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Flow boiling heat transfer of R134a in a 500 µm ID tube

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Abstract

The present paper presents experimental results for the heat transfer coefficient during flow boiling of refrigerant R134a in a circular channel with internal diameter of 500 µm. The experimental database covers mass velocities ranging from 200 to 800 kg/m2 s, heat fluxes up to 100 kW/m2 and vapor qualities from 0.02 to 0.75 for a saturation temperature of 40 °C. The experimental data were parametrically analyzed and the effects of the experimental parameters (heat flux, mass velocity and vapor quality) identified. Additionally, images of two-phase flow were obtained through a high-speed camera and employed to identify the flow patterns. A flow pattern map was built and compared to prediction methods from the literature. In general, the heat transfer coefficient increased with increasing mass velocity and heat flux. The experimental data were compared against seven flow boiling predictive methods from the literature. Sun and Mishima (Int J Heat Mass Transf 52(23):5323–5329, 2009. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2009.06.041) and Kanizawa et al. (Int J Heat Mass Transf 93:566–583, 2016. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2015.09.083) methods provided the best prediction of the experimental results with only Kanizawa et al. (2016) capturing the experimental heat transfer trends.

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(adapted from Aguiar and Ribatski [45])

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Abbreviations

D :

Diameter (m)]

f :

Friction factor (–)

G :

Mass velocity (kg/m2 s)

h :

Enthalpy (J/kg)

I :

Electrical current (A)

L :

Length (m)

\(\dot{m}\) :

Mass flow rate (kg/s)

Nu:

Nusselt number (dimensionless)

\(\dot{q}\) :

Heat flux (W/m2)

p :

Pressure (Pa)

\(\dot{P}\) :

Electric power (W)

Re:

Reynolds number (dimensionless)

T :

Temperature (°C)

V :

Voltage (V)

x :

Vapor quality (–)

α :

Heat transfer coefficient (W/m2 K)

λ :

Empirical coefficient (dimensionless)

ρ :

Density (kg m−3)

σ :

Heat losses (dimensionless)

\(\Delta p\) :

Pressure drop (Pa)

ω :

Empirical coefficient (dimensionless)

\(1\emptyset\) :

Single-phase

\(2\emptyset\) :

Two-phase

diff:

Differential (Pressure)

f:

Fluid

fric:

Frictional

GO:

Two-phase mixture as gas

\(i\) :

Discrete index position

Int:

Internal

liq:

Liquid

LO:

Two-phase mixture as liquid

out:

Outlet

pre:

Preheater

sat:

Saturation

tc:

Thermocouple

ts:

Test section

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge grants given by FAPESP (São Paulo Research Foundation of Brazil) under Contract Number 2016/09509-1, CNPq (National Counsel of Technological and Scientific Development of Brazil) under Contract Numbers 141946/2017-2 and 305673/2017-3 and CAPES (Coordination of the Improvement in Higher Level Personnel of Brazil). The technical support given to this investigation by Mr. José Roberto Bogni and Mr. Jorge Nicolau dos Santos is also appreciated and recognized.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Heat Transfer Research Group, Mechanical Engineering Department, São Carlos School of Engineering, University of São Paulo, Av. Trabalhador São Carlense, 400, Parque Arnold Schmidt, São Carlos, São Paulo, CEP 13566-590, Brazil

    Erivelto dos Santos Filho, Gustavo Matana Aguiar & Gherhardt Ribatski

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  1. Erivelto dos Santos Filho
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  2. Gustavo Matana Aguiar
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  3. Gherhardt Ribatski
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Correspondence to Erivelto dos Santos Filho.

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dos Santos Filho, E., Aguiar, G.M. & Ribatski, G. Flow boiling heat transfer of R134a in a 500 µm ID tube. J Braz. Soc. Mech. Sci. Eng. 42, 254 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40430-020-02325-2

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