Performance of the Condensation Process for Water Vapour in the Presence of a Non-Condensable Gas on Vertical Plates and Horizontal Tubes

Primož Poredoš, Nada Petelin, Tilen Žel, Boris Vidrih, Pero Gatarić and Andrej Kitanovski
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Primož Poredoš: Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Ljubljana, Aškerčeva 6, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Nada Petelin: Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Ljubljana, Aškerčeva 6, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Tilen Žel: Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Ljubljana, Aškerčeva 6, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Boris Vidrih: Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Ljubljana, Aškerčeva 6, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Pero Gatarić: Gorenje Group, Partizanska cesta 12, 3320 Velenje, Slovenia
Andrej Kitanovski: Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Ljubljana, Aškerčeva 6, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 8, 1-28

Abstract: The condensation of humid air is a crucial step in air conditioning and process engineering. However, the models that describe the condensation of vapour in the presence of a non-condensable gas require time-consuming numerical calculations that go beyond the Nusselt film theory. Only a small number of publications exist, where simple and computationally effective correlations for the condensation of water vapour in the presence of air are presented for specially designed condenser heat exchangers. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to extend the existing semi-empirical correlations for different geometries and process parameters. For the purpose of the study, an experimental setup with two different condenser heat exchangers based on vertical plates (height 74 mm) and horizontal tubes (3 tubes, diameter 40 mm and 7 tubes, diameter 15 mm) was built. Additionally, based on existing correlations, we developed two semi-empirical models that predict the condensation mass flux for the proposed geometries. Here, we report that the agreement between the experimental and theoretical values predicted by the new, semi-empirical correlations is excellent, with an average uncertainty of less than ±6%. Their usability was demonstrated by a possibly significant performance improvement of the condenser inside a condensation-type tumble dryer.

Keywords: condensation; humid air; water vapour; non-condensable gases; mass transfer; condenser; flat plates; horizontal tubes (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: 2021
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