Experimental study of evaporation heat transfer of R-134a inside a corrugated tube with different tube inclinations

Abstract

Experimental heat transfer studies during evaporation of R-134a inside a corrugated tube have been carried out. The corrugated tube has been provided with different tube inclination angles of the direction of fluid flow from horizontal, α. The experiments were performed for seven different tube inclinations, α, in a range of −90° to +90° and four mass velocities of 46, 81, 110 and 136kgm−2s−1 for each tube inclination angle during evaporation of R-134a. Data analysis demonstrate that the tube inclination angle, α, affects the boiling heat transfer coefficient in a significant manner. The effect of tube inclination angle, α, on heat transfer coefficient, h, is more prominent at low vapor quality and mass velocity. In the low vapor quality region, the heat transfer coefficient, h, for the +90° inclined tube is about 62% more than that of the −90° inclined tube. The results also showed that at all mass velocities, the highest average heat transfer coefficient were achieved for α=+90°. An empirical correlation has also been developed to predict the heat transfer coefficient during flow boiling inside a corrugated tube with different tube inclinations.