in a smooth and micro-fin U-tube

The frictional pressure drop during condensation of HFC-134a and R-404A in a smooth (8.56 mm ID) and micro-fin U-tubes (8.96 mm ID) are experimentally investigated. Different from previous studies, the present experiments are performed for various condensing temperatures. The test runs are done at average saturated condensing temperatures ranging from 35 °C to 60 °C. The mass fluxes are between 90 and 800 kg/m²s. The experimental results indicate that the average frictional pressure drop increases with mass flux but decreases with increasing condensing temperature for both smooth and micro-fin-tubes. The average frictional pressure drops of HFC-134a and R-404A for the micro-fin-tubes were 1-1.7 and 1-2.1 times larger than that in smooth tube respectively. New correlations based on the data gathered during the experimentation for predicting frictional pressure drop are proposed for wide range of operating conditions.     

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

An experimental investigation has been carried out to study the heat transfer characteristics during evaporation of R-134a inside a single helical microfin tube. The microfin tube has been provided with different tube inclination angles of the direction of fluid flow from horizontal, α. The experiments were performed for seven different tube inclinations, α, in a range of −90° to +90° and four mass velocities of 53, 80, 107 and 136 kg/m² s for each tube inclination angle during evaporation of R-134a. The results demonstrate that the tube inclination angle, α, affects the boiling heat-transfer coefficient in a significant manner. For all refrigerant mass velocities, the best performing tube is that having inclination angle of α = +90°. The effect of tube inclination angle, α, on heat-transfer coefficient, h, is more prominent at low vapor quality and mass velocity. An empirical correlation has also been developed to predict the heat-transfer coefficient during flow boiling inside a microfin tube with different tube inclinations.     

Visual observation of two-phase flow pattern of R-22, R-134a, and R-407C in a 6.5-mm smooth tube

Two-phase flow pattern and friction characteristics for R-22, R-134a, and R-407C inside a 6.5 mm smooth tube are reported in this study. The range of mass flux is between 50 and 700 kg/(m² s). The experimental data show that the two-phase friction multipliers are strongly related to the flow pattern. For a stratified, wavy flow pattern a mass-flux dependence of the multipliers is seen. The flow pattern transition for the mixture refrigerant shows a considerable delay, compared with that of pure refrigerant.     

Flow regime visualization and pressure drops of HFO-1234yf,R-134a and R-410A during downward two-phase flow in vertical return bends

This paper provides a qualitative visual observation of the two-phase flow patterns for HFO-1234yf and R-134a during downward flow in a vertical 6.7 mm inner diameter glass return bend. The different flow regimes observed are: slug, intermittent and annular flows. Bubble and vapor slug dynamical behaviors in downward slug flow are reported for HFO-1234yf. In addition, to determine the perturbation lengths up- and downstream of the return bend, the total pressure drop has been measured at different pressure tap location up- and downstream of the singularity. Furthermore, 285 pressure drop data points measured for two-phase flow of HFO-1234yf, R-134a and R-410A in vertical downward flow return bends are presented. The flow behavior in the return bend, which is subjected to the complex combined actions of gravity and centrifugal force was expressed in terms of the vapor Froude number. This experimental pressure drop database, which is included in the appendix, is compared to four well-known prediction methods available in the literature.     

Experimental study of R134A condensation heat transfer inside the horizontal micro-fin tubes

The Investigation of the two-phase flow patterns and their transitions during the condensation has gained increasing interest and importance from the well-known phenomenon that the heat transfer characteristics are strongly dependent on the flow patterns. Therefore, it is very important to study on which heat transfer enhancement approach is suitable for an individual flow pattern inside a condenser, so that an accurate heat transfer mechanism can be understood that is consistent with the flow patterns. The condensation heat transfer for R134a in the two kinds of in-tube three-dimensional (3-D) micro-fin tubes with different geometries is experimentally investigated. Based on the flow pattern observations, the flow patterns in the Soliman flow regime map are divided into two-flow regimes; one with the vapor-shear-dominant annular regime and the other with the gravitational-force-dominant stratified-wavy regime. The flow regime transition criterion between the annular regime and the stratified-wavy regime is at Fr equal to 2. In the annular regime, the heat transfer coefficients h of the two kinds of in-tube 3-D micro-fin tubes decreases as the vapor quality x decreases. The regressed condensation heat transfer correlation from the experimental data of the annular flow region is obtained. The dispersibility of the experimental data is inside the limits of ±25%. In the stratified-wavy regime, the average heat transfer coefficient h of the two kinds of in-tube 3-D micro-fin tubes increases as the mass flux increases and the number of micro fins in the 3-D micro-fin tube is not the controlling factor for the performance of a condensation heat transfer. The regressed condensation heat transfer correlation of the stratified-wavy flow regime is experimentally obtained. The dispersibility of the experimental data is inside the limits of ±22%. Combined with the criteria of flow pattern transitions, the correlations can be used for the design of a condenser with 3-D micro-fin tubes.     

Roughness and surface material effects on nucleate boiling heat transfer from cylindrical surfaces to refrigerants R-134a and R-123

This paper presents results of an experimental investigation carried out to determine the effects of the surface roughness of different materials on nucleate boiling heat transfer of refrigerants R-134a and R-123. Experiments have been performed over cylindrical surfaces of copper, brass and stainless steel. Surfaces have been treated by different methods in order to obtain an average roughness, Ra, varying from 0.03 μm to 10.5 μm. Boiling curves at different reduced pressures have been raised as part of the investigation. The obtained results have shown significant effects of the surface material, with brass being the best performing and stainless steel the worst. Polished surfaces seem to present slightly better performance than the sand paper roughened. Boiling on very rough surfaces presents a peculiar behavior characterized by good thermal performance at low heat fluxes, the performance deteriorating at high heat fluxes with respect to smoother surfaces.     

Flow boiling heat transfer and pressure drop of R-134a in a mini tube: an experimental investigation

This paper presents the results of an experimental study carried out with R-134a during flow boiling in a horizontal tube of 2.6 mm ID. The experimental tests included (i) heat fluxes in the range from 10 to 100 kW/m², (ii) the refrigerant mass velocities set to the discrete values in the range of 240-930 kg/(m² s) and (iii) saturation temperature of 12 and 22 °C. The study analyzed the heat transfer, through the local heat transfer coefficient along of flow, and pressure drop, under the variation of these different parameters. It was possible to observe the significant influence of heat flux in the heat transfer coefficient and mass velocity in the pressure drop, besides the effects of saturation temperature. In the low quality region, it was possible to observe a significant influence of heat flux on the heat transfer coefficient. In the high vapor quality region, for high mass velocities, this influence tended to vanish, and the coefficient decreased. The influence of mass velocity in the heat transfer coefficient was detected in most tests for a threshold value of vapor quality, which was higher as the heat flux increased. For higher heat flux the heat transfer coefficient was nearly independent of mass velocity. The frictional pressure drop increased with the increase in vapor quality and mass velocity. Predictive models for heat transfer coefficient in mini channels were evaluated and the calculated coefficient agreed well with measured data within a range 35% for saturation temperature of 22 °C. These results extend the ranges of heat fluxes and mass velocities beyond values available in literature, and add a substantial contribution to the comprehension of boiling heat transfer phenomena inside mini channels.     

Interfacial measurements in stratified types of flow. Part II: Measurements for R-22 and R-410A

A new optical void fraction measurement system has been coupled to a flow boiling test facility to obtain dynamic and time-averaged void fractions in a horizontal tube. A series of evaporation tests have been run for two refrigerants. R-22 was tested under mass velocity conditions of 70, 100, 150 and 200 kg/m² s and R-410A for 70, 150, 200 and 300 kg/m² s in a 13.6 mm diameter glass tube. Using our newly developed image processing system, about 227 000 images have been analyzed in this study to provide the same number of dynamic void fraction measurements. From these images, 238 time-averaged void fraction values have been obtained for vapor qualities from 0.01 to 0.95. These experimental points show very good agreement with the horizontal version of the Rouhani–Axelsson drift flux void fraction model.