A Method of Quantifying Refrigerant Distribution in a Two-Pass Micro-Channel Evaporator

Author(s):  
Geng Xu ◽  
Hua Chen ◽  
Songtian Zhao ◽  
Shusong Ren ◽  
Wei Zhao

Background: The flow rate distribution in the flat tubes of a micro-channel evaporator is essential for its heat transfer performance. Due to a large number of flat tubes in a micro-channel evaporator, the flow rate distribution is often difficult to determine. Objective: An evaporator test rig was constructed to study the quantification of the refrigerant mass flow rate distribution in a two-pass evaporator without de-stroying its structure. Methods: A heat transfer performance test rig for a two-pass evaporator was es-tablished. Subcooled refrigerant R134a was pumped into the inlet header, and infrared thermography was used to obtain the cloud map of the wall tempera-ture distribution on the surface of the evaporator. The flow rate distribution in each flat tube was calculated based on an analysis that combines the heat bal-ance between the airside and the refrigerant side with the effectiveness-Number of Transfer Units (ε-NTU) method. Results: The flow rate distribution was found to be in good agreement with the evaporator wall temperature distribution. The difference between the calculated and measured total mass flow rates was less than 15.9%, which proves that the method is simple and effective. The unevenness of flowrate distribution in the 1st and 2nd pass is 0.13 and 0.32, respectively. Conclusion: This method is simple and effective and does not destroy the structure of the micro-channel evaporator. However, it is only suitable for cases in which subcooled zone exists in a pass and is not applicable to a pass in which the refrigerant is only in a single-phase or a two-phase state.

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 ◽  
pp. 51
Author(s):  
Jun Li ◽  
Hal Gurgenci ◽  
Jishun Li ◽  
Zhiqiang Guan ◽  
Lun Li ◽  
...  

Numerical investigation was carried out to study the heat transfer performance for a high-speed rotating cylindrical surface subjected to single row array round jets impingement, under a very small gap spacing. Various parameters that affect heat transfer, such as the fluid density, flow velocity and Nusselt number distributions of the radius clearance were studied based on varied nozzle to target surface spacing H and mass flow rate. It has been found that the fluid density was a dominant factor and the velocity was the secondary factor for the gas jet heat transfer performances. The overall heat transfer was improved with a reduction in the number of nozzles, for given inlet mass flow rate boundary conditions. The decrease of H/di (di, nozzle diameter) may have positive or negative effects on the heat transfer performance from the impingement surface. Reducing the radius gap H, for a certainty, increases the average density of the fluid in the clearance, which is desirable in applications that enhance heat transfer performance. But when the radius gap (H) is small enough, increasing di may have a negative impact on heat transfer.


2019 ◽  
Vol 256 ◽  
pp. 03001
Author(s):  
Zhou Ying ◽  
He Chao ◽  
Bing Bai ◽  
Juan Ning

Extensive numerical study on the heat transfer performance of the gaseous nitrogen (GN) thermoregulation shroud surface was conducted in this work. The average heat transfer coefficient was investigated under different shroud length and nitrogen parameters (such as velocity, temperature and mass flow rate). The result shows that the heat transfer performance is affected less by shroud length but largely by mass flow rate. When the mass flow rate is constant, the inlet temperature increases heat transfer coefficient. Finally, dimensionless correlation of the average Nusselt number over shroud surface with Reynolds number and Prandtl number was obtained.


Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 2085 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhongchao Zhao ◽  
Yimeng Zhou ◽  
Xiaolong Ma ◽  
Xudong Chen ◽  
Shilin Li ◽  
...  

The channels of a printed circuit heat exchanger (PCHE) can have different shapes, and the zigzag channel shape is one of the most widely used because of the relatively simple manufacturing process and low cost. However, the heat transfer enhancement of a zigzag channel is at the expense of increasing the pressure drop. In this paper, new channel shapes of a PCHE, i.e., a zigzag with an inserted straight channel and a zigzag channel with radian, were numerically investigated, with the aim of improving the heat transfer and reducing the pressure drop of supercritical LNG using the SST κ-ω model. The local and total pressure drop and heat transfer performance of supercritical LNG in a zigzag channel, zigzags with 1–5 mm inserted straight channels, and a zigzag channel with radian were analyzed by varying the mass flow rate from 1.83 × 10−4 to 5.49 × 10−4 kg/s. Performance evaluation criteria (PEC) were applied to compare the overall heat transfer performance of the zigzags with 1–5 mm inserted straight channels and a zigzag channel with radian to the zigzag channel of a PCHE. The maximum pressure drop for the zigzag channel was twice the minimum pressure drop for the zigzag channel with radian, while the convective heat transfer coefficient of the zigzag with a 4 mm inserted straight channel was higher, which was 1.2 times that of the zigzag channel with radian with the smallest convective heat transfer coefficient. The maximum value of the PEC with 1.099 occurred at a mass flow rate of 1.83 × 10−4 kg/s for the zigzag with a 4 mm inserted straight channel, while the minimum value of the PEC with 1.021 occurred at a mass flow rate of 5.49 × 10−4 kg/s for the zigzag with a 1 mm inserted straight channel. The zigzag with a 4 mm inserted straight channel had the best performance, as it had a higher PEC value at lower mass flow rates.


Author(s):  
Liang-Han Chien ◽  
S.-Y. Pei ◽  
T.-Y. Wu

This study investigates the influence of the heat flux and mass velocity on convective heat transfer performance of FC-72 in a rectangular channel of 20mm in width and 2 mm in height. The heated side has either a smooth surface or a pin-finned surface. The inlet fluid temperature is maintained at 30°C. The total length of the test channel is 113 mm, with a heated length of 25mm. The flow rate varies between 80 and 960 ml/min, and the heat flux sets between 18 and 50 W/cm2. The experimental results show that the controlling variable is heat flux instead of flow rate because of the boiling activities in FC-72. At a fixed flow rate, the pin-finned surface yields up to 20% higher heat transfer coefficient and greater critical heat flux than those of a smooth surface.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 583
Author(s):  
Liping Zeng ◽  
Xing Liu ◽  
Quan Zhang ◽  
Jun Yi ◽  
Xianglong Liu ◽  
...  

This paper deals with the heat transfer performance of a micro-channel backplane heat pipe air conditioning system. The optimal range of the filling rate of a micro-channel backplane heat pipe air conditioning system was determined in the range of 65–75%, almost free from the interference of working conditions. Then, the influence of temperature and air volume flow rate on the heat exchange system were studied. The system maximum heat exchange is 7000–8000 W, and the temperature difference between the inlet and outlet of the evaporator and the condenser is almost 0 °C. Under the optimum refrigerant filling rate, the heat transfer of the micro-channel heat pipe backplane system is approximately linear with the temperature difference between the inlet air temperature of the evaporator and the cooling distribution unit (CDU) inlet water temperature in the range of 18–28 °C. The last part compares the heat transfer characteristics of two refrigerants at different filling rates. The heat transfer, pressure, and refrigerant temperature of R134a and R22 are the same with the change of filling rate, but the heat transfer of R134a is lower than that of R22. The results are of great significance for the operational control and practical application of a backplane heat pipe system.


Author(s):  
M. M. Kabir ◽  
Sangsoo Lee

Abstract Recent leaps in heat dissipation make it difficult for typical heat exchangers to meet the requirements of the advanced applications even with the maximally obtainable heat transfer performance associated with a single-phase process. Especially high heat flux applications such as thermal management in microelectronics, advanced material processing, and nuclear fusion reactors require extreme heat transfer methods to overcome the current limits. In this study, a heat exchanger adopting simultaneously two-opposite, phase-change heat transfer processes (internal flow boiling and external condensation) was proposed and analytically investigated. The phase-change heat transfer analyses were conducted for internal flow boiling and external condensation at a test section and the heat transfer performances were compared with that of a system with an internal single-phase, liquid flow process. It is found that the proposed heat exchanger configuration with an internal flow boiling can substantially enhance the heat transfer performances and provide better methods to manage the temperature difference comparing to those with an internal single-phase heat transfer due to its significant increase in a heat transfer coefficients and constant temperatures during phase-change processes. Additionally, this study also explains the design for a test rig to evaluate and validate the results in detail. The test rig consists of an internal flow boiling loop with a test section, an external condensation loop, sensors, auxiliary monitoring parts, and controlling and data acquisition systems. Thermodynamic cycle, pressure drop, and heat transfer analyses were conducted to determine the conditions and the specifications of components and sensors for the test rig.


Author(s):  
Bin Ren ◽  
Xiaoying Tang ◽  
Facai Ren ◽  
Jibing Wang ◽  
Bofeng Bai

Abstract Heat exchanger is a device that transfers heat between hot and cold fluids. Due to the different size and type, the actual heat transfer performance is usually not the same as the design value. Meanwhile, various heat exchangers using new types of heat transfer elements have emerged, bringing the difficulty to obtain the heat transfer performance by only theoretical calculation. Therefore, studying test methods and developing test standards for heat exchangers have become the research focus in many countries. In this paper, the basic principles of various performance test methods are firstly introduced, including Wilson plot method, equal Reynolds number method and nonlinear fitting method. Then the restrictions on the use of these methods and the factors affecting the test results are analyzed. Finally, the Chinese codes and standards of performance testing for heat exchangers are listed, including JB/T 10379-2002, GB/T 27698-2011 and TSG R0010-2019. The test methods used in GB/T 27698 are described in detail. The results show that GB 27698 mainly focus on the specification of testing systems and procedures and can test heat transfer performance of almost all types of heat exchangers in industry under different heat transfer modes. However, there are lack of formulas and methods for calculating uncertainty of testing results.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 1255
Author(s):  
Liping Zeng ◽  
Xing Liu ◽  
Quan Zhang ◽  
Jun Yi ◽  
Xiaohua Li ◽  
...  

This paper mainly studies the heat transfer performance of backplane micro-channel heat pipes by establishing a steady-state numerical model. Compared with the experimental data, the heat transfer characteristics under different structure parameters and operating parameters were studied, and the change of heat transfer coefficient inside the system, the air outlet temperature of the back plate and the influence of different environmental factors on the heat transfer performance of the system were analyzed. The results show that the overall error between simulation results and experimental data is less than 10%. In the range of the optimal filling rate (FR = 64.40%–73.60%), the outlet temperature at the lowest point and the highest point of the evaporation section is 22.46 °C and 19.60 °C, the temperature difference does not exceed 3 °C, and the distribution gradient in vertical height is small and the air outlet temperature is uniform. The heat transfer coefficient between the evaporator and the condenser is larger than the heat transfer coefficient under the conditions of low and high liquid charge rate. It increases gradually along the flow direction, and decreases gradually with the flow rate of the condenser. When the width of the flat tube of the evaporator increases from 20 mm to 28 mm, the internal pressure drop of the evaporator decreases by 45.83% and the heat exchange increases by 18.34%. When the number of evaporator slices increases from 16 to 24, the heat transfer increases first and then decreases, with an overall decrease of 2.86% and an increase of 87.67% in the internal pressure drop of the evaporator. The inclination angle of the corrugation changes from 30° to 60°, and the heat transfer capacity and pressure drop increase. After the inclination angle is greater than 60°, the heat transfer capacity and resistance decrease. The results are of great significance to system optimization design and engineering practical application.


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