A Numerical Model to Investigate Evaporative Condensers Behaviour at Tube Scale

Author(s):  
Maria Fiorentino ◽  
Giuseppe Starace

Evaporative condensers operate at lower temperatures and with a higher efficiency compared to air condensers, as heat rejection is limited by air wet bulb temperature and mainly caused by water vaporization. This reduces the compressor pressure-lift and improves refrigeration cycle performance. Due to complex phenomena of heat and mass transfer on the tube bundles, modeling the evaporative condensers is a hard task and fine grids in numerical simulations are requested to reach acceptable results. A two-dimensional steady state numerical model at the single tube scale has been developed in Ansys-Fluent (release- 14.5), adopting the VOF multiphase model. Moist air has been treated as a mixture of air and water vapor species, while water vaporization and latent heat have been modeled with a C++ User Defined Function. The tube wall temperature has been assumed constant. The aim of this work is to describe the developed numerical model and to validate it by comparing results obtained at different operating conditions with empirical relationships found in the literature in terms of combined and overall heat transfer coefficients. Combined heat transfer coefficient variation along the tube surface has been analyzed, observing that the heat transfer coefficient is higher in the impingement zone, becomes approximately uniform and rises approaching the trailing edge. Moisture content distributions at different sections through the heat exchanger have been examined in detail as well. This study will be the basis to investigate the performance of the whole condenser taking into account the real evolution of the operating conditions of each single tube in the bundle, whatever its arrangement.

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
Felix C. von Plehwe ◽  
Corina Schwitzke ◽  
Hans-Jörg Bauer

Abstract To design gearboxes with very high power densities, an effective means of cooling the gears and knowledge of the achievable heat transfer coefficients are necessary. In this paper, a method to measure heat transfer coefficients for oil injection cooled gears is presented. Contrary to other experimental investigations, a single hollow spur gear is used. To measure heat transfer coefficients, a temperature gradient between the gear and the hot oil needs to be induced. This is achieved by injecting hot oil at realistic temperatures and cooling the inside diameter of the gear. This enables the measurement of heat transfer coefficients in absence of any dissipative or frictional losses, decreasing the measurement uncertainty. In addition, the novel method yields spatially resolved HTC data. The uncertainty of the method is assessed using Monte Carlo simulations. Experimental results for various operating conditions are presented. For all investigated oil flow rates, the same characteristic behavior of average heat transfer coefficient versus rotational speed was observed. This observation can be explained by using a kinematic model of the oil jet. The geometry of the gear and the cooling arrangement as well as the spatially resolved HTC data presented in this paper provide a complete basis for the validation of numerical simulations.


Author(s):  
Luzeng J. Zhang ◽  
Boris Glezer

Detailed knowledge of local external heat transfer around a turbine airfoil is critical for an accurate prediction of metal temperature and component life. This paper discusses the results of measurements of the local gas side heat transfer coefficient distribution which were performed in an annular gas turbine vane hot-cascade test facility and provides comparisons with analytical predictions. The steady state tests were performed at simulated engine operating conditions. The tests were conducted on an internally cooled airfoil with the intent to provide close to uniform coolant temperature at the mid-span of the airfoil and also to obtain a high heat flux through the wall, minimizing uncertainty. Internal coolant side heal transfer coefficients were measured through calibration tests outside the cascade by a wire heater. A calibrated infrared pyrometer was used to provide detailed airfoil surface local temperatures and the corresponding external heat transfer coefficients. The airfoil was instrumented with a number of thermocouples for both calibration and temperature measurement. A 12% freestream turbulence was generated by a turbulence grid upstream of the test cascade. The static pressure measured over the test vane agreed well with invicid predictions. Heat transfer coefficients were measured and compared to a TEXSTAN boundary layer code prediction. The influence of Reynolds number and Mach number on the airfoil external heat transfer coefficient were also studied and is presented in the paper.


2019 ◽  
Vol 111 ◽  
pp. 01001
Author(s):  
Hansol Lim ◽  
Hye-Jin Cho ◽  
Seong-Yong Cheon ◽  
Soo-Jin Lee ◽  
Jae-Weon Jeong

A phase change material based radiant cooling panel with thermoelectric module (PCM-TERCP) is proposed in this study. It consists of two aluminium panels, and phase change materials (PCMs) sandwiched between the two panels. Thermoelectric modules (TEMs) are attached to one of the aluminium panels, and heat sinks are attached to the top side of TEMs. PCM-TERCP is a thermal energy storage concept equipment, in which TEMs freeze the PCM during the night whose melting temperature is 16○C. Therefore, the radiant cooling panel can maintain a surface temperature of 16◦C without the operation of TEM during the day. Furthermore, it is necessary to design the PCM-TERCP in a way that it can maintain the panel surface temperature during the targeted operating time. Therefore, the numerical model was developed using finite difference method to evaluate the thermal behaviour of PCM-TERCP. Experiments were also conducted to validate the performance of the developed model. Using the developed model, the possible operation time was investigated to determine the overall heat transfer coefficient required between radiant cooling panel and TEM. Consequently, the results showed that a overall heat transfer coefficient of 394 W/m2K is required to maintain the surface temperature between 16○C to 18○C for a 3 hours operation.


Author(s):  
Ann-Christin Fleer ◽  
Markus Richter ◽  
Roland Span

AbstractInvestigations of flow boiling in highly viscous fluids show that heat transfer mechanisms in such fluids are different from those in fluids of low viscosity like refrigerants or water. To gain a better understanding, a modified standard apparatus was developed; it was specifically designed for fluids of high viscosity up to 1000 Pa∙s and enables heat transfer measurements with a single horizontal test tube over a wide range of heat fluxes. Here, we present measurements of the heat transfer coefficient at pool boiling conditions in highly viscous binary mixtures of three different polydimethylsiloxanes (PDMS) and n-pentane, which is the volatile component in the mixture. Systematic measurements were carried out to investigate pool boiling in mixtures with a focus on the temperature, the viscosity of the non-volatile component and the fraction of the volatile component on the heat transfer coefficient. Furthermore, copper test tubes with polished and sanded surfaces were used to evaluate the influence of the surface structure on the heat transfer coefficient. The results show that viscosity and composition of the mixture have the strongest effect on the heat transfer coefficient in highly viscous mixtures, whereby the viscosity of the mixture depends on the base viscosity of the used PDMS, on the concentration of n-pentane in the mixture, and on the temperature. For nucleate boiling, the influence of the surface structure of the test tube is less pronounced than observed in boiling experiments with pure fluids of low viscosity, but the relative enhancement of the heat transfer coefficient is still significant. In particular for mixtures with high concentrations of the volatile component and at high pool temperature, heat transfer coefficients increase with heat flux until they reach a maximum. At further increased heat fluxes the heat transfer coefficients decrease again. Observed temperature differences between heating surface and pool are much larger than for boiling fluids with low viscosity. Temperature differences up to 137 K (for a mixture containing 5% n-pentane by mass at a heat flux of 13.6 kW/m2) were measured.


Author(s):  
Jatuporn Kaew-On ◽  
Somchai Wongwises

The evaporation heat transfer coefficients and pressure drops of R-410A and R-134a flowing through a horizontal-aluminium rectangular multiport mini-channel having a hydraulic diameter of 3.48 mm are experimentally investigated. The test runs are done at refrigerant mass fluxes ranging between 200 and 400 kg/m2s. The heat fluxes are between 5 and 14.25 kW/m2, and refrigerant saturation temperatures are between 10 and 30 °C. The effects of the refrigerant vapour quality, mass flux, saturation temperature and imposed heat flux on the measured heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop are investigated. The experimental data show that in the same conditions, the heat transfer coefficients of R-410A are about 20–50% higher than those of R-134a, whereas the pressure drops of R-410A are around 50–100% lower than those of R-134a. The new correlations for the evaporation heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop of R-410A and R-134a in a multiport mini-channel are proposed for practical applications.


1993 ◽  
Vol 115 (4) ◽  
pp. 231-236 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. B. Sharma ◽  
S. C. Mullick

An approximate method for calculation of the hourly output of a solar still over a 24-hour cycle has been studied. The hourly performance of a solar still is predicted given the values of the insolation, ambient temperature, wind heat-transfer coefficient, water depth, and the heat-transfer coefficient through base and sides. The proposed method does not require graphical constructions and does not assume constant heat-transfer coefficients as in the previous methods. The possibility of using the values of the heat-transfer coefficients for the preceding time interval in the heat balance equations is examined. In fact, two variants of the basic method of calculation are examined. The hourly rate of evaporation is obtained. The results are compared to those obtained by numerical solution of the complete set of heat balance equations. The errors from the approximate method in prediction of the 24-hour output are within ±1.5 percent of the values from the numerical solution using the heat balance equations. The range of variables covered is 5 to 15 cms in water depth, 0 to 3 W/m2K in a heat-transfer coefficient through base and sides, and 5 to 40 W/m2K in a wind heat-transfer coefficient.


Author(s):  
Nirm V. Nirmalan ◽  
Ronald S. Bunker ◽  
Carl R. Hedlung

A new method has been developed and demonstrated for the non-destructive, quantitative assessment of internal heat transfer coefficient distributions of cooled metallic turbine airfoils. The technique employs the acquisition of full-surface external surface temperature data in response to a thermal transient induced by internal heating/cooling, in conjunction with knowledge of the part wall thickness and geometry, material properties, and internal fluid temperatures. An imaging Infrared camera system is used to record the complete time history of the external surface temperature response during a transient initiated by the introduction of a convecting fluid through the cooling circuit of the part. The transient data obtained is combined with the cooling fluid network model to provide the boundary conditions for a finite element model representing the complete part geometry. A simple 1D lumped thermal capacitance model for each local wall position is used to provide a first estimate of the internal surface heat transfer coefficient distribution. A 3D inverse transient conduction model of the part is then executed with updated internal heat transfer coefficients until convergence is reached with the experimentally measured external wall temperatures as a function of time. This new technique makes possible the accurate quantification of full-surface internal heat transfer coefficient distributions for prototype and production metallic airfoils in a totally non-destructive and non-intrusive manner. The technique is equally applicable to other material types and other cooled/heated components.


Author(s):  
Godwin Ita Ekong ◽  
Christopher A. Long ◽  
Peter R. N. Childs

Compressor tip clearance for a gas turbine engine application is the radial gap between the stationary compressor casing and the rotating blades. The gap varies significantly during different operating conditions of the engine due to centrifugal forces on the rotor and differential thermal expansions in the discs and casing. The tip clearance in the axial flow compressor of modern commercial civil aero-engines is of significance in terms of both mechanical integrity and performance. In general, the clearance is of critical importance to civil airline operators and their customers alike because as the clearance between the compressor blade tips and the casing increases, the aerodynamic efficiency will decrease and therefore the specific fuel consumption and operating costs will increase. This paper reports on the development of a range of concepts and their evaluation for the reduction and control of tip clearance in H.P. compressors using an enhanced heat transfer coefficient approach. This would lead to improvement in cruise tip clearances. A test facility has been developed for the study at the University of Sussex, incorporating a rotor and an inner shaft scaled down from a Rolls-Royce Trent aero-engine to a ratio of 0.7:1 with a rotational speed of up to 10000 rpm. The idle and maximum take-off conditions in the square cycle correspond to in-cavity rotational Reynolds numbers of 3.1×106 ≤ Reφ ≤ 1.0×107. The project involved modelling of the experimental facilities, to demonstrate proof of concept. The analysis shows that increasing the thermal response of the high pressure compressor (HPC) drum of a gas turbine engine assembly will reduce the drum time constant, thereby reducing the re-slam characteristics of the drum causing a reduction in the cold build clearance (CBC), and hence the reduction in cruise clearance. A further reduction can be achieved by introducing radial inflow into the drum cavity to further increase the disc heat transfer coefficient in the cavity; hence a further reduction in disc drum time constant.


2022 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-39
Author(s):  
Cigdem Susantez ◽  
Aldelio Bueno Caldeira

Understanding the heat transfer phenomenon during interior ballistics and consequently presenting a realistic model is very important to predict the temperature distribution inside the cannon barrel, which influences the gun wear and the cook-off. The objective of this work is to present a new detailed numerical model for the prediction of thermal behaviour of a cannon barrel by combining PRODAS interior ballistics simulation with COMSOL simulation. In this study, a numerical model has been proposed for the heating behaviour of a 120 mm smoothbore cannon barrel, taking into account the combustion equation of the JA-2 propellant. Temperature dependent thermophysical properties of product gases were used for the calculation of the convective heat transfer coefficient inside the barrel. Projectile position, velocity of the projectile, gas temperature inside the barrel, volume behind the projectile and mass fraction during interior ballistics have been obtained by PRODAS software and used in the numerical model performed by COMSOL multiphysics finite element modelling and simulation software. Temperature simulations show that maximum wall temperature inside the cannon barrel is observed after 3 ms from fire, when maximum value of the convective heat transfer coefficient inside the barrel is observed. The results reveal that the convective heat transfer coefficient of burned gases inside the gun has major effect than the burned gas temperature on the heat transfer phenomenon.


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