Heat Transfer in Multiport Minichannel Condensers and Evaporators: Correlation Development and Meta-Analysis

Abstract

Condensers and evaporators are widely deployed as surface phase-change heat exchangers in power plants, desalination plants, and large refrigeration systems. Surface condensers and evaporators or shell and tube heat exchangers are frequently used in the process industry. However, compact condensers and evaporators such as multiport minichannel condensers and evaporators are evolving as compact, lightweight, high heat flux, and highly efficient alternatives to the bulky, space-consuming, and relatively less efficient shell and tube designs. This article reports regression analysis and new correlation development from experimental data compiled from horizontal, multiport minichannel condensers and evaporators in the past two decades. Thermo-hydraulic parameters such as the Reynolds number, Prandtl number, boiling number, Martinelli parameter, hydraulic diameter, and other variables were considered to predict the Nusselt number in such condensers and evaporators. Meta-analysis yielded statistically significant results and strongly suggested that multiport minichannels were more suitable for evaporation than condensation.