| Title |
Distribution of Air-Water Two-Phase Flow in a Flat Tube Heat Exchanger |
| Keywords |
Parallel flow heat exchanger ; 평판관 열교환기 ; Header ; 헤더 ; Two-phase distribution ; 2상류 분배 ; R-134a |
| Abstract |
The R-134a flow distribution is experimentally studied for a heat exchanger composed of round headers and 10 flat tubes. The effects of tube protrusion depth as well as mass flux, and quality are investigated, and the results are compared with the previous air- water results. The flow at the header inlet is stratified. For the downward flow configuration, the liquid distribution improves as the protrusion depth or the mass flux increases, or the quality decreases. For the upward configuration, the liquid distribution improves as the mass flux or quality decreases. The protrusion depth has minimal effect. For the downward configuration. the effect of quality on liquid distribution is significantly affected by the flow regime at the header inlet. For the stratified inlet flow, the liquid is forced to rear part of the header as the quality decreases. However, for the annular inlet flow, the liquid was forced to the frontal part of the header as the quality decreased. For the upward flow, the effect of the mass flux or quality on liquid distribution of the stratified inlet flow is opposite to that of the annular inlet flow. The high gas velocity of the annular flow may be responsible for the trend. Generally, the liquid distribution of the stratified inlet flow is better than that of the annular inlet flow. Possible explanation is provided from the flow visualization results. |