Boiling Heat Transfer and Visualization for R717 in a Horizontal Smooth Mini-tube

Abstract

The paper presents an experimental and theoretical investigation on the two-phase flow boiling heat transfer with ammonia (R717) as the refrigerant in a horizontal smooth mini-tube with inner diameter of 3mm. The experimental data were obtained in the following condition, the heat flux density is 10∼30 kW · m − 2 , the mass flux is 40∼200 kg · m − 2 · s − 1 , the saturation temperature is -10∼10 ℃, and the range of vapor quality is 0.1 ∼1. The experimental results show that the heat transfer coefficient before dryout phenomenon increases and gradually reaches a peak with the increase of vapor quality, but occurs heat transfer deterioration after dryout phenomenon. Combined with the transform of flow patterns, the effect of mass flux, heat flux density, and saturation temperature on the heat transfer coefficient and friction pressure drop are analyzed. The theoretical gas phase flow velocity of ammonia is much higher than other refrigerants, and the flow boiling heat transfer for ammonia is more dependent on convective boiling. The existing correlations of two-phase flow are compared with the measured data of ammonia. According to the experimental and comparative results, Kew and Conwell correlation and Müller-Steinhagen and Heck correlation were updated respectively, and new boiling heat transfer correlation and frictional pressure drop correlation were obtained.