Prediction of forced convective boiling heat transfer coefficient of pure refrigerants and binary refrigerant mixtures inside a horizontal tube

Abstract

Forced convective boiling heat transfer coefficients were predicted for an annular flow inside a horizontal tube for pure refrigerants and nonazeotropic binary refrigerant mixtures. The heat transfer coefficients were calculated based on the turbulent temperature profile in liquid film and vapor core considering the composition difference in vapor and liquid phases, and the nonlinearity in mixing rules for the calculation of mixture properties. The heat transfer coefficients of pure refrigerants were estimated within a standard deviation of 14% compared with available experimental data. For nonazeotropic binary refrigerant mixtures, prediction of the heat transfer coefficients was made with a standard deviation of 18%. The heat transfer coefficients of refrigerant mixtures were lower than linearly interpolated values calculated from the heat transfer coefficients of pure refrigerants. This degradation was represented by several factors such as the difference between the liquid and the overall compositions, the conductivity ratio and the viscosity ratio of both components in refrigerant mixtures. The temperature change due to the concentration gradient was a major factor for the heat transfer degradation and the mass flux itself at the interface had a minor effect.