The Effect of Liquid Film Evaporation on Flow Boiling Heat Transfer in a Micro Tube

Author(s):  
Youngbae Han ◽  
Naoki Shikazono ◽  
Nobuhide Kasagi

Flow boiling in micro channels is attracting large attention since it leads to large heat transfer area per unit volume. Generated vapor bubbles in micro channels are elongated due to the restriction of channel wall, and thus slug flow becomes one of the main flow regimes. In slug flow, sequential bubbles are confined by the liquid slugs, and thin liquid film is formed between tube wall and bubble. Liquid film evaporation is one of the main heat transfer mechanisms in micro channels and liquid film thickness is a very important parameter to determine heat transfer coefficient. In the present study, liquid film thickness is measured under flow boiling condition and compared with the correlation proposed under adiabatic condition. The relationship between liquid film thickness and heat transfer coefficient is also investigated. Pyrex glass tube with inner diameter of D = 0.5 mm is used as a test tube. Working fluids are water and ethanol. Laser focus displacement meter is used to measure the liquid film thickness. Initial liquid film thickness under flow boiling condition can be predicted well by the correlation proposed under adiabatic condition. However, measured liquid film thickness becomes thinner than the predicted values in the cases of back flow and short slugs. These are considered to be due to the change of velocity profile in the liquid slug. Under flow boiling condition, liquid film profile fluctuates due to high vapor velocity and shows periodic pattern against time. Frequency of periodic pattern increases with heat flux. At low quality, heat transfer coefficients calculated from measured liquid film thickness show good accordance with heat transfer coefficients obtained directly from wall temperature measurements.

Author(s):  
Wenhai Li ◽  
Ken Alabi ◽  
Foluso Ladeinde

Over the years, empirical correlations have been developed for predicting saturated flow boiling [1–15] and condensation [16–30] heat transfer coefficients inside horizontal/vertical tubes or micro-channels. In the present work, we have examined 30 of these models, and modified many of them for use in compact plate-fin heat exchangers. However, the various correlations, which have been developed for pipes and ducts, have been modified in our work to make them applicable to extended fin surfaces. The various correlations have been used in a low-order, one-dimensional, finite-volume type numerical integration of the flow and heat transfer equations in heat exchangers. The NIST’s REFPROP database [31] is used to account for the large variations in the fluid thermo-physical properties during phase change. The numerical results are compared with Yara’s experimental data [32]. The validity of the various boiling and condensation models for a real plate-fin heat exchanger design is discussed. The results show that some of the modified boiling and condensation correlations can provide acceptable prediction of heat transfer coefficient for two-phase flows in compact plate-fin heat exchangers.


Author(s):  
Sehwan In ◽  
Sangkwon Jeong

This paper describes the flow boiling heat transfer of R123/R134a mixture in a single round micro-channel with 0.19 mm ID. The flow boiling heat transfer coefficients were measured with the variation of mixture composition (R123 mole fraction: 0.502, 0.746) at various experimental conditions: mass velocities (314, 392, 470 kg/m2-s), heat fluxes (10, 15, 20 kW/m2) and vapor qualities (0.2–0.85). The heat transfer characteristics of R123/R134a mixture are similar to those of pure R123 observed in the previous flow boiling experiment. The similarity of heat transfer characteristics denotes that the heat transfer is governed by evaporation of thin liquid film around the elongated bubbles like the case of pure R123. The heat transfer coefficients of R123/R134a mixture are compared with those of equivalent pure refrigerant by the correlation developed from pure R123 experimental results. The large reduction of heat transfer coefficients compared with pure refrigerant is found in micro-channels flow boiling by the mass transfer effect of mixed refrigerant. In addition, macro-channel correlations for mixed refrigerant do not make accurate prediction about the reduction of heat transfer coefficients.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2116 (1) ◽  
pp. 012014
Author(s):  
A Berto ◽  
P Lavieille ◽  
M Azzolin ◽  
S Bortolin ◽  
M Miscevic ◽  
...  

Abstract Heat transfer coefficients and liquid film thickness have been measured during convective condensation inside a 3.4 mm internal diameter channel. Condensation tests have been run with refrigerant R245fa during vertical downflow at mass velocity equal to 50 kg m-2 s-1 and 100 kg m-2 s-1. The test section is composed of two heat exchangers for the measurement of the heat transfer coefficient connected by means of a glass tube designed for the visualization of the two-phase flow patterns and for the measurement of the liquid film thickness. The liquid film thickness is determined by coupling a shadowgraph technique and chromatic confocal measurements. The measured values of heat transfer coefficient and liquid film thickness are reported and analysed together to investigate the effect of waves on the condensation heat transfer mechanisms.


Author(s):  
Hiroshi Kanno ◽  
Youngbae Han ◽  
Yusuke Saito ◽  
Naoki Shikazono

Heat transfer in micro scale two-phase flow attracts large attention since it can achieve large heat transfer area per density. At high quality, annular flow becomes one of the major flow regimes in micro two-phase flow. Heat is transferred by evaporation or condensation of the liquid film, which are the dominant mechanisms of micro scale heat transfer. Therefore, liquid film thickness is one of the most important parameters in modeling the phenomena. In macro tubes, large numbers of researches have been conducted to investigate the liquid film thickness. However, in micro tubes, quantitative information for the annular liquid film thickness is still limited. In the present study, annular liquid film thickness is measured using a confocal method, which is used in the previous study [1, 2]. Glass tubes with inner diameters of 0.3, 0.5 and 1.0 mm are used. Degassed water and FC40 are used as working fluids, and the total mass flux is varied from G = 100 to 500 kg/m2s. Liquid film thickness is measured by laser confocal displacement meter (LCDM), and the liquid-gas interface profile is observed by a high-speed camera. Mean liquid film thickness is then plotted against quality for different flow rates and tube diameters. Mean thickness data is compared with the smooth annular film model of Revellin et al. [3]. Annular film model predictions overestimated the experimental values especially at low quality. It is considered that this overestimation is attributed to the disturbances caused by the interface ripples.


2009 ◽  
Vol 131 (9) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chang Yong Park ◽  
Pega Hrnjak

Abstract C O 2 flow boiling heat transfer coefficients and pressure drop in a 3.5mm horizontal smooth tube are presented. Also, flow patterns were visualized and studied at adiabatic conditions in a 3mm glass tube located immediately after a heat transfer section. Heat was applied by a secondary fluid through two brass half cylinders to the test section tubes. This research was performed at evaporation temperatures of −15°C and −30°C, mass fluxes of 200kg∕m2s and 400kg∕m2s, and heat flux from 5kW∕m2 to 15kW∕m2 for vapor qualities ranging from 0.1 to 0.8. The CO2 heat transfer coefficients indicated the nucleate boiling dominant heat transfer characteristics such as the strong dependence on heat fluxes at a mass flux of 200kg∕m2s. However, enhanced convective boiling contribution was observed at 400kg∕m2s. Surface conditions for two different tubes were investigated with a profilometer, atomic force microscope, and scanning electron microscope images, and their possible effects on heat transfer are discussed. Pressure drop, measured at adiabatic conditions, increased with the increase of mass flux and quality, and with the decrease of evaporation temperature. The measured heat transfer coefficients and pressure drop were compared with general correlations. Some of these correlations showed relatively good agreements with measured values. Visualized flow patterns were compared with two flow pattern maps and the comparison showed that the flow pattern maps need improvement in the transition regions from intermittent to annular flow.


2004 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 45
Author(s):  
E. Nogueira ◽  
B. D. Dantas ◽  
R. M. Cotta

In a gas-liquid annular two-phase flow one of the main factors influencing the determination of heat transfer rates is the average thickness of the liquid film. A model to accurately represent the heat transfer in such situations has to be able of determining the average liquid film thickness to within a reasonable accuracy. A typical physical aspect in gas-liquid annular flows is the appearance of interface waves, which affect heat, mass and momentum transfers. Existing models implicitly consider the wave effects in the momentum transfer by an empirical correlation for the interfacial friction factor. However, this procedure does not point out the difference between interface waves and the natural turbulent effects of the system. In the present work, the wave and mass transfer effects in the theoretical estimation of average liquid film thickness are analyzed, in comparison to a model that does not explicitly include these effects, as applied to the prediction of heat transfer rates in a thermally developing flow situation.


2015 ◽  
Vol 137 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Janssen ◽  
J. M. Dixon ◽  
S. J. Young ◽  
F. A. Kulacki

Heat transfer coefficients in a set of three symmetrically heated narrow gap channels arranged in line are reported at power densities of 1 kW/cm3 and wall heat flux of 3–40 W/cm2. This configuration emulates an electronics system wherein power dissipation can vary across an array of processors, memory chips, or other components. Three pairs of parallel ceramic resistance heaters in a nearly adiabatic housing form the flow passage, and length-to-gap ratios for each pair of heaters are 34 at a gap of 0.36 mm. Novec™ 7200 and 7300 are used as the heat transfer fluids. Nonuniform longitudinal power distributions are designed with the center heater pair at 1.5X and 2X the level of the first and third heater pairs. At all levels of inlet subcooling, single-phase heat transfer dominates over the first two heater pairs, while the third pair exhibits significant increases because of the presence of flow boiling. Reynolds numbers range from 250 to 1200, Weber numbers from 2 to 14, and boiling numbers from O(10−4) to O(10−3). Exit quality can reach 30% in some cases. Overall heat transfer coefficients of 40 kW/m2K are obtained. Pressure drops for both Novec™ heat transfer fluids are approximately equal at a given mass flux, and a high ratio of heat transfer to pumping power (coefficient of performance (COP)) is obtained. With a mass flux of 250 kg/m2s, heater temperatures can exceed 95 °C, which is the acceptable limit of steady operation for contemporary high performance electronics. Thus, an optimal operating point involving power density, power distribution, mass flux, and inlet subcooling is suggested by the data set for this benchmark multiheater configuration.


Author(s):  
M. W. Alnaser ◽  
K. Spindler ◽  
H. Mu¨ller-Steinhagen

A test rig was constructed to investigate flow boiling in an electrically heated horizontal mini-channel array. The test section is made of copper and consists of twelve parallel mini-channels. The channels are 1 mm deep, 1 mm wide and 250 mm long. The test section is heated from underneath with six cartridge heaters. The channels are covered with a glass plate to allow visual observations of the flow patterns using a high-speed video-camera. The wall temperatures are measured at five positions along the channel axis with two resistance thermometers in a specified distance in heat flow direction. Local heat transfer coefficients are obtained by calculating the local heat flux. The working fluids are deionised water and ethanol. The experiments were performed under near atmospheric pressure (0.94 bar to 1.2 bar absolute). The inlet temperature was kept constant at 20°C. The measurements were taken for three mass fluxes (120; 150; 185 kg/m2s) at heat fluxes from 7 to 375 kW/m2. Heat transfer coefficients are presented for single phase forced convection, subcooled and saturated flow boiling conditions. The heat transfer coefficient increases slightly with rising heat flux for single phase flow. A strong increase is observed in subcooled flow boiling. At high heat flux the heat transfer coefficient decreases slightly with increasing heat flux. The application of ethanol instead of water leads to an increase of the surface temperature. At the same low heat flux flow boiling heat transfer occurs with ethanol, but in the experiments with water single phase heat transfer is still dominant. It is because of the lower specific heat capacity of ethanol compared to water. There is a slight influence of the mass flux in the investigated parameter range. The pictures of a high-speed video-camera are analysed for the two-phase flow-pattern identification.


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