Heat transfer during condensation of steam over a vertical grid of horizontal integral-fin copper tubes

Abstract

Present investigation is carried out to study the heat transfer during condensation of steam over an array of short ( L/ D i⩽50) horizontal integral-fin types with a fin density of 390 fpm, placed in-line on a vertical plane. The experiments are conducted at different pressures of condensing steam between 100 and 200 kPa, and cooling water flow rate is varied from 8 ( Re≈12 000) to 16 lpm ( Re≈24 000) . The condensing side heat transfer coefficient is computed by the modified Wilson plot technique as well as from the direct measurement of the outside tube wall temperature. A correlation is also developed to find the heat transfer coefficient for the nth tube in a vertical grid of horizontal finned tubes.