It is well understood that heat-transfer rate is strongly influenced by available area. For that reason a long time ago smooth tubes were replaced by horizontal integral-fin tubes in condensers. No doubt, the addition of the fins provides
an increase in area that ultimately leads to
an enhancement in heat-transfer, Recently a new design of tubes is developed namely pin-fin tubes which increase the heat transfer rate but just like fins, a significant amount of condensate is retained on the pin-fin tubes due to capillary forces. This phenomenon of trapped liquid between fins/pins is known as condensate retention or flooding. This retention decreases heat transfer between pin fin tubes and the vapors to be condensed. As a result, system efficiency decreases. There is need to investigate the condensate retention on pin- fin tubes. Aims & Objectives
The aim of this project is
To investigate the condensate retention on
horizontal pin-fin tubes and to explore the factors which affect the retention of condensate
To see the effect of vapour velocity on
condensate retention pin fin tubes
Varying the circumferential pin spacing and see
its effect on condensate retention The objective for this thesis is
To compare the result obtained in case of
pin fin tube with integral fin tubes and ultimately to increase the efficiency of systems which involve heat transfer like condensers used in power plants and heat exchangers used in refrigeration and air conditioning equipment. Literature Review Briggs A (2003) reported an Experimental data for condensation of R-113 and steam on six three dimensionally pin-fin tubes. Enhancement of the vapor side heat transfer coefficient between 3.6 and 9.9 were found for R-113 and 2.4 and 2.9 for steam when compared to a plane tube at the same vapor-side temperature side. . Condensate retention between the pins on the lower part of the tubes was lower than for comparable two-dimensional fin tubes but was still significant. Briggs et al. (2009) reported Experimental data for condensation of steam at atmospheric pressure and low velocity on five three- dimensional pin-fin tubes. The main geometric parameters varied were the circumferential pin spacing and thickness. It was shown that these two parameters have a strong influence on condensate retention. The evidence suggests, however, that three- dimensional fin profiles can produce worthwhile enhancement over those obtained from simple, two-dimensional, integral-fin tubes, but that more work is needed to understand the phenomena involved so that more efficient geometries can be developed. Ali (2012) reported for condensation of R-113 at nearatmospheric pressureand low velocity on five three-dimensional pin-fin tubes. The only geometric parameters varied were circumferential spacing and thickness, since these have been shown to have a strong effect on condensate retention on pin-fin tubes. Heat-transfer enhancement was found to be strongly dependent on the active-area enhancement. An increase in the vapour-side, heat-transfer enhancement is noticed with the decreasing values of pin spacing. The best performing pin-fin tube gave a heat-transfer enhancement about 14% higher than the equivalent two-dimensional integral-fin tube (i.e. with the same fin root diameter, longitudinal fin spacing and thickness and fin height). Ali (2011) reported new experimental data for free-convection condensation of ethylene glycol and R-113 on three-dimensional pin-fin tubes. He reported a semi-empirical model for condensation heat transfer on horizontal pin fin tubes.. For ethylene glycol, the best performing pin-fin tube gave a heat-transfer enhancement of 5.8, about 24 % higher than the equivalent two-dimensional integral-fin tube (i.e. with the same fin root diameter, longitudinal fin spacing and thickness and fin height). For R-113, the best enhancement was 5.9, about 10 % higher than the equivalent integral-fin tube. Circumferential pin thickness had little effect on heat-transfer enhancement. Effects of tube thermal conductivity were found to be more significant for ethylene glycol than R-113. Ali (2012) presented a fundamental study into the underlying mechanisms influencing heat transfer during condensation on enhanced surfaces. New experimental data are reported for condensation of ethylene glycol at near atmospheric pressure and low velocity on 11 different 3-dimensional pin-fin tubes tested individually. Enhancements of the vapor-side, heat-transfer coefficients were found between 3 and 5.5 when compared to a plain tube at the same vapor-side temperature difference. Heat- transfer enhancement was found to be strongly dependent on the active surface area of the tubes, The best performing pin-fin tube gave a heat- transfer enhancement of 5.5; 17% higher than obtained from optimized two-dimensional fin- tubes reported in the literature and about 24% higher than the equivalent two-dimensional integral-fin tube (i.e., with the same fin-root diameter, longitudinal fin spacing and thickness, and fin height). The effects of surface area and surface tension induced enhancement and retention are discussed in the light of the new data and those of previous investigations. Methodology of Research
Experimental Set Up
In this experimental set-up, different pin-fin
dimensions will be used. The whole set-up will consist of a pin fin attachment assembly and a mechanism in which vapors will be produced and will be condense on pin fin tubes. The condensate will be deal at the bottom of the experiment. Heat-Transfer Coefficient Calculation Method Direct Measurements Predetermined Coolant- Side Correlation.
Experimental Setup
Result Expected
As suggested by the previous researchers, it
can be expected that the phenomenon of condensate retention will be strongly influence by varying circumferential pin spacing and the effect of vapor velocity will also play its rule in influencing the condensate retention. Utilization of Research Result
This increased surface area result by using
pin fin tube with best geometry like circumferential fin spacing, pin height and optimum vapor velocity can be used in new designed condensers to increase the heat transfer and overall efficiency of the plant. References BRIGGS A (2002), Condensation of refrigerant on three-dimensional pin- fin tubes, Conference: 13th International Symposium on Transport Phenomena (Victoria, BC, Canada) from: 14/07/2002 to: 18/07/2002,
BRIGGS A (2002), Condensation of steam on pin-fin tubes, Conference: 1st International Conference on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics & Thermodynamics (Kruger National Park, South Africa)
Briggs A (2003), Enhanced condensation of R-113 and steam using three- dimensional pin-fin tubes, Experimental Heat Transfer vol. 16, (1) 61-79.
Briggs, A., (2005), Liquid Retention on Three-Dimensional Pin-Fin Tubes,
2nd Int. Exergy, Energy and Environment Symp., Kos, Paper No. IEEES2-171.
Baisar M, Briggs A (2009) . Condensation of steam on pin-fin tubes: Effect of
circumferential pin thickness and spacing. vol. 30, 1017-1023.
Ali HM, Ali H, Briggs A et al. (2010), Enhanced Condensation of Ethylene Glycol on Three-Dimensional Pin-Fin Tubes,11-17
Ali HM, Briggs A (2012) . Condensation heat transfer on pin-fin tubes: Effect of thermal conductivity and pin height. Applied Thermal Engineering
Ali HM, Briggs A (2012), Condensation of R-113 on pin-fin tubes: Effect of circumferential pin thickness and spacing, Heat Transfer Engineering vol. 33, (3) 205-212.
Ali HM, Briggs A (2012), Condensation of ethylene glycol on pin-fin tubes: Effect of circumferential pin spacing and thickness, Applied Thermal Engineering vol. 49, 9-13.
Ali HM, Briggs A (2012), Enhanced condensation of ethylene glycol on single pin-fin tubes: Effect of pin geometry, Journal of Heat Transfer vol. 134, (1)