.

,'

Falling Film Ammonia Evaporators

J. M. Gonzalez G., J. M. S. Jabardo,
Politecnica de Madrid, Spain
W. F. Stoecker
University of Illinois
ACRCTR-33

December 1992

For additional information:

Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Center
University of Illinois
Mechanical & Industrial Engineering Dept.
1206 West Green Street
Urbana, IL 61801
(217) 333-3115

Prepared while Professors Gonzalez and labardo

were Visiting Professors at the ACRe.

The Air Conditioning and Refrigeration

Center was founded in 1988 with a grant
from the estate of Richard W. Kritzer, the
founder of Peerless of America Inc. A State
of Illinois Technology Challenge Grant
helped build the laboratory facilities. The
ACRC receives continuing support from the
Richard W. Kritzer Endowment and the
National Science Foundation. Thefollowing
organizations have also become sponsors of
the Center.

Acustar Division of Chrysler

Allied-Signal, Inc.
Amana Refrigeration, Inc.
Carrier Corporation
Caterpillar, Inc.
E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co.
Electric Power Research Institute
Ford Motor Company
General Electric Company
Harrison Division of G M
ICI Americas, Inc.
Johnson Controls, Inc.
Modine Manufacturing Co.
Peerless of America, Inc.
Environmental Protection Agency
U. S. Army CERL
Whirlpool Corporation
For additional information:
Air Conditioning & Refrigeration Center
Mechanical & Industrial Engineering Dept.
University of Illinois
1206 West Green Street
Urbana IL 61801

2173333115

FALLING FILM AMMONIA EVAPORATORS

by
Juan M. Gonzalez G. and Jose M. Saiz Jabardo
Politecnica de Madrid, Spain

w.

F. Stoecker, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

ABSTRACT

This paper is a literature review and correlation of data on

falling film and spray evaporators.

This type of evaporator offers

the potential advantages of improved heat-transfer coefficients and

a reduction in charge of evaporating fluid.

The challenge in

reviewing papers by various authors is that the data appears in

different forms, so an attempt has been made to achieve some
uniformity in order to critically compare the data.

Another

objective of this paper is to provide guidelines for how a

developer and manufacturer of this type of evaporator can improve
the performance of the model under development.
One of the important factors in achieving the maximum
improvement in evaporator performance is the proper choice of the
rate of refrigerant spray.

A circulation rate that is too high

increases the refrigerant charge and also increases the pumping

power for the circulation of the refrigerant.

On the other hand,

if the spray rate is too low, some areas on the tube become dry and
the heat-transfer coefficient drops off rapidly.

Also, the optimum

tube placement in a falling-film evaporator may not be the same as

in a flooded

~vaporator.

This paper also explores research studies

on enhanced surfaces for ammonia and the potential combination of

enhanced surfaces with the falling film concept.
INTRODUCTION
The reduction in the thickness of the ozone layer in recent
years has compelled the refrigeration and air conditioning industry
to intensify their efforts to find refrigerants that can be

-2-

.,'

substituted for CFC and certain HCFC refrigerants.

One of the

possible alternatives to the banned refrigerants is ammonia which

has excellent thermodynamic properties for a refrigerant and causes
no depletion of the ozone layer.

The low concentrations of ammonia

that are considered toxic, however, necesitate special care to

avoid and/or minimize the effect of its release, particularly in
public and semipublic areas.

One approach for improving the

ability to handle ammonia safely is to build refrigeration packages

with only small charges of refrigerant.

The development of

low-charge chillers in the next few years will facilitate the use
of ammonia water chillers for air conditioning service and possibly
antifreeze chillers for supermarkets and other applications.

One

attractive concept for reducing the refrigerant charge is the use

of falling film evaporators as a sUbstitute for flooded and even
direct-expansion chillers.

Falling film evaporators are expected

to provide a high ratio of refrigeration capacity to refrigerant

charge.
This paper provides a description of the state of the art of
falling-film evaporators based on a bibliographic study.

The first

type of evaporator studied is one with a vertical orientation and

with planar surfaces that are enhanced by means of fluted geometry.
The problem of "dryout" is analyzed with the objective of
determining the minimum quantity of liquid necessary to guarantee
the complete wetting of the tubes.
Described for horizontal evaporators are the hydrodynamics of
several types of flow patterns, the mechanism of entrainment of
liquid in the vapor flow, and several parameters that affect the
quantity of liquid flow rate in'order to avoid the break-down
condition.

Several correlations to determine the heat-transfer

coefficients of the film for both the case of superficial

evaporation as well as nucleate boiling are described.

In the past

few years enhanced heat-transfer surfaces have come into wide use,
particularly with copper tubes used for halocarbon refrigerants.
The availability of aluminum tubes with enhanced surfaces opens
similar opportunities for ammonia.

Results obtained from

experimental tests of industrial-scale heat exchangers permit a

-3-

comparison with predictions from laboratory- scale models.

FALLING-FILM EVAPORATORS
Falling film evaporators are shell-and-tube heat exchangers in
which the refrigerant is distributed by means of a spray
arrangement above the tube bundle, forming a thin film of liquid
around the tubes.

This system permits, at the same time, operation

with small temperature differences between the refrigerant and tube

and with high heat-transfer coefficients.

These advantages have

been used frequently in applications in the chemical industry to

maintain a stable temperature and avoid decomposition of products.
In the desalination of sea water, falling film evaporators can
reduce the energy cost and they have been investigated for OTEC
applications that use the temperature gradients in the ocean to
generate power.

In the OTEC application a reduction in the

temperature difference between the sea water and working fluid will
increase the energy efficiency of the system.
One of the most prominent characteristics of this equipment is
the low refrigerant charge which will be an attractive feature in
the refrigeration industry both in the short- and medium-term
because of the high costs of HFCs _and HCFCs or because of the
objective of increased safety in the case of ammonia.
One of the advantages of this type of equipment in comparison
to flooded evaporators is that the elevation of the boiling
temperature caused by hydrostatic head in the lower part of the
evaporator is avoided.

The existence of hydrostatic head and its

effect of reducing the heat transfer rate in the evaporator does

not occur in spray chillers.

This effect is most important in

shell and tube evaporators of 'large diameters, tube-type

evaporators of large vertical dimensions, evaporators operating at
low temperatures, and evaporators using refrigerants of high liquid
density, such as halocarbons.
Spray chillers recirculate the refrigerant that does not
evaporate back to the spray nozzles by means of a pump. The
systems should achieve a uniform distribution of the fluid on the

-4-

exterior of the tube bundle to guarantee a complete wetting of the

tubes.

An incomplete wetting results in a drastic reduction in the

heat-transfer coefficient at the surface.

The design must take

into consideration the interaction of the falling liquid with the

flow of vapor generated within the tube bundle.

The circulation

rate of refrigerant should be minimized to the extent possible with

the objective of reducing the refrigerant charge as well as the
cost of pumping and the distribution system.
The publications on which this article has especially focused
deal principally with water and ammonia.

Most of the experieces

with water evaporators derive from the work of Fletcher (1974,

1975), Canizzaro (1972), and Liu (1975) and were stimulated
principally by projects on desalination plants and were supported
by the Office of Saline Water.

Meanwhile most of the work on

ammonia was promoted by OTEC especially that of Conti (1978),

Lorenz (1979-1982), and Owens (1977).

The major investigations

with halocarbons were conducted by Danilova (1976) and Spegele

) with R-11 and R-12.

Chyu and Bergles were very active in

studies of enhanced surfaces (1979 to 1982).

VERTICAL EVAPORATORS
Evaporators installed with a vertical orientation may not be
of as great a commercial interest as horizontal evaporators, but
certain of the insights gained from the research on vertical
evaporators may also apply to horizontal evaporators.

In both

vertical and horizontal evaporators the boiling fluid is outside

the tubes.

Essentially the thickness of the liquid layer will be

greater for long vertical tubes which decreases the coefficient of

heat transfer at the top of the tube because of the large thickness
needed there.

Nevertheless, a long tube can generate a turbulent

regime that intensifies the coefficient of heat transfer (Dukler

(1960), Chun & Saban (1971, 1972).

The hydrodynamic process of the

liquid on the exterior of the tube controls the heat transfer.

An

early work by Nusselt considered the formation of a plane film in

the condensation process that increases with the length of tube.

-5-

....

With respect to the heat transfer, Chun and Seban (1971)

determined experimentally that the values of the heat-transfer
coefficients across the film in laminar as well as turbulent
regimes were greater with wavy flow.

Other authors such as Kapitza

(1948) and Dukler (1960) studied the reduction in the thickness of

the liquid film due to the wavy motion of the fluid along the
length of the tube.

The thickness was less than predicted by means

of the famous Nusselt theory, just as Kapitza had previously

described.
In the laminar regime using the thickness developed by Nusselt
the nondimensional coefficient of the film h* is
h* = (4/3)1/3 Re- 1 / 3

(1)

where the coefficient of the nQndimensional film is

h* = h /[(k3g~2/~2)]1/3
(2)
While if the reduction in thickness of the film because of the
effect of the ripples is considered, Chu and Seban propose:
-0.22
h* = 0.606 (Re/4)
Laminar regime
(3)
-3
0.4
.65
h* = 3.8xl0
(Re)
(Pr)
Turbulent regime (4)
Several authors such as Sinek and Young (1962) and Ganchev
(1972) confirm these correlations experimentally, however the data
reported for water by Fujita and Ueda (1978), although exhibiting
the same trends, have values 10% higher in the range of heat flows
from 30,000 to 70,000 w/m 2 since they consider an additional
reduction in the liquid film that increases the flow of heat.
propose for water the following correlations:
For Re < 3200
h* = 0.90 (Re)-0.22
-3 (Re) .4
For Re > 3200
h* = 6.0xl0

They

(5 )

(6)

In the case of heat flows that ar~ predominantly nucleate boiling,

the process that controls the heat transfer and the heat-transfer
coefficient is independent of 'the velocity of the fluid.

It is

thus possible to estimate the heat-transfer coefficient by means of

the following equation
h = 1.24 q 0.741
w/m 2o c
(7)
o
:1. A. Shmerler and I. Mudawar (1988) experimentally studied the
development of the turbulent sublayer with its wavy motion in the
falling film and proposed the following equation for values of Re

-6-

"~'

between 2480 and 39,430:

h* = 0.0106 (Re)0.3 (pr)63

(8)

The comparison of results of several authors is shown in Fig. 1.

17000 . . . . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ,

u
,.. 2000
c

~7000

NUSS8..T
OIJ
FWITA
SlMRER
q.1.11()A5
. q.2.8 1()A5

2000!---~~~~------~
o

. 3000

1000

RE
Fig. 1.

Comparison of the film coefficients h reported by

various authors for vertical falling film evaporators.
DRYOUT IN VERTICAL FALLING FILMS

The dryout of a film of liquid flowing over a heated surface

produces dry areas that drastically reduce the transmission of
heat.

Fujita has described two types of dry-out in vertical

surfaces:
(a) Dry patch in which the appearance of

~he

dry area in the lower

part of the tube is due to reduction in the thickness of liquid due

to evaporation and entrainment.
(b) Flooding in which the thickness of the film is reduced by the
flow of vapor rising to the upper portion of the tube.

This flow

of vapor is accompanied by a sudden reduction in the thickness of

the film of the liquid on the heated surface.
Once the film has been broken the dry surface no longer
disipates the heat rapidly and the temperature of the surface
rises.

When the liquid returns to wet the surface, nucleate

boiling is produced that violently drives off the liquid, repeating

the process.

Several configurations of dryout are shown in Fig. 2.

-7-

..'

Hcallransler 10 ral6nlliquid films .nd film brakdown-'

StOIlI. ,I" ,Gteft

..... tlOn 01 Initial ,I"

Col

poren

(III

"0'0

...
Fig. 2.

Dryout in vertical tubes

Several authors (3. Bond and M. Donald (1957

have investigated

the quantity of liquid necessary to avoid breakdown.

Their

approach was to explore the consequences of a modification of the

surface tension of the liquid film in the case of an absorption
column and determining the minimum thickness necessary to maintain
the wet conditions on it.
Later Norman and McIntyre (1960) have studied the effect of the
formation of the dry patch as a consequence of the change in the
surface tension with the temperature along the length of the liquid
surface (Maragoni effect), which is, "when irregularities occur in
the film thickness, the region of greater thickness will have a
surface of lower temperature, so subsequent higher surface tension
~orce

will draw liquid from the thinner region.

Finally, the

liquid deficiency in the thinner region will occur, forming a dry

patch on the wall surface."
Fujita (1976) has studied the phenomenon for the cases of saturated

-8-

and subcooled liquid films flowing on the exterior of a uniformly

heated vertical column.

He found that thedryout occurred at water

flow values of 0.01 to 0.02 kg/m-s which correspond to Re of 140 to

280.

In his work, J. Tang (1991) developed an analytical method to

determine the minimum quantity of liquid necessary to guarantee the

wetting of the tubes with vertical surfaces, both with and without
shear forces.

Tang's theoretical predictions were confirmed by the

experimental data of Hewitt (1965).

He found that the minimum flow

necessary was a function of the parameter M and the angle of

contact (Fig. 3).
Re
where

4/5

= 8.6 M

min

= ~/4

(8 )

/( j ~1/4 gl/4)

In the case of water, M

of M is 1010.

(1 - cos ~)3/5

= 498

(9 )

while for ammonia at 22C the value

Considering that the value of the angle of wetting

depends on the nature of the surface and the type of fluid, large
discrepancies in the values are found in the literature.

Thus, for

water Hartley and Murgatroyed (1964) report for stainless steel a

value of 45 while Fujita (1978) present values between 8.5 - 15
and Norman and McIntyre propose 17.

Other authors report for

ammonia on stainless steel values between 20 and 30 that

corresponds to a value of Re

min

of the order of 100.

1000

100

10

.-20

I:

a:

II

10

1
100

Fig. 3.

300

500

..

700

900

.-30
.-40

.-so
70

1100

Minimum Re for wetting of vertical tubes.

-9-

....

Figure 3 shows the values of Re

necessary to guarantee the
min
wetting of the tubes as a function of the value of M and the angle
of

One observes that small modifications in the angle

wetting~.

of wetting have a great influence on the value of Re

min

INTENSIFYING HEAT TRANSFER

The transfer of heat in heat exchangers is intensified
considerably by means of axially-fluted surfaces.

Alexander and

Hoffman suggested that the enhancement is largely the result of

naturally occurring waves which intermittently wash over the crests
of the flutes as shown in Fig. 4.

When the trough between waves

passes by, the surface tension dries the crest of the flute by
pulling the liquid into the rill, thus producing a higher heat
transfer coefficient.

LIOUID FLOWS
DOWNWARD

t,

.{

.
"

.'

I;

,\.

:!"

.'

'.

.'

i
1
~;

~7.

:; tl
,

..

'.

Fig. 4.

f.
~:

.'

'.':"

FLUTE lAVED BY WAVE

FLUTE EXPOSED IN TRpUGH OF WAVE

r
!

Enhancement on fluted vertical tubes.

..'

-10-

The literature shows no equation that permits a correlation of the

transfer of heat with the dimensions and shape of the flutes with
the physical properties of the fluid.

However, for a certain

geometry Rothfus and Newman (1978)present graphs that permit

calculation of the film coefficient for the case of a 26 mm radius
fluted aluminum tube on which ammonia is boiling (Fig. 5).

The

film coefficient depends on the Reynolds number in the upper part

of the tube and on the recirculation of liquid, sigma.

It can be

observed that an increase in the recirculation rate increases the

coefficient of heat transfer, however, an increase in the liquid
rate also increases the energy requirement of the pump providing
the circulation.

On the other hand, reducing the circulation rate

of liquid too low increas.es the probability of break down .

NtAN "tAT TItAN!'EIt COE,.... CIENT "011 ,.,NON'A

CONDENSING ON .HE OUTSI:lE SUR,.ACE O,..toN
EXTERNAU,Y 'LUTED l-INCH ALUMINUN rust.
U'NIL CONSTANT' IIAOIUS 'LUTES.

:::

!!!

...........-_ _~~;;7,"~(:-h~-I~ OO!

CONDENSER

11.1

::

11.1
Q

a-:.

..

CIS

MASS FLOW AT aOfTOW OF TUBE

-:-:~=-=~=-=~~~~~..:..:.::
MASS RATE OF EVAPORATION

::

z
z

11.1

:I

10:
Col

..

. I
a 10'

&

..

10

REYNOLDS ~UNeER OF LIOUID NH

FED TO fOP OF FLUTED fUeE (f:'1APORATOR)

MEASUREO AT BOTTOM OF TUBE (CONDENSER)

Fig. 5.

Heat-transfer coefficient with ammonia on a fluted

ammonia tube.

-11-

The experiments conducted on this type of surface by Rothfus

and Newman with ammonia revealed that at low Reynolds number (400)
the film coefficients are lower than those obtained for plain tubes
owing to the low flow rate of liquid not wetting the flutes.

On

the other hand, in the transition range from laminar to turbulent

(Re from 1500 to 2000), the maximum value of the heat-transfer
coefficient for ammonia occurs.
for a plain tube.

Mostly the values are higher than

Starting from the maximum point, the curve for

the film coefficient decreases with an increasing Reynolds number,

although later it begins to increase again as shown in Fig. 6
(Alexander & Hoffman).

In h*

T"\~ - ;

Fig. 6.

~
Smooth

Ln Re

Heat transfer coefficients on vertical fluted tubes.

The majority of the studies on this type of heat exchanger were

developed from ideal conditions of the laboratory on a single tube.
Carnegie Mellon University, however, constructed an evaporator heat
exchanger of 9400 kW capacity with 240 vertical fluted tubes.

The

tests were conducted by Argonne National Laboratories and permit us

to analyze the performance of a real heat exchanger and compare
this performance with the theoretical predictions found in the
literature.

-12-

....

An evaporator designed for 100 gpm of ammonia (Re

= 4700)

gives coefficients of the order of 1800 Btu/(hr-ft -OF).

For

the same conditions the coefficient of heat transfer calculated for

a plain tube from the equation of Chun and Seban gives a value of
2

690 Btu/(hr-ft -OF).

Figure 7 shows values of the film

coefficient h obtained experimentally for various values of the

Reynolds number as well as the values of h calculated by Chun and
Seban.

Also shown are the theoretical values of Rothfuss.

The

comparison shows that the heat transfer rate can be intensified by

a factor of 2.6 while the type of surface increases the coefficient
only by a factor of 1.57.

However, the experimental values

obtained were less than those reported by Rothfus.

10000

I&.

=
C

:s

1000

..

~~

...

..

II

hChu&S
hargone
h Rothfus

GI
~

100
100

Fig. 7.

1000

r.

10000

Comparison of heat-transfer coefficients from three

sources.

If the film coefficients obtained experimentally are compared

with the values of the curve of Rothfus, the following observations
may be made:
The maximum value of the heat-transfer coefficient appears,
according to Rothfus, in the interval of Reynolds number from
1500 to 3000 which corresponds to a circulation rate of 32 to 64
gpm of ammonia.

However, in this range of flow rates the heat-

transfer coefficient is actually reduced because of the

-13-

emergence of dry out because of the poor distribution of liquid

in the heat exchanger.
The values obtained by means of the Rothfus curve for a
recirculation factor of 5 are considerably higher than the
values obtained from tests.
HORIZONTAL EVAPORATORS
Horizontal evaporators utilizing the principle of falling
films have certain advantages over vertical evaporators:
*the coefficient of heat transfer is higher
*the flow distribution is more uniform that permits a reduction
in the recirculation rate needed to avoid dryout, and this
feature permits a

reduc~ion

in refrigerant charge and allows

lower pumping cost

*vertical evaporators must be oriented precisely vertical, while
there is greater tolerance of deviation of the orientation
from the horizontal in the case of the horizontal evaporator
On the other hand, the horizontal evaporator is more vulnerable to
dryout because of the interaction of the liquid flow with that of
the vapor currents.
In the horizontal evaporator where liquid evaporates on the
exterior of the tubes, the hydrodynamics of the flow controls the
heat-transfer process.

It is necessary, then, to design the

distribution system to distribute the liquid uniformly over the

tube bundle so as to permit wetting of all the tube surfaces.
In general, the distribution system feeds the upper tubes of
the bundle in such a way that the liquid drops down from one tube
to another.

The tubes most likely to suffer dry out are those in

the lower portion of the bundle.

In the case of large heat

exchangers it may be possible to provide some distribution streams

in the upper part of the bundle and some originating over the tubes
in the intermediate section as shown in Fig. 8.

-14-

,.'

!!

~
93
93
94

AUXILIARY SPRAY
TUBES (PLUGGED)

NO. OF FUIICTlOIIAL
TUBES PER PASS

71"1.0.
72 ~4 0.0,

5"SIGHT
GLASSrg

..L

CARBOtl STEEL
SHELL a TUBESHEETS
*1.5"0.0. TI TUBE EXTERtlAlLY COATED WITII
!Iff 'I ltIf1rlr III""

Fig. 8.

",

Distribution system providing liquid supply both

at the top and the intermediate section of a
large heat exchanger (Hills, et aI, 1979).
HYDRODYNAMICS

When the. liquid flows from one tube to another the flow can
take the form of drops, columns, or sheets, as shown in Fig. 9,
depending on the flow rate of the liquid, the physical properties
of the liquid, and the separation of the tubes.

When the flow rate

is very low, as in Fig. 9a the liquid flows in drops from one tube
to another.

When the flow rate is increased (Fig. 9b) the pattern

converts to columns.

Mitrovic (1986) indicates that the Reynolds

number corresponding to the transition between drops and columns is

between 150 and 200.

A further increase in flow rate converts the

flow pattern to sheets (Fig. 9c).

The transition from columns to

sheets occurs at Reynolds numbers between 315 and 600 according to

Kocacomustafaogullari.

No publications have reported the

boundaries between laminar and turbulent flow when liquid spills

...

-15-

from one tube to another, although Parker (1975) reports laminar

regimes occurring at Reynolds numbers of 6000.

Horizontal falling

film evaporators generally operate with Reynolds numbers between

800 and 4000 which correspond to flow patterns of liquid sheets in
the laminar region (Kocacomustafaogullari).

A. Jacobi is currently

studying the hydrodynamics of falling films at the University of

Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

AI OlscnETE onOPLET

Fig. 9.

DILIOUIO COLUI.IIIS

CllIQUIO SHEET

Possible flow patterns of the liquid falling

from one tube to another.

To study the phenomena of dryout, entrainment and the

transport properties in the droplet regime, it is necessary to
determine the dimensions of the drops, the distance between them
and the size frequency.
Sideman (1978) studied the phenomenon of the dropwise pattern
and concluded from

experiment~

that the heat transfer in this

regime is at least two times higher than in the film regime.

He

determined the frequency of various drop sizes and the extent of

separation between the drops for several values of the Reynolds
number.

He found that with a Reynolds number less than 100 the

drop size is greater than 6 mm and by means of increasing the flow

the frequency of the drops also increases while the distance
between the points of formation decreases.

In the case of Reynolds

"~'

-16-

numbers less than 100, drops larger than 6 mm in diameter coexist

with drops of smaller size and greater frequency originating from
satellite locations.

The large drops constitute 80% of the total

volume flow. C. M. Sabin (1978) studied the dropwise regime for

ammonia and determined the diameter of the drop of 0.1 inch and a
separation of 3/4 inch.

He found that the frequency was irregular

along the length of the tube of the order of two times the diameter
and when not receiving drops for several seconds produced dryout on
plain tubes.
Yung and Lorenz (1980) studied the separation of the drop from
the film of liquid.

They found that at the moment of separation

the large drop drags a small wake that breaks off and forms
satellite drops.
main drop d

They propose an equation for the diameter of the

p'

= C(cr" /~ 1

1/2

(10)
For a mixture of alcohol and water the experimentally determined
d

g)

value of C is 3. The diameters d of the drops from the

s
satellite stream are in the range:
0.24 < d /d
< 0.46
(11)
s p
The volume flow in the streams of small drops constitute 19% of the
total volume.
The distance between drops has been studied by 3. Tang (1991)
K.

Taghavi (1980), Dhir (1981), Mitrovic ,(1986), and D. Yung

(1980).
tube

They found that the film thickness on the underside of the

is in a wave form and the distance between drops

coincided

with the longitude of the wave in accordance with the famous

instability equation of Taylor:
'1/2
~ = 2(n"/~
g)
(12)
1
The value of n is 3 if the liquid layer is relatively thick and its
value is 2 if the layer is thin.
value of n

=2

In tests with ammonia with a

the equation permits the prediction of

margin of error less than 4%.

with a

However, Ganic and Roppo (1980)

demonstrated experimentally that the value of

A is not affected by

the flow rate of liquid nor by the separation between tubes.

-17-

ENTRAINMENT
An important process in falling film evaporators is the
influence of entrainment.

In the absence of a current of vapor,

the liquid that does not evaporate on a tube passes directly to the
tube below it.

However, when a vapor current prevails that

impinges transversely on the falling liquid, the drops or columns

of liquid can be deflected which results in an incomplete wetting
of the lower tubes resulting in a reduction in the heat transfer
coefficient.
In falling film evaporators this entrainment can result in
tubes not receiving the quantity of liquid necessary to keep the
tubes wet.

Entrainment can result from several mechanisms:

deflection of the flow of liquid, atomization, stripping, and by

nucleate boiling.
Deflection Entrainment
In the situation that exists in a heat exchanger, a vapor
velocity moves perpendicularly to the flow of liquid and produces a
deflection of the path of the drops.
in Fig. 10 is greater than the angle

If the angle of deflection a

~

then the drops do not strike

the lower tube . . D. Yung and Lorenz (1980) determined the value of
velocity u
u

for the angle of deflection a to equal the angle

[(3~ dg)/(2~)]

1/2

~:

-1/4

[(P/D)(P/D-1)]
(13)
1
g
where P is the pitch of the tubes and D is the diameter

The maximum velocity of

~he

vapor to prevent failure of the

drop from striking a lower tube is a function of the diameter of

the drops d.
d

In particular, it is the diameter of the small drops,

that controls the maximum value of (u ) .

g m

Figure 11 shows the magnitudes of maximum velocity of the

vapor as a function of the diameter of the drops for the case of an
ammonia evaporator operating at OOC calculated from Eq. 13. for

....

-18-

---

vapor

Fig. 10.

Deflect.ion of the path of falling liquid because

of vapor velocity.

values of P/D

= 1.25,

1.33, and 1.5.

The dimension of the primary

drops according to Eq. 10 is 6 mm while the diameter of the

secondary drops varies between 0.14 mm and 0.28 mm.

The maximum

is between 1.3 and 1.7 mIs,

g m
depending on the value of P/D.

velocity of the gas,

(U)

--
E

II

at

:::I

ug(pld-1.8)
ug(pld=1.vr
ug(pld=1. Ji

dp1
ds2
ds3

1
o4---~~~~-r~~~~~~--~

0.000 0.001 0.002 0.003 0.004 0.005 0.006 0.007

dp(m)

Fig. 11.

Maximum velocities of the gas to avoid entrainment

during dropwise regimes with ammonia at OOC.

-19-

"~'

In the case of the overflow of liquid that forms a column of

liquid, Yung and Lorenz (1980) proposed the following equation for
the calculation of the maximum velocity of the gas:

tan (flj)

4 A.

rg

In which the effective diameter d* is:

d* _

8 A. r
(,_ _ _)1/2
7t PI

(2 g S)-1/4

and the vapor drag coefficient C

over the range of Reynolds

numbers of interest is 1, Yung and Lorenz (1980).

Figure 12 represents the values of the maximum velocity of the gas
as a function of tbe Reynolds number obtained by means of Equation
13 for ammonia at OOC with tubes of 1.5 inch diameter and
1.25.

PIn

For values of the Reynolds numbers between 300 and 700,

which is typical of the column regime, the maximum velocity of the

gas that still permits the drops to strike the lower tube varies
between 2.2 and 2.8 m/s.
A. M. Czikk (1978) et al determined experimentally for the
sheet regime the deflection angle of liquid ammonia in a heat
exchanger.

They used a bundle of 1-inch diameter tubes arranged in

a triangular pattern with a 1.5 pitch to diameter ratio.

The

ammonia was sprayed on the tubes at several different flow rates

and the drops were subjected to vapor velocities between 0.5 and 4
m/s.

Figure 13 shows the angles of deflection, obtained as a

function of the velocity and the Reynolds number.

It is observed

how for vapor velocities lower than 1 mls the angle of deflection

....

-20-

is negative.

This indicates that the liquid flows around the

downstream (with respect to the vapor) side of the tube, passes its
low point, and then drips off with a component in the upstream
vapor direction.

This effect is accentuated as the Reynolds number

increases and the velocity diminishes.

With vapor velocities

higher than 1 mls the deflection increases with vapor velocity to

values between 30 0 and 40 0 at velocities of about 3 m/s.

The

horizontal lines in Fig. 13 represent the maximum permitted values

of the angle

-..

PIn

for various

values.

--
-

~
~/

l...--""

ug

::I

500

1000

1500

2000

Re
Fig. 12. Maximum velocity of gas as a function of Reynolds number.
50,-----------------------------~

40
P/D~1.5

30
..

20
Re400

10

Re 1200
Re 2100
-10;---~~--_r----~--~----~--~
3
1
2
o

u(m/s)

Fig. 13. Experimentally-determined angles or

liquid at various vapor velocities.

der~eC~1on

or

~ne

-21-

ENTRAINMENT BY ATOMIZATION
With high velocities of the gas in contact with the drops, it
is possible to produce atomization of the drops.

Wallis (1969)

found that the atomization is produced by values of the Weber

number higher than 12.

Therefore, the velocity of the gas should

be less than the value calculated by means of the following

expression:

Wea

12 a
)1/2

pg d

pg d
\....

From Eq. 16 it is seen that the

maximum velocity of the gas for

atomization, u
decreases as a result of the increase in the
g,a
diameter of the drop as is represented in Fig. 14. Having,
therefore, drops that are larger in diameter than d
maximum velocity of the gas.

limits the

For ammonia at OOC the diameter of

the primary drops d is 6 mm requiring that the velocity of the

p
gas be less than 2.4 mls in order not to cause atomization.

6~----------------------------_

---
E

lEI

uga

::s

2~~-r~-'--~~

0.001

__~~~__~

0.002 0.003 0.004

0.005 0.006

0.007

~~,--

Fig. 14.

Maximum velocities of the gas in order not to

cause atomization of ammonia.

...

-22-

ENTRAINMENT BY STRIPPING
If the velocity of the vapor is sufficiently high, the film of
liquid becomes unstable, separating into drops that are dragged by
the flow of vapor.

Ishii and Grolmes (1975) developed a criterion

that permits establishing the velocity of the vapor current that

produces stripping in the case of concurrent flow of vapor and
liquid.

However, owing to the low liquid velocity in a falling

film evaporator this velocity drops out of the equation resulting

in the following:

III PI 2 0'.1

PI
(

)1/2

PI

)115 = 1

( PI - PI) g

In the case of ammonia at OOC the minimum velocity u

produces a loss of liquid due to stripping is 4.7

mIg,

that
a value

higher than that which satisfies the conditions of deflection.

ENTRAINMENT BY NUCLEATE BOILING
The bubbles of vapor that form during nucleate boiling in the
liquid film tear the film, producing small drops.

These small

drops are conveyed by the vapor current and result in a mist.

During the tests of an ammonia heat exchanger of 1 MW capacity for
the OTEC project, Thomas, Lorenz et al

(1~79)

experienced

entrainment which in this mode amounted to a fraction of liquid

less than 1% of the flow of vapor.

This mode of entrainment is

rare in industrial equipment and is thus of not serious interest.

MINIMUM WETTING RATE
The minimum wetting rate (MWR) is the minimum quantity of
liquid necessary to maintain a wetted condition of the tubes.
Values lower than the MWR cause dryout and the coefficient of heat
transfer is reduced drastically.

The value of the MWR depends on

several parameters: the physical properties of the fluid, nature of

...

-23-

the surface, the angle of wetting, the type of distribution system,

the separation of the tubes, the heat flux and the velocity of the
vapor.

The magnitude of the minimum Reynolds number that

guarantees the wetting of the tubes can be theoretically calculated

by means of the equation proposed by J. Tang and S. Lin (1991) as a
function of the properties of the fluid and the angle of wetting ,:
Re
min

= 4.854

M4/5 (1 _ cos ~)3/5

y

(18)

where
In the case of ammonia at 22C, the value of M is 1010 and
assuming an angle of wetting between 20 and 30, the value of
Re

varies between 180 and 350. As can be seen in Fig. 15,

min
the value of Re i
is very senstive to the value of the angle
m n
of wetting , and a small variation in this parameter changes the
value of the MWR considerably.
1000,-------------------------------~

? "

~.. ~)

If

'-

100

a::

200

400

600

800

III

,,10

" 20

" 30
" 40
" 50

1000 1200 1400

Fig. 15.

Minimum Reynolds numbers that avoid causing

dryout, as a function of M.

The difficulty in evaluating the angle of wetting, on the

surface restricts the use of the analytical equations for the
determination of the MWR.

Therefore in any particular situation it

...

-24-

is necessary to experimentally determine this parameter.

Table 1

summarizes some of the published works that have studied the

conditions of wetting in this type of evaporator.
Table 1. Summary of studies reporting on wetting.

Minimum
Wetting
REYNODl.S
Ammonia 180 - 350
J.Tang
A.M.Czikk Ammonia 200-300

SOURCE

FLUID

Conti

Ammonia 220

GanicRoppo

W'ater

C.Sabin

Ammonia 17 -170

C.Sabin

Ammonia 17 -170

aIEC
aIEC

Ammonia 500
Ammonia 220

ruBE

OBSERVATIONS

Plain
Plain

Correlation *
Influence of
vapor velocity
Comparison of
the wetting of
various fluids
Influence of
Heat Flux
Tube Separation
Dry- Out

Plain

70-200

Plain

Smooth
Rough Nickel
Turner & Stripe
Burnished,
Diamon Knurled,
Strainght Knurl
Hi-Flux
Nickel Plate
Plain
Hi-Flux .

Wetting on the
tubes
32 MBTU/h

An analysis of the bibliography permits us to make the

following observations:
1.

The wetting of the surface is improved by low viscosities and

surface tension.

The effects of these properties could be

observed from the experiments of Conti (1978) who compared the

wetting conditions of water with ammonia on a stainless steel
tube, 5 cm in diameter.
of 41 mL/(min-cm) (Re

In the case of water with a flow rate

= 290)

complete wetting of the tube did

...

-25-

not result.

However, in the case of ammonia it was possible to

achieve a complete wetting with much smaller flow rates,

namely, 8 mL/(min-cm) corresponding to Re
2.

= 220.

The type of surface affects the formation of the draining of

the liquid surrounding the tubes and the value of the MWR.
C. Sabin (1978) demonstrated in a study of seven different
types of surfaces the behavior of ammonia in the dropwise
regime (7 < Re < 170).

The types of surfaces were smooth

finish, rough, nickel plate, Linde Hi Flux, Turner and stripe

burnished, diamond knurled and straight knurled.

It was found

that the nickel plate and Hi Flux surfaces favor the uniform
distribution of the liquid with the resulting complete wetting
of the tube, while the remaining surfaces form small canals of
liquid (rivelets) and form dry zones along the length of the
tubes.
3.

The value of Re.

increases with the heat flux and the
m1n
separation between tubes as can be seen from Fig. 16 based on
experiments conducted on water by Ganic and Roppo (1980).

4.

The circulation of the vapor around the tube changes the form
of the draining of the liquid on the tube and therefore the
MWR.

For low velocities the vapor tends to equalize the

thickness of the film of liquid and reduces the value of the

Re.
required to guarantee the wetting of the tube.
m1n
.
However, from a certain value of the velocity, this effect is
reversed due to the entrainment.

Figure 17 shows the results

of experiments conducted by A. M. Czikk with ammonia in which

is observed that Re.
is achieved with a velocity of the
m1n
gas at approximately 2 m/s.

-26-

r (kg/ms)

-=-

;:
a

Fig. 16.

Re

Film breakdown heat flux for water versus

liquid film flow rate.

1200
1000
800

iii

a::

600

400
200
0

Fig. 17.

in/.

Values of Re
as a function of the
min
velocity of the gas.

As

-27-

The experimental determination of the value of the MWR in

falling film evaporators in the OTEC project has allowed
observation of a similitud between the results obtained in
laboratory conditions with only one tube with the values obtained
from industrial evaporators of large dimensions.

In the case of a

falling film evaporator of 1 MW capacity with plain titanium tubes,

the value of the MWR in the tubes was 45 lb /hr-ft (Re. =
m
m~n
500) having a value that is independent of the liquid supply system
used.

Meanwhile with another evaporator of 32,000,000 Btu/hr

capacity with 388 Hi Flux tubes of 1.5-in in diameter and 55 inches

long, the value of the MWR was 20 lb/hr-ft (Re

= 220).

HEAT TRANSFER
Most of the experiments conducted on predicting the transfer
of heat in falling film evaporators have centered on the
development of facilities for desalination or for the OTEC program
with water or ammonia (Liu, Fletcher, Parken, Conti, Seban, Owen).
On the other hand some experiments have concentrated on halogenated
refrigerants (Danilova).

Table 2 describes the conditions of these

heat-transfer studies.
These experiments have permitted the development of several
correlations on the transfer of heat in falling film evaporators
(Owen, Lorenz and Yung, Sabin, Chyu and Bergles, Danilova) as well
as well as checking the validity of

analy~ical

and numerical models

(Parken and Fletcher, Chyu and Bergles, and Kocacomustafaogullari).

SURFACE BOILING
There are two main mechanisms of falling film evaporation-surface evaporation that occurs at low heat fluxes and bubble
formation-that takes place at high heat flux.

Surface evaporation

is dominant in most falling film evaporators and in this regime the

local heat transfer coefficient is independent of heat flux.

-28-

Table 2.

Summary of research studies on falling film evaporation.

FLUIIl Test

SOURCE

Oem

LIU(1975)

H2O

secction
stainles 2.5

LIU(7195)

H2O

stainles 5

FLETCHER&SERNA H2O

Lan

T (C)

q w/m2

10- 3
30.48 55-100 28.-55
60.9

62-81

21

Cu/Ni

2.5

25

49-127 35-63

Cu/Ni

25

49-127 23-52
49-127 30-80

49-127 49-79

I (1974)

FLETCHER&SERNA H2O
S(1974)
.FLETCHER&
H2O
HAN(1985)

Re

12005000
13002050
15004100
29507500
700-7000

BOlLI

m
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes&
No

PARKEN(1977)

H2O

Groves 5
25
knurle
d
BRASS 2.5 & 25
5
BRASS 2.5
15

PARKEN,(1977)

H2O

BRASS

15

49-127 30-80

SERNAS(1979)

H2O

BRASS

15

45-122 47-79

SERNAS(l979)

H2O.

BRASS

2.5

15

45-117 47-79

OWENS(1978)
CONTI(1978)

NH3
NH3

STEEL

5
5

30
30

22
22

5 16
5-16

ROGFRS&GOINDI

H2O

ALUMIN 13
U
S1F.EL 2.5
ill
2.5

45.7

17

100

30
15

12-24
100

17-170
3-25
No
10-200 300-1750 Yes

18

-40
50

0.5-25

250-6000 Yes

23

5 13.7

180 .630

PAKER &Al (1990) H2O

I (J989)

S1F.EL

SABIN(J978)
NH3
H2O
CHYU&
BERGLESfI987)
DANILOVA(1976) R12 S1F.EL
1.8
R22
R113
Rll
PORCEL 1.2
SPEGELE(1975)
AIN

49-127 30-80

10006800
200010700
10006700
16806050
11504600
110-9500
20010500
800-2000

Yes&
No
YES

YES&
No
No

No
No
No
No

Yes

In situations where nucleate boiling does not occur, the

saturated liquid film in contact with the tube is heated and a
surface evaporation is produced.

The value of the film coefficient

h* depends on the values of the Reynolds number, Prandtl number and

on the ratio HID, the ratio of the distance between the tubes H to
the diameter D.

Several authors have developed correlations that

can be written in the general form by means of the equation:

h*

(A1)

(Re)A2 (pr)A3 (H/D)A4 ~

( 19)

Values of the constants and exponents are shown in Table 3.

-29-

,.'

Table 3.

Constants and exponents for surface boiling equation

Source

Re

Owens(78)
Owens(78)
Sernas(79)
Sernas(79)
Parken(90)
Parken(90)
Mitrovic86
Danilova76

Ai

<1680 Pr- I . S
>1680 Pr-1.S
1000<Re<6000
1000<Re<6000
1000<Re<6000
1000<Re<6000
240< Re<1100
250 < Re < 6000

where the value 'of

A2

2.2
-1/3
0.185
0
0.01925 0.24
0.01729 0.24
0.042
0.15
0.038
0.15
0.0108
0.349
0.03
0.22

A3

A4

0
0.5
0:66
0.66
0.53
0.53
0.5
0.32

0.1
0.1
0
0
0
0
0.158
0.48

D, cm
- ---

1
1
1
1
1
1
~

2.5
5
2.5
5
1.8

Re*J\04

and Re are obtained by means of the following

equations:

J3

1 + exp( -49 .86

* 10-3 Re

(.:to)

1.32 )

q"

Re*

={

( VI2/g)l/3 )
hfg

pv VI

Falling film evaporating coefficients calculated from the

several equations are shown in

F~g.

17.

-30-

1~00,-----------------------------~
10000
II

~BOOO

6:

E
:l SOOO
.c

.**

4000

nnnll lill

~~--~--r-~~~---P--~--

2000

--0-

4000

8000

__

Owen
Semas
Parker
Danilova
Mitovic

8000

Re
Fig. 17.

Falling film heat transfer coefficients obtained

from several different correlations for surface

boiling with ammonia at OOC, diameter of 25 mm with

H/D

1.25
ANALYTICAL MODELS

In addition to the empirical correlations, several authors

have developed mathematical models that predict the heat transfer
coefficients in the falling film evaporator.

Rogers (1981)

developed a model that permits the prediction of the behavior of

the liquid film around the tube in the laminar regime.
are proposed:
region.

(1) the developing region,

~nd

Two regions

(2) the developed

The film coefficient is determined by means of the

boundary layer integral method.

The results obtained in evaluating

the film coefficient in the developed region were very close to

those obtained using the equation of Fujita (1978) for the case of
vertical tubes.
M. C. Chyu and A. E. Bergles (1987) developed an analytical
model for predicting the heat transfer for the case of surface
evaporation, considering four separate zones around the
circumference of the tubes (Fig. 18).
stagnation flow,

(2) impingement,

The four zones are (1)

(3) thermal developing/developed

-31-

,.,.

with heating of the liquid, and (4) fully developed region with
surface evaporation .

sr"""TlOII nOlI

ItGlCIII
II ''''IIGIII[IIT
nOllIlGlCIII
III M _
arVEL..,

IiGiOll
II ,......U

mELCIfID
151011

Fig. 18.

Model for falling-film evaporation on a horizontal

tube.

The coefficient of transmission of heat can be calculated as a

function of the film coefficient in each of the regions by the
equation:

On the other hand, Kocacomustafaogullair (1988) developed a

mathematical model that predicts the surface evaporation in a
horizontal tube bundle for the range of Reynolds number between 800
and 4000.

He proposed that the liquid falls from one tube to

another as a thin liquid jet impinging on the top of the tube at a

uniform free-falling velocity.

For this situation by means of

.finite differences, the profile of the velocities and temperatures

around the tube can be obtained.

-32-

NUCELATE BOILING
An increase in the flow of heat per unit area q" forms bubble
nuclei that considerably intensify the heat transfer.

In this

case, the film coefficient h* depends on the heat flux q" in

addition to the values of the Reynolds and Prandtl numbers.
Owens (1976) developed a correlation to determine the film
coefficient with the assumption that the ratio HID has the same
influence that it has in the case of surface evaporation.

However,

other authors (Danilova (1976), Parken) determined experimentally

that this factor does not influence the transfer of heat during
nucleate boiling.
W. H. Parken, et al (1990) considered that in the case of the
falling film with nucelate boiling that the film coefficient
depends on the flow of heat q".

They developed correlations valid

for the values of Prandtl number between 1.3 and 3.6 and with heat
2

fluxes between 30 and 80 kW/m.

These correlations can be

written in a general form by means of the following Eq. 23 with the

constants and coefficients shown in Table 4.
(23)
Table 4.
Source

Parken(90)
Parken (90)
Owens(78)

Constants and coefficients for Eq. 23.

Re
lOOO<Re<7000
lOOO<Re<7000

A1

0.00082
0.00094
0.0175

A2

0.1
0.1
0

A3

0.65
0.65
0.5

A4

0
0
0.1

A5

D,cm

0.4 2.5
0.4 5
0.25 5

However, Danilova (1976) proposed for halogen fluids the following

equation
Nu* = 1.32X10- 3 Re 0.63 K
f
P

.72

Pr

.48

(24)

-33.'

where

Nu* = (h/k)(

0
g(p(p y)

\2.~ ')

)1/2

Rc* = (q"/hf,PyV)( _ 0 _ )1/2

g(p(p y)

(1~ )

lZ1 )

Kp= (Pl/CS)( _0---.;. )1/2

g(p(Py)

On the other hand, Lorenz and Yung (1979) calculated the film
coefficient for the case of nucleate boiling in a tube superimposing the effects of convection and nucleate boiling.

For this

purpose they imagined unwrapping the tube to form a vertical

surface of a length L

= nD/2

and defined within the length L two

distinct regions:
(a) Developing region of the length designated L in which the
d
saturated liquid is heated until a linear velocity profile is
achieved, and

all of the heat transferred from the wall super-

heats the liquid film and no evaporation occurs, and

(b) Fully developed temperature profile in which the fluid is
evaporated from the surface.
These regions are shown in Fig. 19
The mean film coefficient h is calculated by superposition of
the coefficients of convective transmission and the surface
evaporation in each of the regions by means of the following
expression:

-34-

r
Ld

.J T

TltERHAl
DEVELOPING
REGION

TS

r~~i~ING
REGION

FULLY
DEVELOPED
REGION

EVAPORATION
+ BOILING

THIN fiLM ON
HORIZONTAL TUBE

Fig. 19.

SIMPLIfiED GECHETRT
USED IN MODEL

Regions in falling film on a horizontal tube.

(28)

where hb is the value of the film coefficient in nucleate

boiling.
From data by Bergles and Rohsenow (1964) an expression
for hb is:

hb -'_ _ _ _ _ _ __

For the film coefficient h

h

( Cp/hfg PfS)3 4 T2

in Zone a:

(30)

In Zone b it is possible to calculate the film coefficient by means

of the Chun and Seban equation

-35-

he= 0.821 ( k 3g Jv2)113

(Re,l) "().22

'h e= 3.8 x 10-3 ( k 3g Jv2)113 (Re)O.4 (Pr)O.65

in the laminar regime

(31)

turbulent regime

(32)

The length Ld can be calculated by means of the Nusselt

equation:

3J.L

Let =

('-_ _-1)1/2

Heat transfer coefficients for ammonia at two different

Reynolds numbers are shown in Figs. 20a and 20b.

The curves are

essentially identical indicating that the results are independent

of the Reynolds number.

1C1C1DOO

.-

--
C

1C1C1DOO

Owen

Parka'

.-

Daniiova

1aooo ~

.c

1000
20000

10000
.. -,w/m A 2)

l--)

--

10000~

80000

.c

1000
20000

.
50000

\
80000

..- W/m A 2

(b)

Fig. 20. Falling film heat-transfer coefficients with Reynolds

numbers of (a) 1000 and (b) 5000.

-36-

ENHANCED SURFACES IN COMBINATION WITH FALLING FILM EVAPORATION

The use of enhanced surfaces for heat transfer in falling film
evaporators permits an increase of between 2 and 8 times in the
heat-transfer coefficients with respect to the values achieved with
plane tubes.

The enhancement of the heat transfer can occur

through the mechanism of convection as well as having a favorable

influence on the nucelation.
Convection enhancement.

Intensification of the convection

mechanism in low heat-flow regimes enhances turbulence, increases

the heat-transfer surface. and/or changes the angle of wetting.

For

this mode of enhancement several types of surfaces have been used:

microfins, elliptical tubes, longitudinal rib, and spiral and
longitudinal flutes.
Nucleation enhancement.

This method of enhancement is used

with high rates of heat flow and uses surfaces with microcavities
of very small diameter with the objective of trapping bubbles of
vapor in the interior and assisting in nucleation.

The dimension

of the pores are selected in accordance with the physical

properties of the fluid

,~,k)

with the object of opposing the

liquid from penetrating within the microcavities and destroying the

vapor embryos.

The enhancement of the heat transfer can be

achieved using several types of surfaces, (a) those with a coating

applied to the base surface, and (b) using integral roughness.
(a) Coating of very porous material.

Such a coating may be

formed by sintering, electrolytic deposition, brazing, flame

spraying, or foaming.

The coating consists of a proous matrix with

large numbers of connecting pores composed of metal particles that

are bonded to each other and to the substrate.

In this surface the

heat is transmitted in the first place by conduction by means of

the particles of the matrix and by continued conduction by means of
the film of liquid where the evaporation occurs.

To the

-37-

..'

interconnected pores of the matrix can be supplied the liquid at

the same time that the vapor passes by means of the matrix toward
the surface of the liquid, as shown in Fig. 21 from Webb (1983).
By means of the generation of vapor in the interior of the pore,
the pressure increases until it achieves a value needed to overcome
the forces attributable to the surface tension.

Then the vapor

escapes by means of the interconnecting pores and passes to the

surface.

On the other hand, vapor formed in a pore activates

adjacent pores producing a chain of nucleation events.

LIQUID IN
VAPOR OUT

VAPOR BUBBLE TRAPPED

IN ACTIVE SITE

Fig. 21.

Cross-section of sintered porous coating.

The principal requirement of these surfaces is that they have

a porous matrix of the dimensions appropriate for the fluid, and
these dimensions depend on

the physical properties of the fluid.

The mean radius of the pore varies from 0.01 mm to 0.1 mm.

For

those fluids with significant surface tension and thermal

conductivity, such as water and ammonia, large radii are preferred
while for fluids with low surface tension and thermal conductivity
such as halocarbon refrigerants, small diameters are chosen.

Webb

(1981) reports that the performance is not significantly affected

by the thickness of the coating nor the dimensions and form of the
particles.

-38..'

The other parameter that must be taken into consideration is

the coefficient of thermal conductivity of the particle because the
heat must propagate by means of conductivity through the particle.
In the Hi-Flux enhanced surface commercialized by Union Carbide the
surface consists of a large number of connecting porous metal
particles bonded to each other and to the substrate by brazing or
sintering.
(B) Integral Roughness.

Th,e nucleation sites are formed by

mechanically working.,or chemically etching of the base of the

surface.

Typically these sites are reentrant groves or tunnels

rather than discrete cavities.

Within this configuration are

included T-shaped surfaces and the Thermoexel E surface, as shown

in Fig. 22.

Por.

Fig. 22.

(a) T-shaped fins developed flattening the tips

of spiral fins of an integral-fin tube, and (b) Thermoexel E

surface with reentrant grooves and minute-spaced hole atop
the enclosed groove, from

~ebb

(1981).

The T-shaped surfaces consist of tubes formed by flattening

the tips of spiral fins of an integral fin tube to restrict the
mouth of the space between two neighboring fins, as shown in Fig.
22a.

The parameters that characterize this surface are the number

of fins per unit length (fins/inch) and the gap between the fins.

-39-

Among this type of surface are the GEWA T manufactured by Wieland

Werke.

Some characteristics of the surfaces are:

Fins/in

Name

Fluid

Gap width

GEWA T 19C

19

0.25 mm

GEWA T 26B

26

0.15 mm

24 T Shaped

12

0.258 mm

H2 o, R-114
H2 O, R-114
NH
3

References
Chyu & Bergles

"
Huang (1990)

The Thermoexel surface of Hitachi (Fig. 22b) has minute

parallel tunnels with tiny holes located at regular intervals
communicating with the outside.

The vapor generated is ejected

from the pores in the form of bubbles, and the liquid is drawn into
the tunnels to replenish the evaporated" liquid.
Table 5 presents a summary of some of the surfaces used for
enhancing the heat transfer in falling film evaporators.
For the case of a falling film evaporator with water, Chyu and
Bergles (1989) studied the behavior of three commercial surfaces,
Hi-Flux, Thermoexel E, GEWA T using heat fluxes less than
2

10 kW/m.

The T-shaped fin tubes are those that produce the

greatest enhancement of heat transfer--by a factor of 3. while for

-

heat fluxes of the order of 100 kW/m

the Thermoexel E surface

achieves higher coefficients of heat transfer by a factor of 5

with respect to the values obtained for plane surfaces.

Figure 23

presents the results of the experiments by Chyu and Bergles (1989).

However, in the case of the vertical falling film evaporator
with Refrigerant-114, Fagerholm (1985) found that the Thermoexel
surface produced greater enhancement than the GEWA T and Hi-Flux
surfaces in the complete range of heat fluxes between 3 and 30
kw/m2.

He obtained an enhancement of a factor of 8, as shown

in Fig. 24.

-40-

Table 5.
Source
Conti
Conti
N .Fagerholm
N.Fa2erholm
N .Fa2erholm
N .Fagerholm
N .Fa2erholm
Chyu& Bergles
Chvu& Bergles
Chyu& Ber2les
Chyu& Bergles
Flecher
Lorenz& Yun2
Lorenz& Yung
Lorenz& Yun2
Lorenz& Yung
Sabin&
PODDendiek
Sabin&
PODDendiek
Nakavama
Nakayama
Nakayama
Kajikawa
Bukin Danilova
Danilova
Yingke Tan
Ouoqing Wang

Enhanced surfaces studied by various experimenters.

Surface
Hi2ht Flux
Oroved Surface
Thermoexel E
Thermoexel EC
Oewa-T
Hi2h Flux
Sand Blasted
Oewa Tl9 C
Oewa T26 C
Thermoexel-E
Hi2h Flux
Kumled Cu/Ni tube
High Flux
Wolverine St 19
Tubochill Fin
C MU Fluted
Straight
knurled
2rooves
Diamond knurled
grooves
Dorous Dlale
Verticallv 2rove Dlate
Horizontally grove
Dlate
Fine Metal Fiber
F.M.F.
Porous Coating
Metal Coating
Mechanical porous
surface
Mechanical porous
laver Structure

Manufacturer
Linde U.Carbide
Hitachi
Hitachi
Wieland Werke
Linde U.Carbide
Wieland Werke
Wieland Werke
Hitachi
Linde U .Carbide
Linde U.Carbide

Fluid
NH3
NH3
R 114
R 114
R 114
R 114
R 114
H2O
H2O
H2O
H2O
H2O
NH3
NH3
NH3
NH3
NH3
NH3
R11
R11
R11

Hitachi
Hitachi
Hitachi

Nh3 /R22

RI2/R22
Rll/RI2
R22
R1l3
R1l3

-41,.'

100000,-------------~Mn~~----------~

PLAIN

10000

--0--

GEWAT

HIFLUX

1E

1000~--~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

.1

DT
Fig. 23.

100

10

1
IIC

Results of experiments by Chyu and Bergles (1989).

100000~------------------------~

<

-E

10000 ":

r:T

1000

~
'

.1

TS-TSAT

Fig. 24.

PLAIN

*
--0--

THERM:> EXEL
GEWAT
HI FLU

10
(IIC)

Results of experiments by Fagerholm (1985).

The porous metal coating has been used for enhancement of heat
transfer in falling film evaporators with horizontal tubes both
with ammonia and fiuorocarbons.

-42-

In the case of ammonia boiling on horizontal tubes covered with

the Hi-Flux surface, Conti (1978) obtained an enhancement of the
order of three times for heat flows of 10 kW/m 2 resulting in
film coefficients of 17 kw/m 2 -oc which was practically constant
for values of circulation ratios higher than 5.

On the other hand,

this type of coating was used in a heat exchanger of 32,000,000

Btu/hr with 388 titanium tubes in the OTEC project.

The film

coefficient determined in the Argonne Laboratory for various flows

2

of ammonia was 21.5 kW/m _oC, a value that remained constant

and independent of the flow of ammonia for values of Reynolds
number higher than 220, but falling abruptly from this value owing
to the appearance of dryout on the tubes.
The enhancement of heat transfer for Refrigerants-12 and -22
in falling film evaporators was studied by Buking and Danilova
(1982).

They compared the heat-transfer coefficients on different

types of tubes with coatings produced by spraying, sintering and

jacketing and observed that the the highest film coefficients were
obtained using tubes of stainless steel 1KHl18N97 by sintering
powdered metal to the tube surface with a porosity of 46-52% and a
grain dimension of 0.06 to 0.25
factor of from 3 to 5 times in

~m.

They achieved an enhancement

compar~son

to plain tubes in the

band of heat flows between 1 and 25 kW/m.

On the other hand,

they observed that the film coefficient was independent of the

magnitude of the circulation ratio over a wide interval.
INFLUENCE OF THE BUNDLE EFFECT IN HEAT TRANSFER IN
FALLING FILM EVAPORATORS
Most of the experiments conducted to determine the correlations
for calculating the heat-transfer coefficients in falling film
evaporators were conducted on single tubes.

Few reports exist on

the performance of bundles, but several experiments conducted with

ammonia, R-12 and

R~22

indicate that so long as the tubes are kept

wetted the value of the film coeffient of a tube bundle is similar

to that of a single tube.

This important conclusion permits

-43-

falling film evaporators to be designed using empirical values

obtained from tests of a single tube.
For R-12 and R-22, Bukin (1982) showed that values of the film
coefficients experimentally obtained were not affected by the
number of tubes.
row.

He used an evaporator of six tubes in a vertical

On the other hand, for ammonia, Lorenz and Yung (1982)

determined the heat-transfer coefficients on various tubes of a

heat exchanger with 6304 tubes operating with a capacity of 1 MW
developed for the OTEC Project and observed that the average value
of the film coefficient for the full heat exchanger was similar to
that obtained for one tube.

In addition, they observed a uniform

distribution of the film coefficients in the interior of the bundle

with a margin of

10% with respect to the value of the film

coefficient both for plain tubes and for Hi-Flux tubes.

COMPARISON BETWEEN THE HEAT TRANSFER COEFFICIENT OF
FALLING FILM EVAPORATORS AND FLOODED EVAPORATORS
The coefficients of heat transfer in falling film evaporators
are generally higher than those obtained in flooded evaporators.
The difference that exists between the coefficients of heat
transfer in the two types depend on the rate of heat flow and the
type of surface.
In falling film evaporators with low rates of heat transfer,
the transfer of heat is obtained by superficial boiling and the
film coefficient depends on the value of the Reynolds number.

In

flooded evaporators, on the other hand, the mechanism of heat

transfer is free convection and the value of the film coefficient
depends on the rate of heat flow.
nu~leate

During high heat flow rates

boiling is started and from that point on the transfer of

heat is intensified more strongly in pool boiling than in falling

film evaporation.

The difference in the heat-transfer coefficient

progressively decreases as the heat transfer rate increases.

Figure 25 shows results obtained by Chyu and

~ergles

(1989) for

-44"~'

water boiling on plane tubes and with tubes of enhanced surfaces

(Thermoexel E) in pool boiling and in falling film.

It can be

observed how at low heat flow rates the coefficient of heat

transfer in falling film evaporation is several times higher than
that of pool boiling, but the difference decreases at high rates of
heat flow.

On the other hand, in the case of enhanced surfaces the

difference between the curves of pool boiling and falling film is

less than that of the plain surfaces owing to the intensification
factor of the enhanced surfaces.

In regimes of high rate flows of

heat the curves for the heat-transfer coefficients converge for all
1000000y---------------------------------__-,

--1:1'--

-----

Thermo Excel -Falling Film

Plane Falling Film

100000

,,f

,
JS

10000

,rS

rS

, ,"

, "' " "

1000

Thermo Excel. Pool Boiling .

Plane Pool Boiling

100
.1

10
DT

Fig. 25.

100

Ie

Comparison of heat transfer coefficients of falling

film evaporators with pool-boiling evaporators for
plane and enhanced surfaces.

REFRIGERANT CHARGE IN FALLING FILM EVAPORATORS

One of the most interesting characteristics of falling film
evaporators-is that they can operate with a lower refrigerant
charge than flooded evaporators.

Figure 26 compares the estimated

refrigerant charges for flooded and falling film ammonia

-45-

"~'

evaporators operating at OC and cooling water with a mean

temperature difference of 7.5C.

For flooded evaporators the

heat-transfer coefficient of 1050 w/m 2 _oc was chosen in
accordance with data from a manufacturer's catalog.

The depth of

the refrigerant was assumed to be 3/4 of the shell diameter.

For

the falling film evaporator, a heat-transfer coefficient of 4300

w/m 2 _oc was used, a value obtained by Argonne Laboratories in
the OTEC project.

To calculate the charge of refrigerant in

falling film evaporators, all the tubes are covered with a film of
refrigerant, and the"' liquid at the bottom of the shell was assumed
to be at a depth of 1/4 the radius of the shell.

In Fig. 26 i t can

be observed that i t is possible, for example, for a heat exchanger

with a 700 kW capacity to operate with a charge of about 30 kg of
ammonia.

Even after adding the additional charge existing in the

condenser, the total charge is likely to be low enough that many

building codes will allow installation where ammonia is not now
permitted.

1000~----------------------------~

Ju

100

Flooded
FatIng FiJN\

10~--------~--~~~~~~~-.~

1000000

100000

Fig. 26.

"(w,

Estimated comparative ammonia refrigerant charges in

flooded and falling film evaporators.

....

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";"'.". -.

47

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.'

.;-":

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