Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 66 (2015) 3645

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Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/etfs

Two-phase ow patterns and heat transfer characteristics of R134a

refrigerant during ow boiling in a single rectangular micro-channel
Chanyoot Keepaiboon, Somchai Wongwises
Fluid Mechanics, Thermal Engineering and Multiphase Flow Research Lab. (FUTURE), Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, King Mongkuts University
of Technology Thonburi, Bangmod, Bangkok 10140, Thailand

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 22 July 2014
Received in revised form 3 February 2015
Accepted 7 February 2015
Available online 25 February 2015
Keywords:
Heat transfer
Flow boiling
Micro-channel
Flow patterns
R134a

a b s t r a c t
In this paper, ow patterns and heat transfer characteristics of R134a refrigerant during ow boiling in a
single rectangular micro-channel with 0.68 mm hydraulic diameter are investigated. In this experiment,
heat transfer coefcients were studied at a heat ux range of 7.6349.46 kW/m2, mass ux range of
6001400 kg/m2 s, and saturation temperature range of 2331 C. Results show that there are six different ow patterns occurring during boiling of R134a refrigerants: bubbly ow, bubbly-slug ow, slug ow,
throat-annular ow, churn ow, and annular ow. It is also found that ow pattern has a signicant
relation to heat transfer coefcients. In low heat ux range, variation of mass ux has no signicant effect
on the heat transfer coefcient. It corresponds to the nucleate boiling heat transfer mechanism in which
its ow patterns are bubbly ow, bubbly-slug ow, slug ow, throat-annular ow, and churn ow. The
heat transfer coefcient at higher saturation temperatures is greater than that of lower saturation
temperatures. In high heat ux ranges, the heat transfer coefcient increases with increasing mass ux.
It corresponds to the convective boiling heat transfer mechanism in which its ow pattern is annular
ow. Increase of saturation temperature causes the heat transfer coefcient to decrease. At very high
saturation temperature, a partial dry-out occurs that results in a lower heat transfer coefcient.
2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Research on ow boiling in a small scale channel has gained
more attention during the past several years. This is because the
research can be applied in designing compact heat exchangers to
meet the rapid progress and development of small scale device
technology used in several engineering elds, such as medical
devices, super computers, and high-power lasers. Because these
devices are very small, the ow channel of uid used in heat transfer needs to be very small but efcient in transferring heat from the
system. As a result, research on heat transfer and ow characteristics during ow boiling in a small scale channel will provide
fundamental knowledge for the future design and development
of mini and micro multi-ow channel heat exchangers. Therefore,
a group of researchers has conducted the following studies of heat
transfer and ow characteristics, pressure drop, and ow patterns
occurring in mini and micro-channels.
Review of ow boiling heat transfer in a micro-channel is
proposed by Thome [1,2] and Kandlikar [3], whose ndings are
well-known in the eld of mini and micro-channel heat
Corresponding author. Tel.: +66 24709115.
E-mail address: somchai.won@kmutt.ac.th (S. Wongwises).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.expthermusci.2015.02.004
0894-1777/ 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

exchangers. In addition, a larger number of reviews were similarly

presented by Qu and Mudawar [4], Khan et al. [5], and Cheng et al.
[6]. Results from the study of the heat transfer coefcient in
micro-channels of the above researchers [46] clearly show the
inuence of nucleate boiling and convective boiling on trends of
heat transfer coefcients. The experimental data also shows that
in a nucleate boiling regime, heat transfer coefcients will be a
function of heat ux and system pressure but will not depend on
quality and mass ux. In a convective boiling regime, heat transfer
coefcients will depend on quality and mass ux but will not be a
function of heat ux. In addition, research about reducing the size
of hydraulic diameter in a circular tube that causes an increase in
heat transfer coefcient is presented by [7,8].
Soupremanien and Person [9] studied the inuence of aspect
ratio on ow boiling of forane 365 Hx in rectangular mini-channels
at 1.4 mm hydraulic diameter. Their ndings show that heat transfer coefcients are highest in low heat ux range at the high aspect
ratio of 0.43. On the contrary, the highest heat transfer coefcients
in high heat ux range are at the low aspect ratio of 0.143. From
this experimental result, it can be concluded that the change of
aspect ratio has signicant inuence on heat transfer coefcients
and pressure drop in mini-channels.

C. Keepaiboon, S. Wongwises / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 66 (2015) 3645

37

Nomenclature
A
cp
Dh
G
h
H
i
I
k
L
m
N
Nu
Q
q00
Re
T
V

cross section area (m2)

specic heat at constant pressure (kJ kg1 K1)
hydraulic diameter (mm)
mass ux (kg m2 s1)
heat transfer coefcient (W m2 K1)
depth (m)
Enthalpy (kJ kg1)
current (A)
thermal conductivity (W m1 K1)
length (m)
total mass ow rate (kg s1)
number of channels
Nusselt number
heat transfer rate (kW)
heat ux (kW m2)
Reynolds number, Re GDh =l
temperature (C)
voltage (V)

Choi et al. [10] studied the heat transfer characteristics of CO2

through mini-channels with diameters of 1.5 and 3 mm. Their ndings concluded that nucleate boiling has a signicant inuence on
heat transfer coefcient in a low vapor quality region. On the other
hand, convective boiling heat transfer has a signicant inuence on
heat transfer coefcient in high vapor quality regions.
Furthermore, ow boiling heat transfer of CO2, R-134a, and R22
presented by Choi et al. [11] indicates that the heat transfer coefcient of CO2 is higher than that of R-134a and R22.
In and Jeong [12] studied heat transfer characteristics in microchannel with a diameter of 0.19 mm by comparing R123 and
R134a refrigerants. They concluded that the heat transfer of R123
refrigerant was inuenced by thin liquid lms occurring around
elongated bubbles.
Ong and Thome [13] studied heat transfer during ow boiling
and critical heat ux (CHF) for R134a, R236fa, and R245fa in one
horizontal channel with diameters of 1.03, 2.20, and 3.04 mm.
Their ndings show that heat transfer coefcients increase at high
vapor quality corresponding with annular ow patterns, while
convective boiling has a signicant inuence on heat transfer
mechanisms.
Harirchian and Garimella [14] presented effects of channel
dimension, heat ux, and mass ux on ow boiling regimes in
micro-channels. They concluded that heat transfer coefcients
increased because of the increase of heat ux. Saisorn et al. [15]
studied heat transfer during ow boiling of R-134a refrigerant in
a horizontal circular mini-channel with a diameter of 1.75 mm.
Their results indicate that heat transfer coefcients increase when
the heat ux increases, but most experiments will not depend on
mass ux and quality.
Kaew-On et al. [16] presented heat transfer characteristics during ow boiling of R-134a refrigerant in multiport mini-channel
heat exchangers with diameter of 1.1 mm in 14 ow channels.
They concluded that heat transfer coefcients increased according
to the increase of heat ux, which did not depend on mass ux.
Oh et al. [17] studied heat transfer during ow boiling of R-22,
R-134a, R-410, C3H8, and CO2 in small circular tube with diameters
of 0.5, 1, and 1.5 mm. Results show that mass ux does not have
any inuence on heat transfer coefcients in low vapor quality
but has a signicant inuence on heat transfer coefcients in high
vapor quality. Moreover, heat transfer coefcients increase at
higher saturation temperature. The heat transfer coefcients

W
x

width (m)
vapor quality

Greek letters
b
aspect ratio
Subscripts
ch
channel
in
inlet
l
liquid
v
vapor
out
outlet
ph
preheater
ref
refrigerant
sat
saturation
TS
test section
w
wall

increase when the tube becomes smaller, particularly in low vapor

quality. CO2 has the highest heat transfer coefcients.
Bertsch et al. [18] studied heat transfer coefcients of R-134a
and R-245fa refrigerants during ow boiling in micro-channels.
They concluded that heat transfer coefcients of R-245fa were
higher than that of R-134a in single-phase ow, but the results
were the opposite in the two-phase ow. Moreover, they also
found that heat transfer coefcients increased when the hydraulic
diameter decreased.
Bertsch et al. [19] studied ow boiling of R-134a refrigerant in
17 multi-ow channels with a diameter of 1.09 mm. They concluded that heat transfer coefcients increased when there was
an increase in mass ux and heat ux. Additionally, it also shows
that heat transfer coefcients decrease when the saturation temperature is higher.
Tibiri et al. [20] studied heat transfer during ow boiling of R134a and R-245fa refrigerants in a 2.3 mm-diameter circular tube.
Their ndings show that heat transfer coefcients increase when
saturation temperature is higher. This occurrence is especially
obvious in low vapor quality range.Wang and Seane [21] tested
the ow boiling of FC-72 in three different microchannels with different aspect ratios (20, 20, and 10) and hydraulic diameters (571,
762 and 1454 lm). They revealed that with an increase in hydraulic diameter the local heat transfer coefcient is reduced. They also
observed that for high mass uxes, the effect of hydraulic diameter
size becomes more important.
Murshed et al. [22] experimentally examined the ow boiling
characteristics of water, including heat transfer coefcient and
critical heat ux in a microchannel made of copper. They considered two cases; in the rst case, the surface of the microchannel
is uncoated, and in the second case, the surface is coated by
Al2O3 nanoparticles. They found that by coating the surface of
microchannel with nanoparticles the heat transfer coefcient will
be slightly decreased. On the other hand, the critical heat ux
associated with the coated microchannel depends on values of
inlet temperature and the mass ux was between 17% and 39%
higher than the simple microchannel.
Balasubramanian et al. [23] evaluated the ow boiling of water
in two microchannels with different sizes. They plotted between
the local heat transfer coefcient and the exit vapor quality shown
as an M shaped variation. The heat transfer coefcient was
described based on the existent ow boiling patterns. They also

38

C. Keepaiboon, S. Wongwises / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 66 (2015) 3645

Table 1
Summary of the previous studies.
Authors

Year

Geometries

Working uids

dh (mm)

Remarks

Choi et al.
Bertsch et al.
Bertsch et al.
Harirchian and Garimella
In and Jeong
Ong and Thome
Tibirica and Ribatski
Choi et al.
Kaew-On et al.
Soupremanien et al.
Oh et al.
Wang and Seane
Balasubramanian and Jagirdar
Morshed et al.
Saisorn et al.
Kumar et al.
Present work

2007
2008
2009
2009
2009
2009
2010
2011
2011
2011
2011
2012
2013
2013
2013
2014
2014

Circular
Multi rectangular
Multi rectangular
Multi rectangular
Circular
Circular
Circular
Circular
Mutiport rectangular
Single rectangular
Circular
Circular
Multi rectangular
Single rectangular
Circular
Multi rectangular
Single rectangular

CO2
R134
R134a and R245fa
FC-77
CO2
R134a, R236fa and R245fa
R134a and R245fa
CO2, R134a and R22
R134
Forane 365 HX
R22, R134a, R410 and CO2
FC-72
Water
Water
R134a
Water
R134a

1.5 and 3
1.09
1.09
0.967.07
0.19
1.03
2.3
1.5 and 3
1.1
1.391.40
0.5, 1.5 and 3
0.57, 0.76 and 1.45
Wch = 0.32 and 0.3, Hch = 1.15 and 1.19
0.67
1.75
Wch = 20, Hch = 0.4
0.68

Effect
Effect
Effect
Effect
Effect
Effect
Effect
Effect
Effect
Effect
Effect
Effect
Effect
Effect
Effect
Effect
Effect

examined the effects of instabilities on the heat transfer rate in the

microchannels.
Saisorn et al. [24] carried out a series of experiments on the ow
boiling of R-134a refrigerant in minichannels with horizontal and
vertical positions. They indicated that saturation pressure is an
important factor to determine the ow regime when the position
of the microchannel changes. Moreover, it was found that gravity
has no substantial effect on the heat transfer coefcient in low values of mass ux whereas, in general, when the working uid ows
upward the heat transfer coefcient is higher than the case in
which the minichannel is horizontal. Kurma et al. [25] experimentally studied the effects of coating the surface of a copper
minichannel with carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and diamond on the
ow boiling of water in the duct. Their ndings show that when
the surface of the microchannel is covered by a layer of CNTs the
critical heat ux is considerably higher than that of an uncoated
surface or a diamond-coated surface. Summary of the literature
reviews is shown in Table 1.
Review of this past research clearly shows that most researchers studied ow boiling of refrigerants in single mini and microchannels in a circular tube. Up to now, there has been only one
work, carried out by Soupremanien et al. [9] dealing with rectangular channels. However, the tube investigated is classied as the
mini-channel. To the best of the authors knowledge there is no
research about ow boiling of a refrigerant in a single rectangular
micro-channel. As a consequence, the main concern of this work is
to study the ow patterns and heat transfer characteristics of
R134a during ow boiling in a single rectangular micro-channel
with hydraulic diameter of 0.68 mm. A special technique to construct the test section in order to prevent the leakage of refrigerant
is proposed. The data regarding the effects of heat ux, mass ux,
and saturation temperature that have never before appeared in
open literature are presented.
2. Experimental test loop
In this section, important elements of the experimental test
loop and the test section are discussed in detail as follows:
2.1. Description of the experimental test loop
The schematic diagram of the experimental test loop is shown
in Fig. 1. The refrigerant (R134a) is pumped into the test loop cycle
by a magnetic micro gear pump with an inverter to control the
ow. The refrigerant will ow into a lter/drier in order to get

of
of
of
of
of
of
of
of
of
of
of
of
of
of
of
of
of

operating conditions
operating conditions
refrigerants
diameter reduction
operating conditions
various refrigerants
various refrigerants
various refrigerants
operating conditions
aspect ratio
various refrigerants
diameter reduction
operating conditions
coating
operating conditions
coating
operating conditions

rid of any contaminants that could clog the micro-channel. A coriolis-type mass ow meter is used to measure ow rate of the
refrigerant. A sight glass is installed at the inlet and outlet of the
pre-heater to check the state of the refrigerant before going into
the test-section. Vapor quality of the refrigerant at the inlet of
the test-section is controlled by the pre-heater. DC power supply
is used to supply the imposed heat ux to the pre-heater, whose
power could be controlled by adjusting voltage and current. The
refrigerant ows through the test-section, which is heated by the
cartridge heater controlled by DC power supply. Leaving the test
section, the refrigerant is then condensed and subcooled by the
chilling loop. The liquid refrigerant then returns to a receiver,
and eventually to the refrigerant pump to complete the cycle.
2.2. Description of the test section
The schematic diagram of the experimental apparatus is shown
in Fig. 1. The test section, as shown in Fig. 2, consists of three parts:
top plate, polycarbonate plate, and housing. The top plate is made
from stainless steel to distribute pressure from the screws to the
polycarbonate plate. The transparent polycarbonate plate is
installed above the ow channel to be used for observation of ow
during boiling. The plenums are used to measure local refrigerant
temperature and pressure at the inlet and outlet of the microchannel. A cartridge heater is installed horizontally at the bottom
of the micro-channel to heat the test section with maximum power
of 400 W. The electrical power input to the cartridge heater is controlled manually by a DC power supply controller. The amount of
electrical power supply is measured by a clamp-on power meter.
The clamp-on power meter has an uncertainty factor of 2.2%. Ttype thermocouples with 0.5 mm diameter are installed at the bottom of the ow channel wall to determine temperature gradient
and surface temperature at ve positions throughout the ow
channel. Details of thermocouples positions are shown in Figs. 3
and 4. Moreover, details about sizes of the micro-channel are provided in Table 2. The ow patterns were recorded by a high speed
camera (Nikon D71OO, Maximum speed with ash (sync speed): 1/
250. 1/8000 to 30 s, and Bulb).
The experiment starts by increasing several levels of heat ux at
the test-section while refrigerant ow rate, saturation temperature, and inlet vapor quality are controlled to the specied conditions. Experimental data are recorded when the system is in
steady condition. The experimental condition is listed in Table 3.
Maximum uncertainty values of used parameters shown in
Table 4 are calculated from root mean sum squared method at

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C. Keepaiboon, S. Wongwises / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 66 (2015) 3645

Flow rate, Temperatures and Pressures data signals

P
Camera
Sight glass
P

Electrical
preheater

NI Compact DAQ

P
Sight glass

Computer
Cartridge heater

Thermocouple
measurement
positions
DC Power supply
controller

Coriolis mass flow meter

Plate heat
exchanger

T
RTD pt 100
Flow meter

By pass line
Condensing Unit

Magnetic micro gear pump

Water Pump
Filter/drier

Heater

Receiver tank
Water/ Ethylene glycol tank
Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the experimental apparatus.

Fig. 2. Cross-sectional view of the test section.

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C. Keepaiboon, S. Wongwises / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 66 (2015) 3645

the lowest mass ux and lowest heat ux test condition.

Experimental data are analyzed by taking uncertainty into consideration for reliability of the experimental results.
3. Data reduction
The two-phase ow heat transfer coefcient for the single
micro-channel was calculated from:

q00
T w  T sat

where T sat is the refrigerant saturation temperature, T w is the wall

temperature, and q00 is heat ux, which is obtained from
Fig. 3. Locations of the pressure and temperature sensors.

q00

Q TS
Ach

where Q TS is a total electrical power supplied to the test section.

This electrical power is controllable using DC power supply controller. Ach is total heated area of channel.
The vapor quality of the refrigerant R134a at the test section
inlet was determined from the following:

xTS;in

iTS;in  il@TS;in
ilv @TS;in

where il@TS;in is the enthalpy of the saturated refrigerant based on

temperature at the test section inlet, and ilv @TS is the enthalpy of
vaporization based on temperature at the test section inlet, which
is determined from

iTS;in il@PH;out

Q lat
_ ref
m

where il@PH;out is the enthalpy of the saturated refrigerant based on

_ ref is the refrigersaturation temperature at the pre-heater outlet; m
ant mass ow rate; and Q lat is the latent heat transfer rate which
can be calculated from

Fig. 4. Thermocouple locations in the copper test section.

Q ph Q lat Q sen
Table 2
Details of the channel geometry.
Number of channel, N
Hydraulic diameter, Dh (mm)
Channel width, Wch (mm)
Channel depth, Hch (mm)
Aspect ratio, (b = Hch/Wch)
Channel length, L (mm)

1
0.68
0.81
0.58
0.72
80

where Q ph is the electrical power from the heater to the refrigerant

owing through the pre-heater.

Q ph VI@PH

and Q sen is the sensible heat transfer rate which is dened as

Q sen mref C ref T ph;out  T ph;in

100
Nudata for R134a-Turbulent
Dittus-Boelter [26]
Gnielinski [27]

Table 3
Experimental conditions.
Experimental parameters

Range

Unit

Inlet quality, Xin

Saturation temperature, Tsat
Mass ux, G
Wall heat ux, q00w

0.1
2331
6001400
7.6349.46

[]
C
kg/m2 s
kW/m2

Nusselt number

80

60

40

20

Table 4
Uncertainties of measured quantities and calculated parameters.
Parameter

Maximum uncertainty (%)

Saturation temperature, Tsat (C)

Wall temperature, Tw (C)
Heat ux, q00w (kW/m2)
Heat transfer coefcient, h (W/m2 K)

0.3
0.1
3.1
4.1

0
3000

4000

5000

6000

7000

8000

Reynolds number
Fig. 5. Comparison between the present measured data and the results obtained
from the single-phase ow correlations.

C. Keepaiboon, S. Wongwises / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 66 (2015) 3645

Fig. 6. Two-phase ow patterns of R-134a in a 0.68 mm hydraulic diameter tube under saturation temperatures of 27 C (ah) and 31 C (ip).

41

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C. Keepaiboon, S. Wongwises / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 66 (2015) 3645

Fig. 5 shows the reliability test of the experimental setup. The

gure shows a comparison between experimental data and prediction using well-known correlations of Dittus-Boelter [26] and
Gnielinski [27]. A good agreement was observed between the present data and their correlations.
4. Results and discussion

on the change of ow patterns. When the heat ux increase, the

ow patterns change from bubbly ow, bubbly-slug ow, slug
ow, throat-annular ow, churn ow, to annular ow, respectively.
This is because the increase of heat ux results in an increase of the
amount of bubbles in the ow channel. These bubbles gather into
larger ones and change into the ow patterns mentioned above. It
should be noted that at lowest mass ux, each ow pattern will
occur at lower heat ux.

4.1. Flow patterns

As shown in Fig. 6, a comparison of two-phase ow patterns at a

saturation temperature of 27 C and 31 C shows the effect of
change in saturation temperature on ow patterns. Figs. 6ah
show ow patterns at a saturation temperature of 27 C, while
Figs. 6ip show ow patterns at a saturation temperature of
31 C. In a low heat ux range of both saturation temperatures,
only bubbly ow, bubbly-slug ow, slug ow, and throat-annular
ow were observed. It can be also indicated that at a high saturation temperature, there are more bubbles than at a low saturation temperature. It corresponds to Sharma et al. [28] which
investigated that bubble growth and departure from the wall at
high saturation temperature are greater for the same heat ux. In
a high heat ux range the ow patterns became churn ow and
annular ow.
Fig. 7 shows a ow regime map which is a plot between heat
ux and mass ux, provided at a saturation temperature of 31 C.
Experimental results show that heat ux has a signicant effect

The variation of the heat ux with excess temperature

(Tw  Tref) for the different mass ux of 600, 1000 and 1400 kg/
m2 s at xin = 0.1 and Tsat = 23 C is shown in Fig. 8, those at
Tsat = 27 C and Tsat = 31 C are shown in Figs. 9 and 10, respectively. In Figs 810, the effect of mass ux on the heat ux can
be seen at higher excess temperature. On the other hand, it shows
that nucleate boiling is the heat transfer mechanism at lower heat
ux. This occurrence could be explained by ow patterns related to
the nucleate boiling heat transfer mechanism. Moreover, at high
heat ux, the convective boiling heat transfer related to annular
ow is dominant. The experimental results in Fig. 10 also showed
that a partial dry-out occurred in a high heat ux range at a
saturation temperature of 31 C.

60

30

20
600
1000
1400

10

600
Flow patterns

R134a
Single microchannel Dh = 0.68 mm
o

10

20

30
2

Heat flux (kW/m )

Fig. 7. Flow regime map for the ow boiling of R134a.

10

12

R134a
Single microchannel Dh = 0.68 mm
xin= 0.1, Tsat=27 oC

40

30

20
Mass flux (kg/m2 s)

Bubbly flow
Bubbly-slug flow
Slug flow
Throat-annular flow
Churn flow
Annular flow

xin= 0.1, Tsat =31 C

Fig. 8. Boiling curve at various mass ux at Tsat = 23 C for a single micro-channel.

800

Heat flux (kW/m )

1000

Tw - Tref ( C)

50

Mass flux (kg/m s)

40

60

1200

xin= 0.1, Tsat=23 C

Mass flux (kg/m2 s)

1400

200

50

1600

400

R134a
Single microchannel Dh = 680 m

Slug ow: Slug ow is caused by the gathering of small bubbles

until they become larger and longer.
Throat-annular ow: Throat-annular ow occurs from collision
or gathering of 2 consecutive elongated bubbles, which causes a
throat-like gas core.
Churn ow: Churn ow is formed by a break-down of the slug
ow bubbles.
Annular ow: Annular ow makes liquid lm at the wall tube
and vapors ow at the core of the ow channel.

4.2. Boiling curve

Heat flux (kW/m )

Flow patterns of uid owing through a single micro-channel

can provide a good understanding of the heat transfer mechanism.
Fig. 6 shows ow patterns at saturation temperature of 27 C and
31 C with heat ux in 7.6336.31 kW/m2 range at mass ux of
1000 kg/m2 s. Types of ow patterns include bubbly ow, bubbly-slug ow, slug ow, throat-annular ow, churn ow, and annular ow. Characteristics of different ow patterns are similar to
what was proposed by Saisorn et al. [15].

600
1000
1400

10

0
40

10

12

14

16

Tw - Tref ( oC)
Fig. 9. Boiling curve at various mass ux at Tsat = 27 C for a single micro-channel.

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C. Keepaiboon, S. Wongwises / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 66 (2015) 3645

60

Heat transfer coefficient (W/m2 K)

50

Heat flux (kW/m )

8000

R134a
Single microchannel Dh = 0.68 mm
xin= 0.1, T sat=31 C

40

30

20
Mass flux (kg/m2 s)
600
1000
1400

10

R134a
Single microchannel Dh = 0.68 mm
o

xin= 0.1, Tsat=23 C

6000

4000
Mass flux (kg/m2 s)
600
1000
1400

2000

10

12

14

16

10

20

30

40

50

60

Heat flux (kW/m2)

Tw - Tref ( C)

Fig. 11. Heat ux versus heat transfer coefcient at Tsat = 23 C for various mass
ux.

Fig. 10. Boiling curve at various mass ux at Tsat = 31 C for a single micro-channel.

4.3. Heat transfer coefcient

This study presents an analysis and discussion of experimental
results on the effect of relevant parameters i.e. heat ux, mass ux,
and saturation temperature on heat transfer coefcients of R134a
refrigerant during ow boiling in a single rectangular micro-channel. Furthermore, ow pattern is also considered in order to understand several occurrences found in this experiment.

4.3.1. Effect of heat ux and mass ux on heat transfer coefcient

Fig. 11 shows a relationship between heat transfer coefcients
and heat ux in a range of 7.6349.46 kW/m2 for the different
mass ux of 600, 1000, and 1400 kg/m2 s at Tsat = 23 C. Results
show that the increase of heat ux made the heat transfer coefcient higher. The increase in heat ux attributes to the increase
in number of bubbles that causes an increase in turbulence degree,
which leads to further increases in heat transfer coefcients. The

experimental results also showed that increase of mass ux has a

very small effect on heat transfer coefcient at high heat ux
region. It may say that the nucleate boiling is dominant almost
all the boiling.
Fig. 12 shows that mass ux began to show inuence on heat
transfer coefcients in the high heat ux range. It could also be
observed that at high heat ux convective contribution had signicant effect on the heat transfer mechanism, which led to a signicant effect of mass ux on heat transfer coefcients.
For ow patterns at a mass ux of 1000 kg/m2 s in Fig. 12, the
ow patterns was bubbly-ow at heat ux of 7.63 kW/m2.
Bubbles gathered into bigger ones and changed their shape to
become slug ow at heat ux of 10.67 kW/m2. Additionally, two
consecutive slugs caused by collision and merger made a throatlike gas core at heat ux of 18.28 kW/m2. This occurrence was
called throat-annular ow. After that, the ow pattern would
change to churn ow at heat ux of 21.57 kW/m2. In addition,

Fig. 12. Heat ux versus heat transfer coefcient at Tsat = 27 C for various mass ux.

44

C. Keepaiboon, S. Wongwises / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 66 (2015) 3645

Fig. 13. Heat ux versus heat transfer coefcient at Tsat = 31 C for various mass ux.

Fig. 14. Heat ux versus heat transfer coefcient at G = 600 kg/m2 s for various
saturation temperatures.

Fig. 15. Heat ux versus heat transfer coefcient at G = 1000 kg/m2 s for various
saturation temperatures.

the annular ow at heat ux of 26.50 kW/m2 also indicated that

there was liquid lm at the wall tube where vapors ew at the core
of the ow channel.
Fig. 13 shows a relationship between heat transfer coefcients
and heat ux in the 7.6349.46 kW/m2 range for the different mass
uxes of 600, 1000, and 1400 kg/m2 s at Tsat = 31 C. Results show
that heat transfer coefcients increase with increasing heat ux
in the low heat ux range. In the high heat ux range heat transfer
coefcients tend to decrease when the heat ux increases due to
partial dry-out. Moreover it could be noted that at mass ux of
600 kg/m2 s the partial dry out occurred at lower heat ux.

signicant effect on heat transfer rate. The experimental results

also showed that the heat transfer coefcients of Tsat = 31 C was
higher than that of Tsat = 27 and 23 C, respectively. On the contrary, mass ux had a signicant effect on heat transfer coefcients
in a high heat ux range, where it also affected the contribution of
convection heat transfer. In addition, this occurrence also made
heat transfer coefcients of Tsat = 23 C higher than that of
Tsat = 27 and 31 C, respectively. The rst reason for this is due to
thermal conductivity of liquid lm related to the heat transferred
through the liquid lm covering around the inner wall surface.
The liquid refrigerant lm at Tsat = 31 C has lower thermal conductivity than that at Tsat = 23 C. The second reason is the density of
vapor also decreases with decreasing saturation temperature,
which strongly affects the velocity of generated vapor and heat
transfer coefcient.

4.3.2. Effect of saturation temperature on heat transfer coefcient

The effect of saturation temperature on heat transfer coefcients at inlet quality of 0.1 is shown in Fig. 14 for mass ux of
600 kg/m2 s and in Fig. 15 for mass ux of 1000 kg/m2 s. It could
be observed that in low heat ux range, nucleate boiling had a certain inuence on heat transfer mechanisms. The interference
caused by bubbles growing and escaping from the wall had

5. Conclusion
This paper presents two-phase ow patterns and heat transfer
characteristics of R134a during ow boiling in a single rectangular

C. Keepaiboon, S. Wongwises / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 66 (2015) 3645

micro-channel with 0.68 mm hydraulic diameter. Results could be

summarized as follows:
 Heat ux, mass ux, and saturation temperature have signicant inuence on change of ow pattern.
 Heat ux, mass ux, saturation temperature, and ow patterns
have signicant relations to heat transfer coefcient.
 Heat transfer coefcient reaches the higher value at higher saturation temperature in low heat ux range. On the contrary,
heat transfer coefcient reaches the higher value at lower saturation temperature in high heat ux range.
 This research provides knowledge and a basis of understanding
about heat transfer and ow patterns in a micro-channel, which
is an important foundation for creating innovative designs of
compact heat exchangers in the future.

Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the Research Chair Grant
National Science and Technology Development Agency, the
Thailand Research Fund (IRG5780005) and the National Research
University Project (NRU) for the support.
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