Experimental performance comparison between circular and elliptical tubes in evaporative condensers

In refrigeration systems, evaporative condensers have two main advantages compared to other condensation heat exchangers: They operate at lower condensation temperature than traditional air-cooled condensers and require a lower quantity of water and pumping power compared to evaporative towers. The...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Journal of thermal analysis and calorimetry Vol. 147; no. 11; pp. 6363 - 6373
Main Authors:	Starace, Giuseppe, Falcicchia, Lorenzo, Panico, Pierpaolo, Fiorentino, Maria, Colangelo, Gianpiero
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Cham Springer International Publishing 01-06-2022 Springer Springer Nature B.V
Subjects:	Analytical Chemistry Capacitors Chemistry Chemistry and Materials Science Comparative analysis Condensation Condensers Condensers (liquefiers) Equipment and supplies Evaporation Fluid dynamics Heat exchangers Heat transfer Heaters (tube) Heating Inclination Inorganic Chemistry Mass transfer Measurement Science and Instrumentation Parameter sensitivity Physical Chemistry Polymer Sciences Refrigeration equipment Sensitivity analysis Tubes Elliptical tube Refrigeration Circular tubes Evaporative condenser Heat exchanger Heat transfer
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Summary:	In refrigeration systems, evaporative condensers have two main advantages compared to other condensation heat exchangers: They operate at lower condensation temperature than traditional air-cooled condensers and require a lower quantity of water and pumping power compared to evaporative towers. The heat and mass transfer that occur on tube batteries are difficult to study. The aim of this work is to apply an experimental approach to investigate the performance of an evaporative condenser on a reduced scale by means of a test bench, consisting of a transparent duct with a rectangular test section in which electric heaters, inside elliptical pipes (major axis 32 mm, minor axis 23 mm), simulate the presence of the refrigerant during condensation. By keeping the water conditions fixed and constant, the operating conditions of the air and the inclination of the heat transfer geometry were varied, and this allowed to carry out a sensitivity analysis, depending on some of the main parameters that influence the thermo-fluid dynamic phenomena, as well as a performance comparison. The results showed that the heat transfer increases with the tube surface exposed directly to the air as a result of the increase in their inclination, that has been varied in the range 0–20°. For the investigated conditions, the average increase, resulting by the inclination, is 28%.
ISSN:	1388-6150 1588-2926
DOI:	10.1007/s10973-021-10968-z