The Effects of Gravity on the Pressure Drop and Heat Transfer Characteristics of Steam in Microchannels: An Experimental Study

Minhhung Doan, Thanhtrung Dang and Xuanvien Nguyen
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Minhhung Doan: Department of Thermal Engineering, HCMC University of Technology and Education, Ho Chi Minh City 700000, Vietnam
Thanhtrung Dang: Department of Thermal Engineering, HCMC University of Technology and Education, Ho Chi Minh City 700000, Vietnam
Xuanvien Nguyen: Department of Thermal Engineering, HCMC University of Technology and Education, Ho Chi Minh City 700000, Vietnam

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 14, 1-14

Abstract: Experiments were carried out to investigate the pressure drop and heat transfer behaviors of a microchannel condenser. The effects of gravity on the condensation of steam in the microchannels were investigated for both horizontal and vertical cases. For the experimental results, the pressure drop of vertical microchannels in the condenser is lower than for horizontal microchannels. In the case of the horizontal microchannel, as the mass flow rate of steam increases from 0.01 g·s −1 to 0.06 g·s −1 , the pressure drop increases from 1.5 kPa to 50 kPa, respectively. While the mass flow rate of steam in the vertical microchannel case increases from 0.01 g·s −1 to 0.06 g·s −1 , the pressure drop increases from 2.0 kPa to 44 kPa, respectively. This clearly indicates that the gravitational acceleration affects the pressure drop. The pressure drop of the vertical microchannel is lower than that obtained from the horizontal microchannel. In addition, the capacity of the condenser is the same in both cases. This leads to the performance index obtained from the vertical microchannel condenser being higher than that obtained from the horizontal microchannel condenser. These results are important contributions to the research on the condensation of steam in microchannels.

Keywords: heat transfer; cooling water; microchannel; pressure drop; condenser (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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