Thermophysical Properties of Two-Phase Refrigerant Based Nanofluids in a Refrigeration Cycle

Author(s):  
Bilgehan Tekin ◽  
Almila G. Yazicioglu

Nanofluids are a class of fluids with nanoparticles suspended in a base fluid. The aim for using nanofluids is often to improve the thermophysical properties of the base fluid so as to enhance the energy transfer efficiency. As the technology develops; the size of devices and systems needs to get smaller to fulfill the engineering requirements and/or to be leading among competitors. The use of nanofluids in heat transfer applications seems to be a viable solution to current heat transfer problems, albeit with certain limitations. As an enhancing factor for the thermal conductivity of the base fluid, nanofluids are considered to be use in cooling system applications. For these applications, the base fluid, the refrigerant, exists as a two-phase liquid-vapor mixture in parts of the refrigeration cycle. To analyze, design and optimize the cycle in such applications, the thermophysical properties of the refrigerant based nanofluids for two-phase flow of refrigerant are needed. There are different models present in the literature derived for the thermophysical properties of nanofluids. However, a majority of the existing models for nanofluid thermophysical properties have been proposed for water- and other liquids-based nanofluids, through theoretical, numerical and experimental research. Therefore, the existing models for determination of the nanofluid thermophysical properties are not applicable for refrigerant based nanofluid applications when the results are compared. Thus, in this work, a new model is derived for the thermal conductivity and viscosity of refrigerant based nanofluids, using existing data from both heat transfer and thermophysical property measurement experiments. The effect of the nanoparticles on heat transfer in two phase flow of the refrigerant is considered by applying the two phase heat transfer correlations in the literature to experimental data. As a result, the thermophysical properties of the known states are determined through known heat transfer performance. Even though the model is developed from the analysis of flow in an evaporator and flow in a single tube with evaporating refrigerant, it is aimed to cover the flows in both evaporator and condenser sections in a vapor compression refrigeration cycle to provide the necessary models for thermophysical properties in heat transfer devices which will allow the design of both cycle and evaporator or condenser in terms of sizing and rating problems by performing heat transfer analysis and/or optimization. The model can also be improved by considering the effects of slip mechanisms that lead to slip velocity between the nanoparticle and base fluid.

2008 ◽  
Vol 131 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jong Chull Jo ◽  
Woong Sik Kim ◽  
Chang-Yong Choi ◽  
Yong Kab Lee

This paper addresses the numerical simulation of two-phase flow heat transfer in the helically coiled tubes of an integral type pressurized water reactor steam generator under normal operation using a computational fluid dynamics code. The shell-side flow field where a single-phase fluid flows in the downward direction is also calculated in conjunction with the tube-side two-phase flow characteristics. For the calculation of tube-side two-phase flow, the inhomogeneous two-fluid model is used. Both the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute wall boiling model and the bulk boiling model are implemented for the numerical simulations of boiling-induced two-phase flow in a vertical straight pipe and channel, and the computed results are compared with the available measured data. The conjugate heat transfer analysis method is employed to calculate the conduction in the tube wall with finite thickness and the convections in the internal and external fluids simultaneously so as to match the fluid-wall-fluid interface conditions properly. Both the internal and external turbulent flows are simulated using the standard k-ε model. From the results of the present numerical simulation, it is shown that the bulk boiling model can be applied to the simulation of two-phase flow in the helically coiled steam generator tubes. In addition, the present simulation method is considered to be physically plausible in the light of discussions on the computed results.


Author(s):  
Jong Chull Jo ◽  
Woong Sik Kim ◽  
Chang-Yong Choi ◽  
Yong Kab Lee

This paper addresses the numerical simulation of two phase flow heat transfer in the helically coiled tubes of an integral type pressurized water reactor steam generator under normal operation using a CFD code. The single phase flow which flow downward direction in the shell side is also calculated together. For the calculation of tube side two-phase flow the inhomogeneous two-fluid model is used. Both the RPI (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) wall boiling model and the bulk boiling model are implemented for the numerical simulation and the computed results are compared with the available measured data. The conjugate heat transfer analysis method is employed to calculate the conduction in the tube wall with finite thickness and the convections in the internal and external fluids simultaneously so as to match the fluid-wall-fluid interface conditions properly. Both the internal and external turbulent flows are simulated using the standard k-ε model From the results of present numerical simulation, it is shown that the bulk boiling model can be applied to the simulation of two-phase flow in the helically coiled steam generator tubes. The results also show that the present simulation method is considered to be physically plausible when the computed results are compared with available previous experimental and numerical studies.


2017 ◽  
Vol 117 ◽  
pp. 544-552 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yonghai Gao ◽  
Yanchun Cui ◽  
Boyue Xu ◽  
Baojiang Sun ◽  
Xinxin Zhao ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Vol 142 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Müller ◽  
A. Steinfeld

Abstract A pressurized solar reactor for effecting the thermochemical gasification of carbonaceous particles driven by concentrated solar energy is modeled by means of a reacting two-phase flow. The governing mass, momentum, and energy conservation equations are formulated and solved numerically by finite volume computational fluid dynamics (CFD) coupled to a Monte Carlo radiation solver for a nongray absorbing, emitting, and scattering participating medium. Implemented are Langmuir–Hinshelwood kinetic rate expressions and size-dependent properties for charcoal particles undergoing shrinkage as gasification progresses. Validation is accomplished by comparing the numerically calculated data with the experimentally measured temperatures in the range 1283–1546 K, chemical conversions in the range 32–94%, and syngas product H2:CO and CO2:CO molar ratios obtained from testing a 3 kW solar reactor prototype with up to 3718 suns concentrated radiation. The simulation model is applied to identify the predominant heat transfer mechanisms and to analyze the effect of the solar rector's geometry and operational parameters (namely: carbon feeding rate, inert gas flowrate, solar concentration ratio, and total pressure) on the solar reactor's performance indicators given by the carbon molar conversion and the solar-to-fuel energy efficiency. Under optimal conditions, these can reach 94% and 40%, respectively.


Author(s):  
Junnosuke Okajima ◽  
Shigenao Maruyama ◽  
Hiroki Takeda ◽  
Atsuki Komiya ◽  
Sangkwon Jeong

This paper describes a novel cooling system to be applied in cryosurgery. An ultrafine cryoprobe has been developed to treat small lesions which cannot be treated by conventional cryoprobes. The main problem of the ultrafine cryoprobe is the reduction of the heat transfer rate by the small flow rate due to the large pressure drop in a microchannel and the large ratio of the surface area to the volume. In order to overcome these problems, we utilized boiling heat transfer in a microchannel as the heat transfer mechanism in the ultrafine cryoprobe. The objectives of this paper are to develop an ultrafine cryoprobe and evaluate its cooling characteristics. The ultrafine cryoprobe has a co-axial double tube structure which consists of inner and outer stainless steel tubes. The outer and inner diameters of the outer tube are 0.55mm and 0.3mm, respectively. The outer and inner diameters of the inner tube are 0.15mm and 0.07mm, respectively. The inner tube serves as a capillary tube to change the refrigerant from liquid state to two-phase flow. Furthermore, two-phase flow passes through the annular passage between the inner and out tube. The hydraulic diameter of the annular passage is 0.15mm. Furthermore, HFC-23 (Boiling point is −82.1°C at 1atm) is used as the refrigerants. The temperature of the ultrafine cryoprobe was measured. The lowest temperatures were −45°C in the insulated condition and −35°C in the agar at 37°C (which simulates in vivo condition). Furthermore, the frozen region which is generated around the ultrafine cryoprobe was measured 5mm from the tip of cryoprobe at 120s, and resulted to be 3mm in diameter. Moreover, the change of the refrigerant state is calculated by using the energy conservation equation and the empirical correlations of two-phase pressure drop and boiling heat transfer. As a result, the refrigerant state in the ultrafine cryoprobe depends on the external heat flux. Finally, the required geometry of the ultrafine cryoprobe to make high cooling performance is evaluated.


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