화학공학소재연구정보센터
Heat Transfer Engineering, Vol.32, No.6, 467-475, 2011
The Effect of Tube Flattening on Flow Boiling Heat Transfer Enhancement
The present study investigated the effect of smooth tube flattening on heat transfer enhancement in an evaporator. The tubes with internal diameter of 8.7 mm were flattened into an oblong shape with different inside heights. The test setup was basically a vapor compression refrigeration system equipped with all necessary measuring instruments. Refrigerant R-134a flowing inside the tube was heated by an electrical coil heater wrapped around it. The ranges of mass velocities were from 74 to 106 kg/m(2)-s and vapor quality varied from 25% to 95%. Analysis of the collected data indicated that the heat transfer coefficient elevates by increasing the mass velocity and vapor quality in flattened tubes just like the round tube. The flow boiling heat transfer coefficient increases when the flattened tube is used instead of the round tube. The highest heat transfer coefficient enhancement of 172% was achieved for the tube with the lowest inside height at mass velocity of 106 kg/m(2)-s and vapor quality of 85%. Finally, based on the present experimental results, a correlation was developed to predict the heat transfer coefficient in flattened tubes.