international journal of refrigeration 31 (2008) 130137

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Experimental correlation of pool boiling heat transfer for

HFC134a on enhanced tubes: Turbo-E
Seung Woo Yanga, Jinhee Jeongb, Yong Tae Kanga,*
a

School of Mechanical and Industrial System Engineering, Kyung Hee University, Yong In, Gyeong-Gi 449-701, Republic of Korea
Machinery R&D Group, LS Cable Inc., Gyeong-Gi 431-080, Republic of Korea

article info

abstract

Article history:

The objectives of this paper are to study the heat transfer characteristics for enhanced sur-

Received 25 January 2007

face tubes in the pool boiling and to provide a guideline for the design conditions for the

Received in revised form 3 July 2007

evaporator using HFC134a. The shape of tube surfaces, the wall superheat, and the satura-

Accepted 9 July 2007

tion temperature are considered as the key parameters. Copper tubes (do 19.05 mm) are

Published online 20 July 2007

treated with different helix angles and the saturation temperatures are controlled from 3
to 16  C. It is found that the pool boiling heat transfer coefficient decreases with increasing

Keywords:

the wall superheat. It is also found that boiling heat transfer coefficients for Turbo-II and

Refrigeration system

Turbo-III are 1.53.0 times and 1.22.0 times higher than that for Turbo-I without the helix

Evaporator

angle, respectively. The higher heat transfer performance from Turbo-II and Turbo-III can

Pool boiling

be explained by the bubble detention phenomenon on the surface without the helix

R134a-tube

angle for the Turbo-I. The experimental correlations for the pool boiling heat transfer on

Enhanced surface

the present enhanced tubes without (Type I) and with the helix angle (Type II and Type

Experiment

III) are developed with the error bands of 30%, respectively.

2007 Elsevier Ltd and IIR. All rights reserved.

Correlation
Heat transfer coefficient

Correlation experimentale du transfert de chaleur du HFC134a

sur les tubes a` surface ameliore : le Turbo-E
Mots cles : Syste`me frigorifique ; Evaporateur ; Ebullition libre ; R134a-tube ; Surface augmentee ; Experimentation ; Correlation ;
Coefficient de transfert de chaleur

1.

Introduction

The refrigeration systems for the industries and the buildings

should not only be suitable to the high cooling load but also
cover the large variation of cooling load. Because the turbo

refrigeration systems with a flooded evaporator are able to

deal with the large amount of refrigerant and are effectively
operated for the partial load, it is widely applied to the industrial and building refrigeration systems. Due to the recent inflation in the international oil marketplace, how to use the

* Corresponding author. Tel./fax: 82 31 201 2990.

E-mail address: ytkang@khu.ac.kr (Y.T. Kang).
0140-7007/$ see front matter 2007 Elsevier Ltd and IIR. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.ijrefrig.2007.07.007

international journal of refrigeration 31 (2008) 130137

Nomenclature
A
Cp
D
d
f
h
hfg
k
L
m
St
P
Pr
Q
Rw
Re
T
U
DP
DTLM

heat transfer area (m2)

specific heat (J kg2 K1)
tube diameter (mm)
cavity diameter (mm)
friction factor
heat transfer coefficient (W m2 K1)
potential heat of evaporation (J kg1)
thermal conductivity (W m1 K1)
tube length (m)
mass flow rate (kg s1)
Stanton number, (hr1v1C1)
pressure (bar)
Prandtl number, (va1)
heat flux (W m2)
wall heat resistance (W m2 K1)
Reynolds number, (rvdim1)
temperature (K)
overall heat transfer coefficient (W m2 K1)
pressure drop (Pa)
log mean temperature difference (K)

energy more efficiently becomes one of the main issues even in

the refrigeration systems, which drives to apply the enhanced
tubes for the evaporator. Generally in turbo refrigeration systems, shell-and-tube type heat exchangers are used as the
evaporator, in which chilled water flows inside the tube and
the refrigerant evaporates on the outer surface of the tube.
The enhanced tubes of which inner and/or outer shapes
are treated mechanically can increase the heat transfer area
and hasten the evaporation with the micro cavities. Therefore, it is expected that the development of highly effective
enhanced tubes induces not only a higher COP but also the
cost reduction for the system. Owing to these backgrounds,
many researches for the enhanced tubes have been conducted
worldwide. Since Haley and Westwater (1966) conducted one
of the first studies on the ways to improve boiling performance of extended surfaces, many attempts have been
made resulting in many tubes with special surface geometries. Fujie et al. (1977) developed a high performance boiling
tube called Thermoexcel-E which had surface pores and
sub-tunnels and Wolverine Tube (1985) introduced another
shape with a grid pattern of reentrant channels called
Turbo-B tube which was basically composed of small mushroom shaped fins.
In the meantime, since it was found in 1990s that CFC refrigerant could cause the depletion of the ozone layer, many
alternative refrigerants such as HFC and iso-butane have
been developed and studied to be applied to the refrigeration
system. Since then, Webb and Pais (1992), Chien and Webb
(1998a), Tatara and Payvar (2000) and Kim and Choi (2001)
studied the performance of some commercial tubes including
Turbo-B tube with various refrigerants CFC11, CFC12, HCFC22,
HCFC123, and HFC134a. Recently, Jung et al. (2003a,b, 2004,
2005) conducted experiments on nucleate boiling heat transfer on various enhanced tubes for various refrigerants including HFC134a. They used a cartridge heater to generate uniform

131

Greek letters
a
thermal diffusivity (m2 s1)
r
density (kg m3)
l
cavity height (mm)
e
base open length of cavity (mm)
s
surface tension (N m1)
v
kinematic viscosity (m2 s1)
Subscripts
in
inlet
out
outlet
evap
evaporation
ref
refrigerant
I
inside of tube
o
outside of tube
sat
saturation
wall
wall surface
w,o
wall outer
cw
cooling water
sup
super heat

heat flux on the tube, all data were taken at liquid pool
temperature of 7  C on horizontal tubes of 152 mm length
and 18.618.8 mm outside diameter at heat fluxes of
1080 kW m2 with an interval of 10 kW m2. Especially, Jung
et al. (2004) found that the heat transfer enhancement ratios
of the low fin, Turbo-B, and Thermoexcel tubes were
1.091.68, 1.775.41 and 1.648.77, respectively, in the range
of heat fluxes tested. Most of the above literature data are
based on the heat flux controlled boiling mode by a cartridge
heater. In the present study, circulated chilled water flowing
inside the evaporator is used as a heat source as in real case.
The heat flux decreases along the tube toward the downstream end because the temperature of the chilled water
becomes lower at that end. The boiling hysteresis phenomenon
in the temperature controlled mode was studied in detail
by Yoon et al. (2004).
In this study, the effect of enhanced surface tubes on the
pool boiling performance of HFC134a is studied to suggest
the design conditions for the turbo refrigeration systems.
The objectives of this paper are to measure and compare the
pool boiling heat transfer coefficients of HFC134a on three different enhanced tubes with helical cavities and to provide
heat transfer data to the turbo refrigerator industry for the design and manufacture of high efficiency flooded evaporators.

2.

Experiment

Fig. 1 shows the experimental apparatus for the boiling test.

The evaporator is the test section with enhanced surfaces,
called the Turbo-E tube. The refrigerant boils in the evaporator
and moves up to the condenser in a gaseous state. The pipe
from evaporator to condenser is made of carbon steel (SPP),
80 mm in diameter. The gasified refrigerant is condensed on
60 tubes with cooling water at the condenser. The condensed

132

international journal of refrigeration 31 (2008) 130137

T205

BLV

40A

40A
40A

BLV

T202

T201

P201

BLV

T301

Mixing Tank
T30
2

BLV

BLV

ST

BLV

Sight glass
Condenser

20RT Ref

T102

EVA
CON

INV

Sub Tank
Evaporator

T101

P301

BLV

100A
BLV

P302

INV

PA
101

BLV

P302

BLV
20A
HT101

BLV

ST

T103
80A

FM101

INV

P101

1. INV: Invertre
2. FM: Flow Meter
3. HT: Heater
4. P : Pump
5. PA: Absolute Pres. Tr.
6. ST: Strainer

Cooling
Tower

50A
Water

Fig. 1 Experimental apparatus.

liquid refrigerant falls down to the evaporator by gravity

through a pipe of 10 mm in diameter. The cooling water flows
into the condenser through an electric valve which operates
automatically to maintain the system pressure of the refrigerant. To supply the chilled and cooling water with a required
temperature, a mixing tank is installed, which has two rooms
separated by a wall. It mixes the high-temperature cooling
water from the condenser with the chilled water (5  C) by
controlling the flow rate, in order to maintain the cooling
water inlet temperature as 10  C. A screw compressor chiller
(20RT) eliminates heat from the mixing tank. As the operating
temperature of the present system is below zero, the chilled
and cooling water include 35% of ethylene glycol (EG). The
temperatures were measured by RTDs with a measurement
error of 0.03  C in the present temperature range. The
mass flow rate of the chilled water was measured by a turbine
mass flow meter (RT11 by TRIMEC) with uncertainty of 0.1%.

The system pressure was measured by a precision pressure

gauge (D76181 by Siemens), and controlled by a PID pressure
controller which was connected to the inverter pump to
control the mass flow rate of the chilled water.
Fig. 2 shows the schematic diagram of the evaporator. In
the shell-and-tube flooded evaporator, chilled water flows
inside the tubes and R-134a refrigerant boils on the outside
surface of the tube. Four different tubes were installed
horizontally within the evaporator shell. The heat flux
decreases toward the downstream of the tube because the
temperature of the chilled water becomes lower in the direction. Five sight glasses were equipped for visual observation
of the boiling process and the level of the liquid refrigerant.
Fig. 3 shows the configuration of each test tube, Turbo-I,
Turbo-II and Turbo-III. The length of each tube is 1918 mm
with the inner and outer diameters of 14.95 mm and
18.20 mm, respectively. The nominal outer diameter of the

Refrigerant (Vapor)

RTD

RTD
Sight glass

Tube sheet

Test tube (4EA)

Do = 19.05
Z

Refrigerant (Liquid)
Test tube L = 1.918 m

Fig. 2 Schematic diagram of the evaporator test section.

133

international journal of refrigeration 31 (2008) 130137

Fig. 3 Surface configuration of each test tube.

original smooth tube is 19.05 mm. The inner configuration of

each tube is the same while the outer configuration differs
from each other. Different helix angles were applied on the
outer surface of each tube. The geometric details of the test
tubes are summarized in Table 1.

3.

Data reduction

where


 

Tref  Twe;i  Tref  Twe;o



Tref  Twe;i
ln
Tref  Twe;o

(2)

104  Rei  105

1
1
1

Rw
UA hi Ai
ho Ai

(3)

In Eq. (3), Rw is the conduction resistance through the wall. To

determine the Darcy friction and the heat transfer coefficients

e
Rei
Di

r
fi
8

(6)

Now, the following experimental correlation developed by

Park et al. (2005) is used to estimate the heat transfer function,
g(e,Pr).


e2
pdi

12  e  150; 9:8  Pr  47:7

0:425
;
7

Then, the law of wall and the following equation developed

by Dipprey and Saberskey (1963) are used to estimate the heat
transfer coefficients inside the tube.
 
 fi =8=Sti  1

p
B e
g e ; Pr
fi =8

Table 1 Geometric conditions for each tubes

Inner

(4)

where


 0:036 0:884

Pr
g e ; Pr 33:09 e

and

Turbo-I
Turbo-II
Turbo-III

;
fi 5:056Re0:439
i

The law of the momentum transfer, B(e) developed by

Dipprey and Saberskey (1963) is given by,
s
 
 
8
2e
3:75
(5)
2:5 ln
B e
fi
di

The energy balance and heat transfer equation are expressed

as follows:


_ p;we Tcw;i  Tcw;o UADTLM
Q_ mC
(1)

DTLM

inside the tube with surface treatments, the following correlation by Cha et al. (2003) is used since the geometric conditions
are exactly same:

(8)

Outer (Turbo-E type)

Di (mm)

e/Di

Do (mm)

Helix angle ( )

e/Do

14.95
14.95
14.95

0.016
0.016
0.016

18.2
18.2
18.2

90
45
135

0.035
0.035
0.041

By introducing Eqs. (4), (5) and (7) into Eq. (8), the heat transfer coefficient inside the tube is obtained from the following
equation:
hi Sti  rVCp

(9)

134

international journal of refrigeration 31 (2008) 130137

Fig. 4 Overall heat transfer coefficient versus Rei.

After calculating the heat transfer coefficient inside the

tube, the pool boiling heat transfer coefficient outside the
tube can be obtained from the energy and heat transfer equations (1)(3). The uncertainty in the measurement of the pool
boiling heat transfer coefficient outside the tube, ho was estimated to be 7.0%.

4.

Results and discussion

Fig. 4 shows the overall heat transfer U as a function of Rei for

each case with the heat flux (q) of 22 kW m2. The experiment
was preformed in sequence with increasing Rei. As can be seen
in the result, the overall heat transfer coefficients increase linearly with increasing Rei and the Turbo-II tube has a higher U
than the other tubes. It means that the pool boiling heat transfer for the Turbo-II is higher than those for others and the heat
transfer rate is controlled by the outside heat transfer resistance since the inside heat transfer characteristics are

Fig. 5 Pool boiling heat transfer coefficient versus wall

superheat.

Fig. 6 Heat flux versus wall superheat for each tube.

basically same for each tube. By plotting hi as a function of

Rei (hi ranged 1.83.8  104 W m2 K1), it was clearly confirmed that the inside heat transfer coefficient was not
much affected by the outside heat transfer characteristics
such as the geometric conditions and the refrigerant saturation temperature.
Fig. 5 shows the pool boiling heat transfer coefficient outside the tube versus the wall superheat (DTsup Tw,o  Tsat).
The wall temperature was calculated using the heat flux equation from the mean temperature of the chilled water and the
refrigerant saturation temperature. The boiling heat transfer
coefficient ho decreases with increasing DTsup because the
heat transfer resistance increases with increasing the size of
bubbles at a higher DTsup. This result can also be explained
by plotting the heat flux as a function of the wall superheat
as shown in Fig. 6. The average gradient of the heat flux versus
the wall superheat represents the pool boiling heat transfer
coefficient. It is clearly found that the pool boiling heat transfer coefficient decreases with increasing the wall superheat,
and the heat transfer coefficient for Turbo-II with the helix angle cavities is much higher than that for Turbo-I with the right
angle cavities. While the pool boiling heat transfer coefficient
on the plain surface is usually proportional to DT24
sup, the effect

Fig. 7 Pool boiling heat transfer coefficient versus

saturation temperature for each tube.

international journal of refrigeration 31 (2008) 130137

Detention of Bubble

135

Promote detachment of the Bubble

Circular shape cavity

Fig. 8 Bubble detention phenomenon on the surface.

of the cavities on the pool boiling heat transfer decreases with

increasing the degree of wall superheating. The effects of cavity shape and the saturation temperature on the pool boiling
heat transfer coefficient are explained in detail by the bubble
detention phenomenon in the following section.
Fig. 7 shows the pool boiling heat transfer coefficient outside the tube versus the refrigerant saturated temperature,
Tsat. It is found that ho for Turbo-II and Turbo-III are 1.53.0
times and 1.22.0 times higher than that of Turbo-I without
the helix angle, respectively. This is because the cavities
with helix angle on Turbo-II and Turbo-III make the bubbles
to escape easily from the surface so that the heat transfer resistance by the bubble blanket reduces. It is found that ho for
Turbo-II and Turbo-III increases continuously with increasing
Tsat while ho for Turbo-I increases gradually and finally keeps
constant above Tsat of 11  C. Therefore, it is concluded that the
new type Turbo tubes with helix angle are much more effective in the high saturation temperature region than that in
the normal saturation temperature region of 510  C. It is
also found that the pool boiling heat transfer coefficient increases with increasing the velocity of the chilled water flow.
The effect of the saturation temperature on the pool
boiling heat transfer is closely related with the boiling
hysteresis and the change of the bubble departure
diameter/frequency. The boiling hysteresis occurs by the
non-uniform wall temperature or non-uniform heat flux,
which is called combined temperature overshoot (TOS).
The combined TOS becomes more serious at a lower saturation temperature than the normal evaporation temperature of 5.0  C. The boiling hysteresis at low temperature
on enhanced tubes is explained in detail in Yoon et al.
(2004). The change of the bubble departure frequency depends on the shape of the cavities on the enhanced surface
as explained below.
The high heat transfer performance from Turbo-II and
Turbo-III can be explained by the bubble detention phenomenon on the surface without the helix angle for the
Turbo-I, as shown in Fig. 8. In the case of Turbo-I with the right
angle cavity, the bubbles remain within the cavity resulting in
the reduction of heat transfer coefficient. However, in the case
of Turbo-II and Turbo-III with the helix angle cavity, the

bubbles may move to the helix angle direction and escape

easily from the cavity.
Figs. 9 and 10 show the experimental correlations for the
pool boiling heat transfer on the present enhanced tubes without (Type I) and with the helix angle (Type II and Type III),
respectively. The following correlations without and with
the helix angle agree well with the experimental data within
the error bands of 30%, respectively.
For Type I without the helix angle,
 
0:283 " #1:298
 0:241
rg
kf
q=ADb
l
ho 4347:524
Pr 0:132
;
e
Db
kf Tsat
rf
10; 000  q  30; 000; 2:5 

l
 7:0
e

10

For Type II and Type III with the helix angle,

 
0:16 " #1:519
 5:308
rg
kf
q=ADb
l
ho 8; 134; 280
Pr1:046
;
e
Db
kf Tsat
rf
20; 000  q  25; 000; 5:0 

l
 6:0
e

11

where

Fig. 9 Experimental correlation for Turbo-I without helix

angle.

136

international journal of refrigeration 31 (2008) 130137

pool boiling heat transfer coefficient for Turbo-II with the

helix angle cavities is much higher than that for Turbo-I
with the right angle cavities.
2. It is found that ho for Turbo-II and Turbo-III are 1.53.0
times and 1.22.0 times higher than that of Turbo-I without
the helix angle, respectively. The higher heat transfer
performance from Turbo-II and Turbo-III can be explained
by the bubble detention phenomenon on the surface
without the helix angle for the Turbo-I.
3. The experimental correlations for the pool boiling heat
transfer on the present enhanced tubes without (Type I)
and with the helix angle (Type II and Type III) are developed
with the error bands of 30%, respectively.

Fig. 10 Experimental correlation for Turbo-II and Turbo-III

with helix angle.

Acknowledgment
This work was financially supported by Korea Energy Management Corporation Grant (2005-E-BD11-P-03-3-010-2005).

q3
2
Bo Bo2 240496=Bo  31=2
5dp
Db 4
192  6Bo

(12)

and

Bo

#
"
d2p rl  rv g
s

(13)

In Eqs. (12) and (13), Db, and Bo are bubble diameter and Bond
number which are defined in Chien and Webb (1998b,c). In the
present study, dp is defined as the maximum horizontal length
of the cavity because the cavity is not in a circular shape but in
an elliptic shape as shown in Fig. 3. The generic form of the experimental correlation is based on Stephan and Abdelsalams
(1980) equation by adding a geometric non-dimensional
parameter for the cavity, l=e, which is the aspect ratio of the
cavity based on the height (l) and the base open length on
the surface (e) for the cavity. The effect of the aspect ratio on
the pool boiling heat transfer appears opposite for each case.
This is directly related with the bubble flow patterns for
each case as shown in Fig. 8. In the case without the helix
angle, the bubble remains within the cavity and therefore
the heat transfer performance increases as the height of the
cavity increases for a given base open length on the surface.
However, in the case with the helix angle, the bubble escapes
easily from the cavity and therefore the heat transfer performance increases as the height of the cavity decreases for
a given base open length on the surface. The present experimental correlations can be used for practical design of pool
boiling evaporators with enhanced tubes, which were widely
adopted for turbo chillers.

5.

Conclusion

The following conclusions are drawn from the present study.

1. It is found that the pool boiling heat transfer coefficient
decreases with increasing the wall superheat, and the

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