Distribution of air–water annular flow in a header of a parallel flow heat exchanger

Abstract

The air and water flow distribution are experimentally studied for a heat exchanger composed of round headers and 10 flat tubes. The effects of tube protrusion depth as well as header mass flux, and quality are investigated, and the results are compared with previous 30 channel data. The flow at the header inlet is annular. For the downward flow configuration, water flow distribution is significantly affected by tube protrusion depth. For flush-mounted geometry, significant portion of water flows through frontal part of the header. As the protrusion depth increases, more water is forced to rear part of the header. The effect of header mass flux or quality is qualitatively the same as that of the protrusion depth. For the upward flow configuration, however, significant portion of water flows through rear part of the header. The effect of protrusion depth is the same as that of the downward flow. However, the effect of header mass flux or quality is opposite to the downward flow case. Compared with the previous 30 channel configuration, the present 10 channel configuration yields better flow distribution. Possible explanation is provided from flow visualization results.