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Heat Transfer and Pressure Drop During Condensation of R152a in Circular and Square Microchannels
Heat Transfer and Pressure Drop During Condensation of R152a in Circular and Square Microchannels
Heat Transfer and Pressure Drop During Condensation of R152a in Circular and Square Microchannels
Heat transfer and pressure drop during condensation of R152a in circular and square
microchannels
Na Liu a, Jun Ming Li a,, Jie Sun b, Hua Sheng Wang b
a
b
Key Laboratory for Thermal Science and Power Engineering of Ministry of Education, Department of Thermal Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
School of Engineering and Materials Science, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Road, London E1 4NS, UK
a r t i c l e
i n f o
Article history:
Received 15 August 2012
Received in revised form 2 November 2012
Accepted 3 January 2013
Available online 16 January 2013
Keywords:
Condensation
Heat transfer
Microchannel
R152a
Pressure drop
a b s t r a c t
The paper reports experimental data for heat transfer and pressure drop during condensation of R152a in
circular and square microchannels with hydraulic diameters of 1.152 mm and 0.952 mm, respectively.
Saturation temperatures are 40 C and 50 C with mass uxes varying from 200 to 800 kg/m2 s and vapor
mass qualities from 0.1 to 0.9. Effects of mass ux, vapor mass quality and channel geometry on heat
transfer and pressure drop were investigated. The results show that heat-transfer coefcients and pressure drop both increase with increasing mass ux and vapor mass quality while decrease with increasing
saturation temperature. Channel geometry has much effect on heat transfer at low mass uxes while has
little effect on pressure drop. The present data were compared with earlier empirical correlations and a
theoretical solution. Heat transfer coefcients agree within experimental error with several correlations
and a theoretical solution for both circular and square microchannels. One pressure drop correlation
underestimates the data for the two microchannels while another pressure drop correlation overestimates the data for the square microchannel.
2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
Microchannels are increasingly used to improve heat-transfer
performance and to enable compact geometries in many applications. For condensation, owing to surface tension effects, methods
used to treat larger channels are not suitable when channel dimension is around 1 mm or less.
Recently, increasing attention on environmental issues has
brought substantial requirements and changes in refrigerants.
Though HFCs substitutes have no ozone depletion potential
(ODP), many of them have relatively high global warming potential
(GWP). Moreover, the European Unions F-gas regulations specify
beginning on January 1, 2011 new models and on January 1,
2017 new vehicles tted with air conditioning cannot be manufactured with uorinated greenhouse gases having GWP greater than
150 [1,2].
Su et al. [3] reviewed earlier experimental work during condensation in microchannels. In many of the earlier heat-transfer measurements, most uids are with similar properties, predominantly
R134a. Vapor-side heat-transfer coefcients have generally been
inferred from overall measurements by subtraction of thermal
resistance or using Wilson plot techniques [4]. Such data have high
uncertainty.
Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 10 62771001; fax: +86 10 62770209.
E-mail address: lijm@tsinghua.edu.cn (J.M. Li).
0894-1777/$ - see front matter 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.expthermusci.2013.01.002
61
Nomenclature
a
a.m.
A
b
Cc
d
dh
G
f
h
hlv
I
k
l
m
N
Nu
U
p
Q
r.m.s.
Ra
Re
T
tions intended for macro-channels generally provided better predictions than correlations intended for mini/micro-channels. Besides, a new condensation heat transfer correlation was proposed
for annular condensation heat transfer in mini/micro-channels.
Agarwal et al. [14] used thermal amplication technique to measure heat-transfer coefcients of R134a in six non-circular horizontal microchannels.
Saturation and environmental properties of R22, R134a and
R152a are listed in Table 1. R152a and R134a have zero ozone
depletion potentials. Global warming potential of R152a is 120,
which is an order of magnitude lower than those of R22 and
R134a. It is noted that thermal conductivity, latent heat and surface tension are higher for R152a than for R22 and R134a. Wang
et al. [15] theoretically studied heat-transfer coefcients of R22,
R134a and R152a during condensation. According to their results,
heat-transfer coefcients of R152a are higher than those of R22
and R134a. Therefore, R152a is a potential substitute for R22. However, to the authors knowledge, there are no experimental studies
on heat transfer and pressure drop during condensation of R152a
in microchannels.
In the present paper, heat transfer and pressure drop are
investigated experimentally during condensation of R152a in a
circular and a square microchannels. Experiments are performed
at saturation temperatures of 40 C and 50 C with mass uxes
from 200 to 800 kg/m2 s and vapor mass qualities from 0.1 to
0.9. Effects of mass ux, vapor mass quality and channel geometry on heat transfer and pressure drop are presented in the
paper.
Greek symbols
heat-transfer coefcient (W/m2 K)
area ratio, Atest-section/Aheader
d
channel thickness (m)
l
viscosity (Pa s)
n
void fraction
q
density (kg/m3)
v
vapor mass quality
a
c
Subscripts
de
deceleration
exp
experimental
f
frictional
i
inside
in
inlet
l
liquid
o
outside
out
outlet
pre
predicted
r
refrigerant
s
saturation
v
vapor
w
wall
Table 1
Properties of R22, R134a and R152a.
R22
R134a
R152a
ts (C)
ps (MPa)
ql (kg/m3)
qv (kg/m3)
hlv (kJ/kg)
ll (lPa s)
kl (W/m K)
r (N/m)
ODP
GWP
50
50
50
1.943
1.318
1.177
1082
1102.3
830.8
86.0
66.3
37.1
154.2
151.8
245.4
123.0
141.8
122.2
0.0719
0.0704
0.0875
0.00474
0.00489
0.00648
0.05
0
0
1700
1300
120
62
(a)
(b)
Fig. 1. Schematics of the apparatus (a) and the test section (b).
ent desired inlet vapor quality of the test section was obtained by
adjusting electric heating power in the evaporator. The saturation
state was maintained by the coincidence of measured saturation
temperatures with the saturation temperatures derived from the
saturation pressures. For different mass velocities and saturation
temperatures, the cooling water temperature at the inlet of the test
section was held constant while the cooling water ow rate was
adjusted to ensure water temperature difference in the test section
larger than 1 K. The data were collected by the data acquisition system when all the measured values were steady.
2.2. Test section
The test section is a counter ow tube-in-tube condenser. The
refrigerant condenses inside the test tube while the cooling water
ows in the annulus as shown in Fig. 1b. The test tubes are a stain-
(a) circular
less steel single circular microchannel (dh = 1.152 mm) and a stainless steel single square microchannel (dh = 0.952 mm). Cross
sectional dimensions were measured by a KYKY2800 series scanning electron microscope with the accuracy of 4.5 nm. The arithmetical mean deviations of the assessed prole Ra of the circular
and square inner surfaces are 2.0 lm and 3.2 lm. Fig. 2 shows
cross sectional views of the microchannels. The effective heat
transfer lengths of the circular and square microchannels are
0.336 m and 0.352 m.
The outer wall temperatures were measured with eight 76 lm
diameter type T thermocouples symmetrically attached on the
top and bottom outside of the microchannels. The four pairs of
thermocouples were uniformly soldered along the microchannel
as shown in Fig. 1b and the average data was used as the outer wall
temperature. The refrigerant and cooling water temperatures were
measured by inserting Pt100 temperature transducers into the
measured uids through tee ttings. All the thermocouples and
Pt100 transducers were calibrated using a 6020 Series high precision calibration bath before experiments. Mixers were set before
each uid temperature measurement point to ensure the uids
fully mixed. The pressures of the refrigerant were measured by
Trafag type 8251 pressure transducers with the accuracy of 0.3%
and the measuring range of 06 MPa. The refrigerant was drawn
out through tee ttings which connected to pressure transducers
with 3 mm inner diameter copper tubes. The pressure drop in
the test section was measured by an EJA110A differential pressure
transducer with the full scale accuracy of 0.08% and the measuring range of 0100 kPa. Mass uxes of the refrigerant and the cooling water were measured by two DMF-I Coriolis-effect mass ow
meters with the accuracy of 0.2% and the measuring range of
0.55 kg/h. All data were collected using an Agilent 34970A data
acquisition system with three 34901A cards in real time.
The saturation states at the inlet and outlet of the test section
are checked using the measured temperature and pressure. Deviations between the measured saturation temperatures and the saturation temperature derived from the saturation pressure are
within 0.12 C which can be attributed to the accuracy of the temperature and pressure transducers, the properties and purity supplied by R152a manufacturer. Therefore, the measured saturation
temperatures coincide well with the saturation temperatures derived from the saturation pressures. The deviation between measured saturation temperature and saturation temperature derived
from saturation pressure was beyond the Pt temperature sensor
accuracy, while the deviation between measured saturation pressure and saturation pressure derived from saturation temperature
was within the pressure transducer accuracy indicating that the
temperature sensor has relatively higher accuracy. Therefore, the
average saturation temperature between the inlet and outlet of
the test section was used to calculate heat transfer coefcients.
(b) square
63
Cc
vin
UI mr hl hin
mr hfg
where U and I are the heating voltage and current, mr is the refrigerant mass ux, hl is specic enthalpy of the saturation liquid, hin is
specic enthalpy at the inlet of the evaporator and hlv is specic enthalpy of evaporation.
As single microchannels were used in the paper, heat transfer
rate was small when obtaining local heat transfer coefcients. In
order to ensure the cooling water temperature difference larger
than 1 K, vapor quality difference Dv in the test section was controlled to be 0.220.25 for lowest mass ux G = 200 kg/m2 s and
0.080.13 for highest mass ux G = 800 kg/m2 s during the experiments. Dv is calculated
Q
Dv water
mr hlv
2vin Dv
2
The inner and outer wall temperature differences DTw for circular and square microchannels are expressed as
lndo =di
2pkl
d
DT w Q water
4blk
DT w Q water
4:a
4:b
Q water
a
AT s T w DT w
where Tw is the average outer wall temperature of the microchannel, Ts is the refrigerant saturation temperature and A is the cross
sectional area of the microchannel. The range of temperature difference between the saturation temperature Ts and the average outer
wall temperature Tw is 1.43.3 C.
The measured pressure drop Dpmeasured includes the frictional
loss Dpf, the expansion loss Dpexpansion, the contraction loss Dpcontraction and the deceleration loss Dpde caused by the vapor fraction
variation during condensation. Therefore, Dpmeasured is represented
as
Dpcontraction
G2
2q l
"
1
1
Cc
2
1c
#
1v
ql
1
qv
where G is the mass ux, ql and qv are the liquid and vapor densities, c is the area ratio of the test section and the header (Atest-section/
For the expansion loss, the following separated ow model recommended by Butterworth and Hewitt [13] is used
Dpexpansion
G2 c1 cws
ql
Dpde
"
#
G2 v2 G2 1 v2
qv n
ql 1 n
vvout
"
#
G2 v2 G2 1 v2
qv n
ql 1 n
10
vvin
"
n 1
where Qwater is the heat transfer rate of the cooling water in the test
section.
Therefore, the average vapor mass quality v in the test section is
calculated by
1
0:6391 c0:5 1
0:74 0:65 0:13 #1
1v
qv
ll
ql
11
lv
dp Dpf
dl
l
12
Uncertainty
Temperature (thermocouple)
Temperature (Pt100 transducer)
Refrigerant mass ow rate
Cooling water mass ow rate
Pressure
Pressure difference
Heat transfer coefcient
0.1 C
0.05 C
0.2% (5 kg/h)
0.2% (5 kg/h)
0.3% (6 MPa)
0.08% (100 kPa)
15.0% W/m2 K
Notes: The percentage uncertainties for refrigerant and cooling water ow rates,
pressure and pressure difference are relative to the end of scale values. The end of
scale values are reported in the table.
64
the reliability of the test rig. The two parameters are dened as
follows:
80
1 X apre aexp
a:m:
100%
N
aexp
13
present
circular
R152a
70
Gnielinski (1976)
60
14
Nu
50
s
2
1 X apre aexp
r:m:s:
100%
N1
aexp
40
30
20
10
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
12000
Re
Fig. 4. Comparison of measured Nu with predictions by Gnielinski correlation [19]
for single-phase ow.
20
o
18
ts = 40 C
16
t=
10 C
14
/ kW/ m2 K
12
10
8
6
2
0
0.0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
1.0
1-
Fig. 5. Effects of mass ux, vapor mass quality and channel geometry on heattransfer coefcients.
20
o
circular
R152a
18
16
ts / C
40
50
G=400 kg/(m2 s)
/ kW/(m2 K)
14
0.10
present
circular
R152a
0.09
f =64/Re
0.08
f =0.3164/Re
0.25
0.07
10
8
6
0.06
0.05
0.04
0
0.0
0.03
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
1.0
1-
0.02
0.01
0.00
12
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
12000
Re
Fig. 3. Comparison of measured and predicted friction factors.
65
150
(pre-exp)/exp100%
200
+30%
100
50
0
-50
-30%
-100
-150
-200
0.0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
1-
(a) circular
200
150
(pre-exp)/exp100%
R152a. Heat-transfer coefcients decrease with increasing saturation temperature, which can be attributed to dependence of thermodynamic properties of the refrigerant on saturation
temperature. The saturation pressure and vapor density increase
with increasing saturation temperature, which increases the vapor
and liquid phase density ratio. The vapor phase velocity decreases
and the shear stress between the liquid and vapor phase decreases
with increasing saturation temperature leading to thicker condensate and lower heat-transfer coefcients.
100
+30%
50
0
-50
-100
-150
-200
0.0
-30%
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
1-
(b) square
Fig. 7. Comparison of measured and predicted heat-transfer coefcients.
Table 3
Performance of heat transfer correlations and a theoretical solution compared with
the present data.
Circular
Square
a.m.
r.m.s
a.m.
r.m.s
11.2
12.7
17.9
29.3
14.6
15.4
29.6
27.4
14.1
52.3
26.3
5.4
0.9
7.4
4.3
16.3
5.6
19.8
21.9
30.0
66
300
200
[(dp/dl)pre-(dp/dl)exp]/(dp/dl)exp100%
dp/dl / kPa/m
200
400
600
800
ts =40 oC
250
240
G / kg/(m2 s)
circular square
R152a
150
100
50
0
0.0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
180
120
60
+30%
0
-60
-30%
-120
-180
-240
0.0
1.0
0.2
0.4
1.0
circular
ts / C
2
G=400 kg/(m s)
240
[(dp/dl)pre-(dp/dl)exp]/(dp/dl)exp100%
120
40
50
80
dp/dl / kPa/m
0.8
(a) circular
Fig. 8. Effects of mass ux, vapor mass quality and channel geometry on frictional
pressure gradients.
100
0.6
1-
1-
60
40
180
120
+30%
60
0
-60
-30%
-120
-180
-240
0.0
20
0.2
0.4
0.8
0.6
1.0
1-
0
0.0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
(b) square
1.0
1-
Table 4
Performance of pressure drop correlations compared with the present data.
Correlations
Circular
Square
a.m.
r.m.s.
a.m.
r.m.s
78.1
4.2
6.9
20.5
64.5
34.2
14.0
20.1
25.5
43.9
11.7
41.0
4. Conclusions
Heat transfer and pressure drop during condensation of R152a
were investigated experimentally in a circular (d = 1.152 mm)
and a square (dh = 0.952 mm) microchannels. Experiments were
conducted with mass uxes from 200 to 800 kg/m2 s, saturation
temperatures of 40 C and 50 C and vapor mass qualities from
0.1 to 0.9. Experimental data were compared with empirical correlations and a theoretical solution. The following conclusions can be
drawn:
1. Heat-transfer coefcients and pressure gradients during condensation increase with mass ux and vapor mass quality while
decrease with the saturation temperature both in circular and
square microchannels.
2. Heat-transfer coefcients of the square microchannel are higher
than those of the circular microchannel at G = 200 kg/m2 s and
400 kg/m2 s due to the effect of surface tension. The heat transfer enhancement decreases with mass ux as the shear stress
plays a much more important role at higher mass uxes. However, channel geometry has little effect on two phase pressure
gradients.
3. The heat transfer results for the circular microchannel agree
within experimental error with Wang et al. [24] and Koyama
et al. [25] correlations and the theoretical solution [27], while
for the square microchannel the results agree within experimental error with Koyama et al. [25], Cavallini et al. [8] and
Bandhauer et al. [26] correlations and the theoretical solution
[27]. For pressure drop results, Koyama et al. [25] underestimates the data for both microchannels while Agarwal and Garimella [29] overestimate the data for the square microchannel.
Acknowledgements
The work was nancially supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Project, No. 2011CB706904),
Guangdong
Industry-Academia-Research
Project
(No.
2011A090200018) and the new energy vehicles industry Project
(2011) of Guangdong Special Funds for Strategic Emerging
Industries.
The work was also supported by EU research Grant FP7-2010IRSES-269205.
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67