TY - JOUR

T1 - Experimental investigation of the flow pattern, pressure drop and void fraction of two-phase flow in the corrugated gap of a plate heat exchanger

AU - Grabenstein, Volker

AU - Polzin, Anja Elsa

AU - Kabelac, Stephan

N1 - Funding Information: The present work is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG, KA1211/21) and also supported by Kelvion PHE GmbH, formerly GEA Ecoflex GmbH, Sarstedt, Germany. Publisher Copyright: © 2017 Elsevier Ltd Copyright: Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

PY - 2017/5

Y1 - 2017/5

N2 - The two-phase flow in the corrugated gap created by two adjacent plates of a plate heat exchanger was investigated experimentally. One setup consisting of a transparent corrugated gap was used to visualize the two-phase flow pattern and study the local phenomena of phase distribution, pressure drop and void fraction. Saturated two-phase R365mfc and an air-water mixture were used as working fluids. In a second experimental setup, the heat transfer coefficients and the pressure drop inside an industrial plate heat exchanger during the condensation process of R134a are determined. Both experimental setups use the same type of plates, so the experimental results can be connected and a flow pattern model for the condensation in plate heat exchangers can be derived. In this work the results of the flow pattern visualization, the two-phase pressure drop in the corrugated gap and the void fraction analysis by measurement of the electrical capacity are presented. A new pressure drop correlation is derived, which takes into account different flow patterns, that appear during condensation. The mean deviation of the presented pressure drop model compared to the experimental data and data from other experimental works is 18.9%. 81.7% of the calculated pressure drop lies within ±30% compared to the experimental data.

AB - The two-phase flow in the corrugated gap created by two adjacent plates of a plate heat exchanger was investigated experimentally. One setup consisting of a transparent corrugated gap was used to visualize the two-phase flow pattern and study the local phenomena of phase distribution, pressure drop and void fraction. Saturated two-phase R365mfc and an air-water mixture were used as working fluids. In a second experimental setup, the heat transfer coefficients and the pressure drop inside an industrial plate heat exchanger during the condensation process of R134a are determined. Both experimental setups use the same type of plates, so the experimental results can be connected and a flow pattern model for the condensation in plate heat exchangers can be derived. In this work the results of the flow pattern visualization, the two-phase pressure drop in the corrugated gap and the void fraction analysis by measurement of the electrical capacity are presented. A new pressure drop correlation is derived, which takes into account different flow patterns, that appear during condensation. The mean deviation of the presented pressure drop model compared to the experimental data and data from other experimental works is 18.9%. 81.7% of the calculated pressure drop lies within ±30% compared to the experimental data.

KW - Flow-pattern

KW - Plate heat exchanger

KW - Pressure drop

KW - Two-phase

KW - Void fraction

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85011949091&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.ijmultiphaseflow.2017.01.012

DO - 10.1016/j.ijmultiphaseflow.2017.01.012

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85011949091

VL - 91

SP - 155

EP - 169

JO - International Journal of Multiphase Flow

JF - International Journal of Multiphase Flow

SN - 0301-9322

ER -