The effect of R-123 condensate inundation and vapor shear on enhanced tube geometries
- Iowa State Univ., Ames, IA (United States)
- API Ketema Heat Transfer Technology, Grand Prairie, TX (United States)
Data showing the combined effects of refrigerant R-123 condensate inundation and vapor shear on the shell-side heat transfer coefficient are presented for four enhanced tube geometries. The test bundle consists of five instrumented tubes surrounded by inactive tubes in a five-by-five staggered tube arrangement with a horizontal pitch of 22.2 mm (0.875 in.) and a vertical pitch of 19.1 mm (0.75 in.). Simulations of the effect of inundation up to a depth of 25 rows are presented at three different vapor velocities. The data were obtained at a saturation temperature of 35 C (95 F) and at heat fluxes between approximately 17,500 and 31,000 W/m{sup 2} (5,550 and 9,830 Btu/[h{center_dot}ft{sup 2}]). Four separate tube geometries were tested--a 1,024-fpm (26-fpi) tube; a low-fin, 1,475-fpm (40-fpi) tube; and two enhanced tubes, designated the Tu-Cii and the G-SC. The data show that the performance of the Tu-Cii enhanced geometry is nearly double the heat transfer performance of the G-SC at the lowest inundation rates and lowest velocity and more than triple that of the 26-fpi geometry. At the highest inundation rates, the Tu-Cii was approximately 10% higher than the other geometries. The data also show that Tu-Cii is the most susceptible to liquid inundation, with a drop of 80% from the lowest to the highest inundation rates. Decreases of approximately 20%, 20%, and 45% were seen for the 26-fpi, 40-fpi, and G-SC tubes, respectively, over the same test range. The effect of inundation was also found to dominate over the effect of vapor shear for all geometries over the ranges of inundation rate and vapor velocity.
- OSTI ID:
- 433730
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-960606--
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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