Experimental investigation on effect of helical grooves on condensation heat transfer performance of vertically oriented copper tubes

Abstract

An experimental investigation was conducted to study the influence of pitch of helical grooves on condensation heat transfer performance on vertically oriented copper tubes. The condensation heat transfer coefficient of bare as well as grooved copper tubes of various pitches ranging from 2.54 mm to 22.4mm were studied. The investigation revealed that copper tube with groove pitch ≤ 6.35 mm has an adverse effecton the heat transfer performance in comparison to bare copper. The helical groove with pitch > 6.35 mm showed improvement in heat transfer coefficient. The helical groove with pitch 8.47 mm showed a maximum enhancement of 68.4% in condensation heat transfer coefficient at ∆T = 40°C.