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In-tube Carbon Dioxide Condensation in Stratified Flow Regime

Pei-Hua Li, S.E. Norris, J. Deans, P.K. Bansal

Department of Mechanical Engineering


University of Auckland, Auckland 1142, New Zealand

that can operate at high working pressures within the


Abstract trans-critical cycle. In this cycle there is only a vapour
cooling process and no condensation phase change
process for carbon dioxide. A more acceptable solution
This paper presents an experimental study of the
which can promote the refrigeration performance of
condensation process for carbon dioxide condensation at
carbon dioxide can be obtained by utilizing it as a
the saturation temperature of -10C with a mass flux
secondary refrigerant in cascade systems. In such a
varying from 40 to 60 ). Earlier studies have
design the carbon dioxide undergoes the phase change
shown that under these working conditions the carbon
process within the tubes of an evaporative condenser.
dioxide condensation process develops in the stratified
However, in the implementation of this design is the
flow regime. A unique characteristic of this process is
shortage of readily available information about carbon
that the heat transfer coefficients are affected by the tube
dioxide condensation under low temperatures in the open
wall-to-carbon dioxide temperature differences. The
literature.
experimental results found in this study confirm this
feature and demonstrate that these temperature
For in tube horizontal condensation, prevailing two-
differences should be less than 3C.
phase flow patterns create various heat transfer models.
One unique heat transfer characteristic of two-phase in-
The experimental heat transfer data was compared with
tube condensation compared with the non-phase change
the stratified flow correlations produced by Dobson and
convection heat transfer is that temperature differences of
Chato (1998) and Cavallini et al. (2002). This
refrigerant-to-tube wall can affect the heat transfer
comparison demonstrates that Dobsons predictions over
process. Many researchers achieved similar conclusions
predict the experimental results for carbon dioxide while
that the temperature differences between refrigerant and
the results from Cavallinis correlation show the inverse
tube wall can affect heat transfer processes during some
trend of heat transfer coefficient increasing with higher
flow regimes which involve vapour condensation on tube
mass fluxes. A conclusion from this preliminary study
wall. Based on their heat transfer data, Dobson and Chato
shows that there is a need to extend the test range to
(1998) found the refrigerant-to-wall temperature
develop more accurate correlations for carbon dioxide
difference has an impact on the heat transfer process in
under stratified flow regime.
the wavy flow regime. Cavallini et al. (2002) limited this
influence to the stratified flow regimes. Also, from
Nomenclature
Nusselts analysis of pure component gravity-driven
condensation on a vertical plate, it is seen that
Tm The logarithm mean temperature(C)
temperature difference affects the heat transfer
Ai Internal area of horizontal tube(m2) coefficient of this type of condensation. Therefore, many
Ao Outside area of horizontal tube(m2) correlations that involve vapour condensation on tube
Cp Specific heat(kJkg-1K-1) wall were developed from Nusselts analysis.
d Tube diameter(m) Consequently, the influence of the temperature difference
Frso Solimans modified Froude number Eqs.(1a,1b) on heat transfer has to be taken into account when in-tube
h Heat transfer coefficient(Wm-2K-1) condensation is investigated. Commonly, this
JG Dimensionless vapour mass velocity relationship is determined by showing the effect of
k Thermal conductivity (Wm-1K-1) several temperature values on each individual vapour
mg Mass flow rate of glycol water(kgs-1) point. One drawback of this expressive method is
Q The amount of transferred heat rate(W) determination of the temperature difference values. Since
Rel Superficial liquid Reynolds number most stratified correlations are the modified Nusselts
Ts Saturation temperature(C) correlations, the relationship of temperature differences
and heat transfer coefficients is power function relation.
Tw Tube wall temperature(C)
By using the power function graph, it can be seen that
x Vapour quality
before an inflection point, it is difficult to find the
Laminar-turbulent Lockhart Martinelli
Xtt variation of heat transfer coefficients with temperature
parameter
differences. Hence, it was assumed that this inflection
point could be found by changing the tube wall
Introduction temperature continuously so that refrigerant side heat
transfer coefficients are varying correspondingly.
The use of carbon dioxide as a natural refrigerant has
gradually developed during the past few decades. This is The comprehensive heat transfer data of carbon dioxide
due to its environmental-friendly characteristics, low condensation at low temperatures will be the main
viscosity and high conductivity heat transfer properties. research direction in the near future of the current authors
One adverse characteristic is its low critical temperature studies. In this study, the carbon dioxide mass flow flux
and it has been necessary to develop system components of ), ), ) under

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saturation temperatures of -10C are tested. Heat transfer Dobson and Chato concluded that annular correlations is
data under working conditions that the refrigerant to tube suitable for mass flux over 500 ) or mass flux
wall temperature difference varied from 5C to 2 C was less than 500 ) but with Frso over 20. For a
recorded. An open carbon dioxide condensation loop, mass flux less than 500 ) with Frso less than 20,
which is based on the original design of Ossama (2010), wavy flow correlation can be used. Therefore, Frso=20 is
was built in Thermodynamics laboratory of University of nominated as a transition value from wavy flow to
Auckland to investigate the carbon dioxide heat transfer annular flow by Dobson and Chato. Nellis and Klein
characteristics under above stratified flow regimes. Its (2009) separated the wavy flow group to stratified and
maximum design test range of refrigerant mass flow rate stratified wavy, also added Frso=6 as transition value.
is to ). These modifications have been implemented in the
procedure Cond_HrizontalTube of EES software. The
Literature Review Frso number is given by

Flow Regimes Classification


( )
In a refrigeration system, super-heated vapour from the
compressor then enters a condenser. The vapour forms
either a falling film over the circumference of inlet part for , (1a)
tube wall in the annular flow or a liquid layer
accumulated at the bottom part of the tube with upper
part tube wall wetted by the falling film, known as ( )
stratified flow. This has an interface separating the two
phase flow. With condensation process continuing, a for , (1b)
series of flow regimes are produced. The generally
accepted flow patterns are given by Alves (1954),
namely bubbly flow, plug flow, stratified flow, wavy Figure.1 shows these flow pattern transitions to predict
flow, slug flow and annular flow. Subsequent researchers carbon dioxide flowing in 6.52mm i.d. tube. The
categorized more specifically on the basis of these flow horizontal line of mass flux equal to 500kg/m2-s to
patterns. determine the working conditions above this line it is
recommended to use the annular correlation, even though
The sequence of flow patterns depends on void fraction the actual flow patterns here are stratified and stratified-
and the forces that control the condensate. The dominant wavy.
forces in horizontal two phase flow are mainly the
gravity of condensate and the vapour shear force in the
axial direction. The interaction of these forces on two-
phase flow with different void fractions causes different
flow patterns. The flow regimes can be divided into two
groups in terms of void fraction (Dobson and Chato,
1998); namely those that occur at high void fractions and
those occur only at low void fractions. Flow regimes
including stratified flow, wavy flow and annular flow
form the high void fraction group. By gradually
increasing vapour velocity, the gravity-dominated
stratified flow can change to wavy flow and to the vapour
shear-dominated annular flow. The second group consists
of slug, plug, and bubbly flow. As vapour shear forces
effect on these three flow regimes can be negligible, by
decreasing void fraction, the above flow patterns can be
shown orderly. Figure 1. Predicted flow patterns based on Dobson and Chatos
transition criterion for carbon dioxide in 6.52mm i.d. tube.
Flow Pattern Maps
Cavallini et al. (2002) compared several of the most
For a particular horizontal tube condenser, it is necessary frequently used heat transfer models and transition
to understand the internal flow distribution, as criteria for flow regimes. The dimensionless vapour mass
characteristic of each flow pattern heat transfer is unique. velocity was used in this transition criterion for slug,
The internal flow patterns distribution depends on the stratified and annular flows. In their conclusions, when
inlet mass velocity, vapour quality, flow channel the dimensionless vapour mass velocity JG>2.5, the flow
geometry and refrigerant properties. Therefore, different patterns are regarded as annular flow. If JG<2.5 and
pattern transition criterions were developed. Xtt1.6, the flow patterns are in stratified and the
Representative flow pattern maps predicting two-phase stratified-annular transition range. If JG<2.5 and Xtt>1.6,
condensation flow in horizontal tubes are those by the flow regimes will be slug and slug-stratified flows.
Dobson and Chato, (1998), Cavallini et al. (2002) and Also, current carbon dioxide experimental test envelope
Hajal et al. (2002). These researchers summarized is illustrated in Figure 2 with Cavallinis transition
previous accepted results and also modified the transition criterion.
values based on their own experimental results.

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through a mass flow meter, a throttle valve and a sub-
cooler that assures that liquid carbon dioxide leaves this
tank with a measured level of sub-cooling. In order to get
the desired two phase vapour quality of carbon dioxide, a
pre-heater with accurate energy input is used to heat the
liquid carbon dioxide before it enters into the test section.
Space limitations within the laboratory required this pipe

to have a 180 bend before the test section. In order to
minimise the possibility of the bend creating disturbance
to the flow patterns, there is an adiabatic and 0.8 meter
long calming section for the flow before the test section.

Figure 2. Predicted flow patterns based on Cavallini (2002)'s


transition criterion for carbon dioxide in 6.52mm i.d. tube.

Hajal et al. (2002) developed the flow boiling map of


Katan at al. (1998) for condensation of flows in a
horizontal tube. Instead of using the void fraction model
of Zivi (1964), they defined the logarithmic mean void
fraction method, by combining the homogenous void
fraction and the Steiner (1993) horizontal tube void
fraction, to predict the void fractions from low pressures
to high pressures near critical pressure. Finally, the
transition values of Zurcher and Thome for evaporation
were modified to calculate different flow patterns
transition in condensation. Figure 3 demonstrates their
predictions for carbon dioxide flowing under the
experimental conditions: Figure 4. Schematic diagram of test rig.

After the carbon dioxide comes out of test section, the


pipe work is routed into a second sub-cooled bath that
contains a glycol water mixture. The coiled pipe-work in
this bath effectively works as an accumulator of carbon
dioxide. The temperature of the bath is maintained equal
to the system temperature by the addition of dry ice. The
pressure regulator of this open loop test rig is composed
of two-step back pressure regulators housed in a water
bath. The operating range of the first regulator is between
0 and 68.9 bars and the maximum operating range is 45
bars. After leaving the back pressure regulator, the
carbon dioxide is directly discharged to the environment.
The carbon dioxide flowing through the regulators
experiences a significant pressure drop, usually from the
Figure 3. Predicted flow patterns based on J.EI Hajal, system working pressure (30 bars) to atmosphere
J.R.Thome (2002)'s transition criterion for carbon dioxide in the pressure (1 bar). In order to avoid dry ice blockage inside
6.52mm i.d. tube. the regulator and the consequent fluctuating of the
system pressure, these two regulators are connected in
Given above, it can be seen that the current test ranges of series and form a two-step pressure drop device. The hot
carbon dioxide mass flux 40 ), 50 ) water bath minimises the formation of dry ice blockage
and 60 ) , which are already labelled on these, within the regulators.
are all in stratified and stratified to annular transition
range. The refrigerant to wall temperature differences The glycol water circuit is specially designed for
effect on heat transfer coefficient are expected when the investigation of the influence which temperature
carbon dioxide side working conditions are maintained differences have on heat transfer coefficients. In the
stable while changing the tube wall temperatures. initial phase of each test the glycol water mixture is
cooled by the refrigeration system to the desired level.
Experimental Facility The refrigeration loop was then isolated by the three way
valve and the glycol water mixture is adjusted to suitable
Figure 4 shows an open carbon dioxide condensation mass flow rate and routed though the test section. During
loop constructed at the University of Auckland. High the operation, the glycol water temperature slowly
pressure bottles provide the source of carbon dioxide and increases and the heat transfer data was recorded.
pressure. Three bottles contain around 200kg carbon
dioxide at 55 bars. The carbon dioxide pipes leaving the
bottles are immersed in a sub-cooling tank at low
temperature around -30C that contains ethyl alcohol and
dry ice. The cooled high pressure carbon dioxide flows

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Experimental Procedure
( ) (3)
At the start of each test, dry ice was added to both the
sub-cooler and glycol water baths. At this time the
( ) ( )
carbon dioxide leaving the sub-cooler was below its (4)
saturation temperature, this value was recorded and used ( )
to determine the energy to be added in pre-heater. At this ( )
stage, the glycol water bath temperature was controlled
and set equal to the carbon dioxide saturation where , , , , , , ,
temperature. are the overall heat transfer coefficient, the
outside tube surface area, the logarithm mean
The carbon dioxide flowing through the open loop was temperature difference, the mass flow rate of glycol
discharged to the environment while the system pressure water, the specific heat of glycol water, the inlet
was stabilised and any residual air was purged from the temperature of glycol water, the outlet temperature of
system. When the operation conditions became steady, glycol water, the inlet temperature of carbon dioxide and
dry ice was added into the sub-cooler bath to maintain the outlet temperature of carbon dioxide, respectively.
the sub-cooled status of carbon dioxide before it flowed
into pre-heater. The mass flow rate and system pressure The overall heat transfer coefficient for the tube is given
were then changed to the required working conditions by by equation 5:
adjusting the throttle valve and back pressure regulator.
The pre-heater was switched on and adjusted to provide (5)
the required vapour quality at entry to the test section.

The refrigeration system was started at the beginning of In E Equation 5, where , , are glycol water
each test and the temperature of the glycol water mixture side convection heat transfer coefficient, the conductivity
was set to the required values. The brine pump was then of copper tube, the length of heat exchanger and the
started and the glycol water was directed to the test external and internal diameter of the tube respectively.
section. At this time, the carbon dioxide pressure and
mass flow rate were stabilized manually while glycol Due to the design constraints in the current test rig, the
water temperature gradually increased. In a typical test inner tube wall temperature cannot be measured directly.
the wall-to-refrigerant temperature differences fall from Consequently, the quasi-local heat transfer rate of carbon
5C to 2C in a 15 minute period. dioxide was determined by using correlations to evaluate
the glycol water side coefficients provided by Shah and
The quasi-local heat transfer coefficient is used to London (1978):
represent the heat transfer coefficient of the carbon
dioxide corresponding to initial set value of vapour The energy of pre-heater input was calculated from
quality. During each test, the carbon dioxide quality Equation 6:
reduces as it flows along the test section. This change
( ( ) ) (6)
also influences the evolving local heat transfer
coefficient. This problem is a common feature of two-
phase flow condensation studies. It is generally where , , , , , are the
considered that a reasonable vapour quality change in the amount of heat needed to add to carbon dioxide , the
test section should be limited to 10%-30% (Jung et al., mass flow rate of carbon dioxide, the enthalpy difference
2003). It should also be noticed that quasi-local heat between saturated vapour and saturated liquid of carbon
transfer coefficients will be more accurate under high dioxide under certain temperatures, the desired vapour
refrigerant mass flow rate. When the refrigerant has a quality, the temperature of carbon dioxide coming out of
low mass flow rate, it is difficult to control two phase the sub-cooler and the specific heat of carbon dioxide.
conditions in the carbon dioxide at low inlet qualities. If
the inlet vapour quality was 0.2, carbon dioxide could be Experimental Results
fully condensed before it leaves the test section.
The trend of the test results presented in Figures 5, 6 and
Data Reduction 7 show that the internal heat transfer coefficients increase
with higher vapour quality at different mass flux. By
The quasi-local heat transfer coefficient should be comparing these results with the predictions of Dobson et
calculated by Equation 2 al. and Cavallini et al. it is found that the results are much
closer to Cavallinis calculations. This observation was
also confirmed by Nellis and Klein (2009) who pointed
(2) out that Dobsons correlation tends to over predict the
where h, , and represent the quasi-local heat heat transfer coefficients of high pressure refrigerants.
transfer coefficient of carbon dioxide ( ), the For the test results reported above with a mass flux of 40,
heat transfer rate from carbon dioxide to glycol water( ), 50 ), there are clear distinctions between low
the inner tube surface area( ), the saturation vapour qualities(x=0.2) and those found at higher vapour
temperature of carbon dioxide and the temperature of qualities. That is mainly caused by low mass flux used in
inner tube wall, respectively. these tests, carbon dioxide was fully condensed within
the test section. Consequently, the heat transfer data
The energy flow into the test section is given by equation under these conditions were similar and close to the
3, values obtained for forced convection.

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4500 5000
x=0.8
x=0.8
4000 4500
x=0.6
x=0.6
Heat Transfer Coefficients (w/m^2-k)

4000
3500
x=0.4
x=0.4

Heat Transfer Coefficients (w/m^2-k)


3500
3000 x=0.8
x=0.6 3000 x=0.2
x=0.2 x=0.8
2500 x=0.4
x=0.2 x=0.6
2500 x=0.4
x=0.2
2000
2000

1500
1500

1000
1000

500 500
5 4.5 4 3.5 3 2.5 2 5 4.5 4 3.5 3 2.5 2
Temperature difference of tube wall-to-carbon dioxide () Temperature difference of tube wall-to-carbon dioxide ()
x=0.2 x=0.2
x=0.4 x=0.4
x=0.6 x=0.6
x=0.8 x=0.8
Dobson Chato's correlation prediction Dobson's correlation prediction
Cavallini's correlation prediction Cavallini's correlation prediction

Figure 5. Heat transfer coefficients of Carbon Dioxide vary with Figure 7. Heat transfer coefficients of Carbon Dioxide vary with
wall to refrigerant temperature differences at 40 ), wall to refrigerant temperature differences at 60 ),

The flow maps of Dobson and Chato (1998) and


4500 x=0.8 Cavallini et al. (2002) indicate that the mass fluxes
measured in the current study would be in gravity-
4000 x=0.6
controlled flow regime range. It is also generally
believed that heat transfer coefficient of the refrigerant
will increase with higher mass fluxes in convective heat
Heat Transfer Coefficients (w/m^2-k)

3500
x=0.4 transfer process. However, Dobson et al. (1998)
concluded that the gravity-dominated flow regimes were
3000 nearly independent of mass flux but with the wall-to-
x=0.8
x=0.2 temperature differences. Figure.8 and Figure.9 show the
x=0.6
2500 x=0.4 predictions obtained from that Dobson and Cavallinis
x=0.2 correlations calculating heat transfer coefficients vary
2000
with temperature differences. It can be shown that
different trends of heat transfer coefficients with mass
flux are predicted by these two group correlations.
1500 Dobsons correlation calculation results indicate that heat
transfer coefficients increase with higher mass fluxes at
1000 each vapour quality points. However, its interesting to
find that the inverse trend in Cavallinis correlation
500 results. By comparing the test data results from Figure.5
5 4.5 4 3.5 3 2.5 2 to Figure.7, a slightly increasing trend of Heat transfer
Temperature difference of tube wall-to-carbon dioxide () coefficients with higher mass fluxes can be found. The
x=0.2 reason that Cavallinis correlations showing the inverse
x=0.4
x=0.6
trend probably is that the heat transfer correlation is
x=0.8 calculated by a linear interpolation between annular flow
Dobson's correlation prediction regime correlation and stratified regime correlation. The
Cavallini's correlation prediction mass fluxes have an inverse proportion relationship with
heat transfer coefficient in annular correlations.
Figure 6. Heat transfer coefficients of Carbon Dioxide vary with
wall to refrigerant temperature differences at 50 ),

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suitable correlation for gravity-controlled correlations for
carbon dioxide.
When the influence of tube wall temperatures
on heat transfer coefficients are further investigated, the
difference in temperature values should be controlled to
3C, then the effect will be shown clearly as the results
shown apparently in this paper. Also, the temperature
differences of wall-to refrigerant should be controlled to
3C when carbon dioxide is under stratified flow regimes
to get higher heat transfer coefficient.

References
Figure8. Dobson and Chato's stratified correlation predicting htc
[1] Dobson M.K, Chato J.C., Condensation in smooth
of carbon dioxide under conditions of TS=-10C, m=40, 50,
horizontal tubes. ASME J Heat Transfer, 120, 1998,
60 ) varies with temperature differences
193213.
[2] Alves, G.E., Co-current liquid-gas flow in a pipeline
contactor, Chem. Process. Engng, 50(9), 1954, 449-
456.
[3] Cavallini A., Censi G., Del Col D. and Doretti L.; et
al. In-tube condensation of halogenated refrigerants
ASHRAE Transactions, 2002, 108.
[4] Hajal J. El, Thome J.R. and Cavallini A.
Condensation in horizontal tubes, part 1: two-phase
flow pattern map. International Journal of Heat and
Mass Transfer 46.2003, 33493363.
[5] Nellis G. and Klein S., Heat transfer, Cambridge,
2009.
Figure9. Cavallini's stratified correlation predicting htc of [6] Kattan N., Thome J.R., Favrat D., Flow boiling in
carbon dioxide under conditions of TS=-10C, m=40, 50, horizontal tubes: Part 1Development of adiabatic
60 ) varies with temperature differences two phase flow pattern map, J. Heat Transfer, 120,
1998, 140147.
Discussion of Inflection Point
[7] Steiner D., Heat transfer to boiling saturated liquids,
in: VDI-War meatlas (VDI Heat Atlas), Chapter
The trends exhibited by the experimental results for heat
transfer coefficients presented in this paper are similar to Hbb, VDI-Gessellschaft Verfahrenstechnik und
those predicted by Cavallini et al. (2001). The gradient of Chemieingenieurwesen(GCV), Dusseldorf,
1993 ,(Translator: J.W. Fullarton).
the predicted lines for both Dobson and Cavallini are
very similar due to the temperature difference parameter [8] Jung, D., Song, K.H., Cho, Y., Kim, S.J., Flow
has the same power value in their correlations. However, condensation heat transfer coefficients of pure
it should be noted that the trend lines in this paper have refrigerants. Int. J. Refrig. 26, 2003, 411.
greater gradients than both of their calculation results.
The experimental heat transfer coefficients seemed to be [9] Shah R.K., London A.L., Laminar Flow Forced
maintained at approximately 1500 w/m2-s when the Convection in Ducts Supplement 1 to Advances in
temperature differences were greater than 3C, and after Heat Transfer, eds. Academic Press, New York,
the temperature differences less than 3C, the heat 1978.
transfer coefficients increase rapidly. Consequently, [10] Zivi S.M., Estimation of steady state void fraction
based on all the data in this paper, carbon dioxide in by means of minimum entropy production, J. Heat
gravity-controlled flow regime range has much greater Transfer86, 1964, 247252.
heat transfer coefficients under conditions of temperature
differences less than 3C. [11] Ossama I. In-tube Condensation Heat Transfer of
CO2 at Low Temperatures. Mechanical Engineering,
Conclusion University of Auckland, 2010

The main conclusions that can be drawn from this


preliminary study are:
The correlation proposed by Dobson and Chato
(1998) over predicts heat transfer coefficients found for
stratified flow regimes involving carbon dioxide. The
correlation developed by Cavallini et al. (2002) shows an
inverse prediction about the heat transfer coefficients
trends with mass flux of carbon dioxide in low mass flux
range. A need to extend the test range to develop

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