The Impact of Fin Deformation on Condensation Heat Transfer Coefficients in Internally Grooved Tubes

In HVACR equipment, internally enhanced round tube (microfin) designs such as axial, cross-grooved, helical, and herringbone are commonly used to enhance the boiling and condensing performance of evaporators, condensers, and heat pumps. Typically, such tubes are mechanically expanded by a mandrel into a fin pack to create an interference fit between the tube outside surface and the fin collar to minimize the thermal contact resistance between tube and fin. However, during this expansion process, the internal enhancements undergo varying amounts of deformation, which degrades the in-tube thermal performance. Extensive data on condensing heat transfer coefficients in microfin tubes have been reported in the open literature. However, researchers have seldom used expanded tubes to acquire and report such data. Hence, it is always questionable to use such pristine tube data for designing heat exchangers and HVACR systems. Furthermore, the HVACR industry has been experiencing steeply rising copper costs, and this trend is expected to continue in coming years. So, many equipment manufacturers and suppliers are actively converting tubes from copper to aluminum. However, because of appreciable differences between the material properties of aluminum and copper, as well as other manufacturing variables, such as mandrel dimensions, lubricant used, etc., tube expansion typically deforms aluminum fins more than copper fins. Based on an analysis of the surface area changes arising from tube expansion, and an assessment of the best extant in-tube condensation heat transfer correlations, this work proposes a method of estimating the impact of tube expansion on in-tube condensation heat transfer. The analysis leads to certain interesting and useful findings correlating fin geometry and in-tube condensation thermal resistance. This method can then be applied to more realistically design HVACR heat exchangers and systems.

Experimental Study on the Combustion Process and Performance of Diesel Engines Fueled by Emulsion Diesel With Novel Organic Additives

Transportation is one of the major contributors to the world’s energy consumption and greenhouse gases emissions. The need for increased efficiency has placed diesel engine in the spotlight due to its superior thermal efficiency and fuel economy over gasoline engine. However, diesel engines also face the major disadvantage of increased NOx emissions. To address this issue, three types of emulsion fuels with different water concentrations (5%, 10% and 15% mass water) are produced and tested. Novel organic materials (glycerin and ployethoxy-ester) are added in the fuel to provide extra oxygen for improving combustion. NP-15 is added as surfactant which can help to reduce the oil and water surface tension, activates their surface, and maximizes their superficial contact areas, thereby forming a continuous and finely dispersed droplets phase. The stability of the emulsion fuels is tested under various environmental temperature for one year, and no significant separation is observed. It is better than normal emulsion fuel which can only maintain the state for up to three months. The combustion process and performance of the emulsion fuels are tested in a four-stroke, four cylinder diesel engine. The results indicate that the water droplets enclosed in the emulsion fuel explode at high temperature environment and help to break up the big oil droplets into smaller ones, thereby significantly increase the surface area of the oil droplets and enhance the heat transfer from hot gas to the fuel. As a result, the fuel evaporation is improved and the combustion process is accelerated, leading to an improved brake thermal efficiency (up to 14.2%). Meanwhile, the presence of the water causes the peak temperature of the flame to drop, thereby significantly bringing down the NOx emissions by more than 30%.

Statistical Based Estimation of Biporous Evaporator Dryout

Biporous wicks are an effective means for facilitating evaporation in heat pipes used for electronics cooling. They facilitate boiling within the wick by having two distinct size distributions of pores; the smaller pores provide high capillary pressure to pump liquid to the surface while the larger pores maintain high vapor permeability. The wicks investigated in this study were sintered copper biporous material. The authors previously presented a validated statistical model, based on work by Kovalev, which could predict the performance of biporous wicks tested at UCLA with reasonable accuracy [1]. Using this model, the author was able to gain new insight into the effect that the numerical estimate of liquid saturation of the wick has on dry out. The pore size distribution allows the determination of the capillary pressure available inside the wick and the Kovalev model provides the required pressure drop to supply liquid water to the heater surface. This led to a method of predicting dry out by comparing the capillary pressure in the wick to the required pressure drop from the model to estimate when the wick was dried out. When the required pressure drop determined by code exceeds the peak effective capillary pressure provided by the wick, the large pores of the wick are considered to be dry. These values are correlated to the input heat flux to determine what at what input power the wick begins to dry out. While the wick will not fail in this mode, the overall heat transfer coefficient will have peaked. In this work, this method of determining dry out will be validated against wicks tested at UCLA by comparing the input powers at which this dry out phenomenon occurs. Accurate predictions of dry out and the role of the pore size distribution are critical in developing methods to delay dry out of biporous wicks. By comparing the relative dry out points of various wick geometries to each other, augmented wick geometries can be suggested for future work. This modeling tool can lay the foundation for future tailoring of biporous evaporator wicks to specific tasks.

Metamaterial Window Glass for Adaptable Energy Efficiency

A computational analysis of a metamaterial (MTM) window design is presented for the purpose of increasing the energy efficiency of buildings in seasonal or cold climates. Commercial low-emissivity windows use nanometer-scale Ag films to reflect infrared energy, while retaining most transmission of optical wavelengths for functionality. An opportunity exists to further increase efficiency through a variable emissivity implementation of Ag thin-film structures. 3-D finite-difference time-domain simulations predict nonlinear absorption of near-infrared energy, providing the means to capture a substantial portion of solar energy during cold periods. The effect of various configuration parameters is quantified, with prediction of the net sustainability advantage. MTM window glass technology can be realized as a modification to current, commercial low-emissivity windows through the application of nanomanufactured films, creating the opportunity for both new and after-market sustainable construction.

Boiling/Evaporation Heat Transfer Augmentation Using Subchannels-Inserted Metal Porous Media

Two-phase flow loop system using a metal porous heat sink is proposed as a cooling system of the future power electronic devices with a heat load exceeding 300W/cm2. In this paper, as the first step, the heat transfer performance of the porous heat sink is evaluated under high heat flux conditions and the applicability and some engineering issues are discussed. The porous medium, which is fabricated by sintering copper particles, has a functional structure with several sub-channels inside it to enhance phase-change as well as discharge of generated vapor outside the porous medium. This porous heat sink is attached onto a heating chip and removes the heat by evaporating cooling liquid passing through the porous medium against the heat flow. Experiments using 30 kW of heating system show that the heat transfer performance of a copper-particles-sintered porous medium with the sub-channels exceeds 800W/cm2 in both high and low subcooling cases and achieves 300W/cm2 at a wall temperature of 150 °C (Tin = 70 °C) and 130 °C (Tin = 70 °C). These results prove that this porous heat sink is applicable enough for cooling 300 W/cm2 class of power electronic devices.

Analysis of Composite Fouling in Corrugated Plate Heat Exchangers

Experimental and theoretical investigations of water-side fouling have been performed inside four corrugated plate heat exchangers. They have different geometric parameters, such as plate height, plate spacing, and plate angle. Heat transfer coefficients and friction factors have been obtained in clean tests. Composite fouling experiments have also been performed. The tests are primarily focused on the effects of average velocity. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) was used to investigate the microscopic structures of composite fouling and analyze the fouling characteristics in composite fouling tests. The plate heat exchanger with the largest de and height to pitch ratio shows the best anti-fouling performance.

A Critical Review on the Determination of Pressure Drop During Condensation in Smooth and Enhanced Tubes

Heat exchangers using in-tube condensation have great significance in the refrigeration, automotive and process industries. Effective heat exchangers have been rapidly developed due to the demand for more compact systems, higher energy efficiency, lower material costs and other economic incentives. Enhanced surfaces, displaced enhancement devices, swirl-flow devices and surface tension devices improve the heat transfer coefficients in these heat exchangers. This study is a critical review on the determination of the condensation heat transfer coefficient of pure refrigerants flowing in vertical and horizontal tubes. The authors’ previous publications on this issue, including the experimental, theoretical and numerical analyses are summarized here. The lengths of the vertical and horizontal test sections varied between 0.5 m and 4 m countercurrent flow double-tube heat exchangers with refrigerant flowing in the inner tube and cooling water flowing in the annulus. The measured data are compared to theoretical and numerical predictions based on the solution of the artificial intelligence methods and CFD analyses for the condensation process in the smooth and enhanced tubes. The theoretical solutions are related to the design of double tube heat exchangers in refrigeration, air conditioning and heat pump applications. Detailed information on the in-tube condensation studies of heat transfer coefficient in the literature is given. A genetic algorithm (GA), various artificial neural network models (ANN) such as multilayer perceptron (MLP), radial basis networks (RBFN), generalized regression neural network (GRNN), and adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS), and various optimization techniques such as unconstrained nonlinear minimization algorithm-Nelder-Mead method (NM), non-linear least squares error method (NLS), and Ansys CFD program are used in the numerical solutions. It is shown that the convective heat transfer coefficient of laminar and turbulent condensing film flows can be predicted by means of theoretical and numerical analyses reasonably well if there is a sufficient amount of reliable experimental data. Regression analysis gave convincing correlations, and the most suitable coefficients of the proposed correlations are depicted as compatible with the large number of experimental data by means of the computational numerical methods.

Application of Schlieren Photography to Study Neutral Plane in a Compartment Fire With Scale Models

In this paper, the neutral plane in a compartment fire was measured by Optical Schlieren Photography. This is a highly sensitive, optical, nonintrusive and remote technique to visualize fluid flow, utilizing refraction when light passes through air of different densities. The positions and variations of hot air flowing out of an opening can be determined clearly. A 1/14 scale model room burning candles inside was used. Hot air induced by the candle flame flowing out a 15 cm opening was observed. Thermocouples were also placed at the opening to compare with the neutral plane determined by the Schlieren Photography method. Simulations with Computational Fluid Dynamics were performed to justify the observed locations of the neutral planes.

A Critical Review on the Determination of Convective Heat Transfer Coefficient During Condensation in Smooth and Enhanced Tubes

Heat exchangers using in-tube condensation have great significance in the refrigeration, automotive and process industries. Effective heat exchangers have been rapidly developed due to the demand for more compact systems, higher energy efficiency, lower material costs and other economic incentives. Enhanced surfaces, displaced enhancement devices, swirl-flow devices and surface tension devices improve the heat transfer coefficients in these heat exchangers. This study is a critical review on the determination of the condensation heat transfer coefficient of pure refrigerants flowing in vertical and horizontal tubes. The authors’ previous publications on this issue, including the experimental, theoretical and numerical analyses are summarized here. The lengths of the vertical and horizontal test sections varied between 0.5 m and 4 m countercurrent flow double-tube heat exchangers with refrigerant flowing in the inner tube and cooling water flowing in the annulus. The measured data are compared to theoretical and numerical predictions based on the solution of the artificial intelligence methods and CFD analyses for the condensation process in the smooth and enhanced tubes. The theoretical solutions are related to the design of double tube heat exchangers in refrigeration, air conditioning and heat pump applications. Detailed information on the in-tube condensation studies of heat transfer coefficient in the literature is given. A genetic algorithm (GA), various artificial neural network models (ANN) such as multilayer perceptron (MLP), radial basis networks (RBFN), generalized regression neural network (GRNN), and adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS), and various optimization techniques such as unconstrained nonlinear minimization algorithm-Nelder-Mead method (NM), non-linear least squares error method (NLS), and Ansys CFD program are used in the numerical solutions. It is shown that the convective heat transfer coefficient of laminar and turbulent condensing film flows can be predicted by means of theoretical and numerical analyses reasonably well if there is a sufficient amount of reliable experimental data. Regression analysis gave convincing correlations, and the most suitable coefficients of the proposed correlations are depicted as compatible with the large number of experimental data by means of the computational numerical methods.

Effect of Inclination Angle on the Closed Loop Pulsating Heat Pipe Thermal Performance

The closed loop pulsating heat pipe (CLPHP) is a passive two-phase heat transfer device, patented by Akachi (1990). Due to its excellent features, PHP has been considered as one of the promising technologies for electronic cooling, heat exchanger, etc. This paper presents an experimental study shows the effect of inclination angle on the thermal performance of CLPHP, which consist of 10 turns of copper tubes having inner and outer diameter 2 mm and 3.6 mm respectively. The equal lengths of evaporator, condenser and adiabatic sections are 50 mm each. Different working fluids are used as R-134a, Methanol and Water. For all experimentations, an optimum filling ratio was maintained 50% by volume. The thermal performance have been investigated with different inclination angles (viz. 0°, 20°, 40°, 60° and 90°) at various heat input from 5 to 50W in the steps of 5W. The thermal resistance (which is inversely proportional to thermal performance) of CLPHP at various heat input are plotted for different working fluids. The result shows that, the thermal resistance decreases as heat input increases. But at low heat input i.e. upto 25W, the thermal resistance decreases rapidly and the PHP performance is more sensitive to the inclination angle whereas high heat input i.e. above 25W, the thermal resistance decreases smoothly and less independent to the inclination angle. In all inclination angles, vertical bottom heat position (at 90°) of CLPHP gives best thermal performance due to presence of gravity force. At all inclination angles, the working fluid R-134a show best thermal performance followed by methanol and water.