Influence of inlet vapour quality perturbations on the transient response of flow-boiling heat transfer

The effect a transient heat flux has on in-tube boiling has not been studied extensively for some refrigerants commonly proposed for use in concentrated solar power organic Rankine cycle systems. In this study, the effect of abrupt step changes (upwards and downwards) in the inlet vapour quality to a flow-boiling test section on the heat transfer coefficient was considered. Tests were conducted with R-245fa at a saturation temperature of 35°C in an 800 mm horizontal smooth tube with an inner diameter of 8.31 mm and a constant test section heat flux of 7.5 kW/m2. Initial inlet vapour qualities ranged between base values of 0.15 and 0.40 with mass fluxes of 200 and 300 kg/m2s. Baseline heat transfer coefficients at steady-state conditions were determined, followed by a series of transient-state response investigations. For these, sharp upward and downward step perturbations of the inlet vapour quality were considered. It was found that for a step size magnitude of 0.13 in the vapour quality, the actual heat transfer coefficient differed from the expected quasi-steady-state heat transfer coefficients during the transient. During the downward step, it was 8.7 to 11.7% higher than the expected heat transfer coefficient, while during the upward step, it was 9.3 to 26.0% lower for a mass flux of 200 kg/m2s, depending on the initial inlet vapour quality. For a mass flux of 300 kg/m2s, it was 7.2% and 16.7% higher and 13.8 to 17.8% lower for the downward and upward step respectively

Experimental and Numerical Investigation of Micro/Mini Channel Flow-Boiling Heat Transfer with Non-Uniform Circumferential Heat Fluxes at Different Rotational Orientations

Flow-boiling of Perfluorohexane (FC-72) in horizontal micro/mini channels was investigated experimen- tally and numerically at different rotational orientations in terms of gravity. One-sided uniform channel heating was considered experimentally for rotational angles ranging from 0 °(heating from below) to 180 °(heating from above) in increments of 30 °. The micro/mini channel had a high aspect ratio of 10 (5 mm x 0.5 mm) and a hydraulic diameter of 909 μm. In-channel flow visualisations were recorded and heat transfer coefficients were determined for mass fluxes of 10, 20 and 40 kg/m 2 s at a saturation temperature of 56 °C. Suitable heat fluxes were applied to span the onset of nucleate boiling to near dry-out conditions within the channel. It was found that the rotational angle had a significant influence on the heat transfer performance due to its influence on bubble detachment. Bottom-heated cases (0 °orientation) resulted in local heat transfer coefficients that were up to 201% higher than for any other rotational orientation. Channel orientations of 60 °(slanted heating surface) and 90 °(heating from the side) generally produced the lowest local heat transfer coefficients. Insight into the influence of the grav- itational orientation on single-bubble growth within the nucleation and detachment region was obtained via two- and three-dimensional numerical simulations. Bubble behaviour after detachment and its effect on heat transfer were also investigated transiently until detachment. The numerical simulations mirrored the experimental trends and it was found that the presence of growing bubbles interrupted the velocity streamlines and the thermal boundary layer downstream of the nucleation sit

Influence of non-steady transient heat flux on flow boiling heat transfer and pressure drop in horizontal pipes

Transient heat fluxes imposed on solid surfaces can significantly affect the heat transfer and pressure drop of flow boiling processes in diverse fields ranging from microprocessor electronics cooling to waste-heat recovery and large-scale direct steam generation in concentrated solar applications. A series of simulated transients were applied in this experimental study to investigate the saturated flow boiling of R-245fa in a horizontal pipe. The test section consisted of an 8.31 mm inner diameter, 800 mm long heated pipe. The imposed transient conditions involved spatially uniform but temporally varying heat fluxes imposed on the pipe. A baseline condition with a saturation temperature of 35°C, a heat flux of 7.5 kW/m2 and a mass flux of 200 kg/m2s was considered over a vapour quality range from 0.10 to 0.85. Motivated by direct steam generation application case studies and based on actual solar direct normal irradiation data, reductions with an amplitude of 75% of the baseline heat flux were imposed over a period of 30 s. The waveform types were step, triangular and sinusoidal pulses, and were applied in a controlled fashion. It was found that during the step perturbation, the heat transfer coefficient was approximately 30% lower than the steady state condition. The triangular and sinusoidal perturbations resulted in heat transfer coefficients that were 8% lower than that of the steady state. The pressure gradient through the test section was unaffected by the imposed perturbations

Effect of low heat and mass fluxes on the boiling heat transfer coefficient of R-245fa

In-tube flow boiling at low mass and heat fluxes is of increasing interest particularly for low-concentration solar power systems, refrigerators, heat pumps, and other thermal management components and systems. In this study, the flow boiling of R-245fa was investigated experimentally for vapour qualities ranging from 0.05 to 0.90, mass fluxes of 40, 60 and 80 kg/m2s, and heat fluxes of 2.5, 5.0 and 7.5 kW/m2. Tests were done at quasi-steady-state conditions in a horizontal smooth tube with an inner diameter of 8.31 mm and a heated length of 0.8 m, at a saturation temperature of 35°C. It was found that the heat transfer coefficient was influenced by both the mass and heat fluxes. At any given vapour quality and heat flux combination, an increase in the mass flux resulted in an increase in the heat transfer coefficient. However, the magnitude of the increase and sensitivity to the mass flux was not the same in all of the test cases. Higher vapour quality cases were more sensitive to the mass flux than lower vapour quality cases, except at low heat flux conditions. In the most peculiar case, at the lowest considered heat flux of 2.5 kW/m2, severe sensitivity to mass flux was observed at vapour qualities between 0.2 and 0.3. For all other heat fluxes, the heat transfer coefficient was found to be independent of the vapour quality except when the mass flux was high, where increased vapour quality resulted in improved heat transfer coefficients. Various correlations were investigated, but none of them captured the trends for the lowest heat flux