Two-Phase Flow Development of R134a in a Horizontal Pipe: Computational Investigation

To improve the performance of vapor compression refrigeration systems that use vertical gravitational flash tank separators, the liquid separation efficiency of the vertical gravitational flash tank separator requires to be approved. To approach this improvement, the two-phase flow development and its behavior after the expansion device need to be investigated and predicted. For thus, this paper presents a three-dimensional computational investigation of the two-phase flow development of R134a after the expansion device in a horizontal pipe. Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) was used to predict the two-phase development and its behavior in the horizontal pipe. ANSYS 16.2 program was used to generates the geometry of the three-dimensional horizontal pipe of 2 meters long and 25 mm inner diameter. The hexahedral mesh was generated and it is assessed to obtain the optimum mesh size and number. Eulerian-Eulerian two-phase model was used with k-ɛ turbulence model. R134a was used as a working fluid in the horizontal pipe utilizing four different inlet diameters: 12, 12.5, 25, and 50.0 mm. Mass flux and vapor quality have been changed from 288 to 447 kg/m2.s and from 10 to 20% respectively. Results were validated against experimental results from the literature and revealed that the separation region length is affected by the initial phase velocities, inlet vapor quality, and inlet tube diameter. An empirical correlation to predict the expansion region length is proposed as a function of Froude, Webber, and Lockhart-Martinelli numbers.

Experimental Investigation on Flow Boiling Heat Transfer and Pressure Drop of a Low-GWP Refrigerant R1234ze(E) in a Horizontal Minichannel

To protect the environment, a new low-GWP refrigerant R1234ze(E) was created to substitute R134a. However, its flow boiling performances have not received sufficient attention so far, which hinders its popularization to some extent. In view of this, an experimental investigation was carried out in a 1.88 mm horizontal circular minichannel. The saturation pressures were maintained at 0.6 and 0.7 MPa, accompanied by mass flux within 540–870 kg/m2 s and heat flux within 25–65 kW/m2. For nucleate boiling, a larger heat flux brings about a larger heat transfer coefficient (HTC), while for convective boiling, the mass flux and vapor quality appear to take the lead role. The threshold vapor quality of different heat transfer mechanisms is around 0.4. Additionally, larger saturation pressure results in large HTC. As for the frictional pressure drop (FPD), it is positively influenced by mass flux and vapor quality, while negatively affected by saturation pressure, and the influence of heat flux is negligible. Furthermore, with the measured data, several existing correlations are compared. The results indicate that the correlations of Saitoh et al. (2007) and Müller-Steinhagen and Heck (1986) perform best on flow boiling HTC and FPD with mean absolute deviations of 5.4% and 10.9%.

Experimental Investigation and Prediction on Pressure Drop during Flow Boiling in Horizontal Microchannels

In this paper, two-phase pressure drop data were obtained for boiling in horizontal rectangular microchannels with a hydraulic diameter of 0.55 mm for R-134a over mass velocities from 790 to 1122, heat fluxes from 0 to 31.08 kW/m2 and vapor qualities from 0 to 0.25. The experimental results show that the Chisholm parameter in the separated flow model relies heavily on the vapor quality, especially in the low vapor quality region (from 0 to 0.1), where the two-phase flow pattern is mainly bubbly and slug flow. Then, the measured pressure drop data are compared with those from six separated flow models. Based on the comparison result, the superficial gas flux is introduced in this paper to consider the comprehensive influence of mass velocity and vapor quality on two-phase flow pressure drop, and a new equation for the Chisholm parameter in the separated flow model is proposed as a function of the superficial gas flux . The mean absolute error (MAE ) of the new flow correlation is 16.82%, which is significantly lower than the other correlations. Moreover, the applicability of the new expression has been verified by the experimental data in other literatures.

Thermodynamic Analysis of the Dryout Limit of Oscillating Heat Pipes

The operating limits of oscillating heat pipes (OHP) are crucial for the optimal design of cooling systems. In particular, the dryout limit is a key factor in optimizing the functionality of an OHP. As shown in previous studies, experimental approaches to determine the dryout limit lead to contradictory results. This work proposes a compact theory to predict a dryout threshold that unifies the experimental and analytical data. The theory is based on the influence of vapor quality on the flow pattern. When the vapor quality exceeds a certain limit (x = 0.006), the flow pattern changes from slug flow to annular flow and the heat transfer decreases abruptly. The results indicate a uniform threshold value, which has been validated experimentally and by the literature. With that approach, it becomes possible to design an OHP with an optimized filling ratio and, hence, substantially improve its cooling abilities.

Experimental Approaches to Measurement of Vapor Quality of Two-Phase Flow Boiling

Vapor quality is one of the crucial parameters substantially affecting the flow boiling heat transfer coefficient. Hence, the reliability and accuracy of vapor quality measurements is of a great significance to accurately investigating the effect of vapor quality on the local flow boiling heat transfer coefficients. In the present study, various experimental approaches are represented to measure and control local vapor quality for flow boiling tests. Experimental approaches are classified based on the type of thermal boundary conditions imposed on the tube wall, that is, known constant wall heat flux and constant wall temperature (unknown variable wall heat flux). In addition, in-situ techniques are also investigated to measure local vapor quality regardless of the governing thermal boundary conditions within two-phase flow experiments. Finally, the experimental methodologies are compared based on their level of reliability and accuracy in measurement, costliness and affordability, and simplicity in execution to address their potential merits and demerits.

The Condensation Heat Transfer Characteristics of Zeotropic Hydrocarbon Mixtures in a Helical Pipe

In order to explore tube-side heat transfer characteristics in the spiral wound heat exchange (SWHE) used in liquid natural gas (LNG) plants, the study on zeotropic hydrocarbon mixtures condensation heat transfer in a helical pipe is proposed. Firstly, based on two-fluid model and thermal phase change model, a numerical method coupling with empirical correlations is established to predict condensation heat transfer for zeotropic mixtures, in which the mixed effects are taken into account. Meanwhile, the rationality of the above methods is verified based on existing experimental results. Then, the effects of refrigerant components and operating parameters on flow patterns, heat transfer coefficients and heat and mass transfer resistance are discussed as the ranges of mass flux, saturation pressure and vapor quality are 200–800 kg/(m2·s), 2–4MPa and 0.15–0.90, respectively. It can be found that the predicted results coincide with the experimental ones, with deviations within ±15%. For different zeotropic hydrocarbon mixtures, as the vapor quality increases, the stratified flow, half-annular flow and annular flow appears in turn. The condensation heat transfer coefficients are always smaller than film heat transfer coefficients owing to the existence of heat and mass transfer resistance in vapor core. Besides, both film and condensation heat transfer coefficients increase with the increase of vapor quality and mass flux, while decrease with the rise in saturation pressure. Further, heat and mass transfer resistances increase as the vapor quality and saturation pressure increase and the mass flux decreases. In addition, compared to methane/ethane/propane/nitrogen (65/25/5/5, mole%) mixture, the averaged heat transfer performance for methane/ethane (90/10, mole%) mixture improves by 19.55%, whereas, the average heat and mass transfer resistance decreases by 53.51%. This study is helpful for understanding the zeotropic mixtures condensation in tubes and gives some suggestions for the choice of refrigerant components used in LNG SWHE, to design more effective SWHE.