International Journal of Refrigeration 107 (2019) 155–164

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International Journal of Refrigeration

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

Two-phase flow condensation heat transfer characteristic of R-600a

inside the horizontal smooth and dimpled helical coiled tube in shell
type heat exchanger
Anand Kumar Solanki a,∗, Ravi Kumar b
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Gayatri Vidya Parishad College of Engineering, Visakhapatnam 530048, India
b
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee 247667, India

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This paper presents an experimental study on condensation heat transfer of R-600a inside smooth and
Received 5 January 2019 dimpled helical coiled tubes. The experiments were executed at saturation temperature of 35°, and 45 °C
Revised 11 June 2019
with mass fluxes of 75, 115, 156 and 191 kg m−2 s−1 . The effect of vapor quality, mass flux and saturation
Accepted 22 July 2019
temperature on the heat transfer coefficient is examined. The experiments have been carried out for
Available online 30 July 2019
smooth and dimpled helical tube. The dimpled helical coiled tube showed higher heat transfer coefficient
Keywords: compared to the smooth helically coiled tube. The heat transfer data of R-600a are compared with R-134a
Heat transfer coefficient from a previous study with the same operating condition for both tubes. We developed correlations to
Dimpled helical coiled tube predict the condensation heat transfer coefficients in smooth and dimpled tubes that predict data within
R-600a ±20%.
Condensation © 2019 Elsevier Ltd and IIR. All rights reserved.

Caractéristique du transfert de chaleur par condensation en écoulement

diphasique de R-600a à l’intérieur du tube horizontal lisse et nervuré enroulé en
hélice dans un échangeur de chaleur à calandre

Mots-clés: Coefficient de transfert de chaleur; Tube nervuré enroulé en hélice; R-600a; Condensation

1. Introduction
Nowadays, in order to achieve maximum heat transfer in small
space, the effective design of the condenser is the essential for the
industries. Helically coiled tubes are widely used to enhance the
heat transfer by producing centrifugal effect on the flow inside
the tube (Reay, 1991). Little research work has been done on the
heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of R-600a inside he-
lical coiled tube. We summarize a few relevant studies in Table 1.
According to literatures, most of the research works have been
done on two phase flow of R-134a inside smooth helically coiled
tube. Moreover, a single work has been performed on the refrig-
∗
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: iitranandsolanki@gmail.com (A.K. Solanki).
erant R-600a inside the smooth helical coiled tube in tube type
heat exchanger at different position which was done by Mozafari
et al. (2015). In this study, the condensation heat transfer coeffi-
cients of R-600a inside smooth and dimpled helically coiled tubes
with mass flux of 75, 115, 156 and 191 kg m−2 s−1 and saturation
temperature of 35° and 45 °C have been examined. The results ob-
tained from dimpled helical coiled tube are compared with those
for the smooth helical coiled tube. Moreover, the heat transfer co-
efficients data of R-600a in the present study are also compared
with that of R-134a from previous work of author (Solanki and Ku-
mar, 2018) with the same operating condition for the both tubes
(smooth helical coiled tube and dimpled helical coiled tube). Fi-
nally, the correlations are developed to predict the condensation
heat transfer coefficient inside smooth and dimpled helical coiled
tubes.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijrefrig.2019.07.017
0140-7007/© 2019 Elsevier Ltd and IIR. All rights reserved.
156 A.K. Solanki and R. Kumar / International Journal of Refrigeration 107 (2019) 155–164

flow type heat exchanger. The test-condenser was connected to

Nomenclature post condenser, where two phase quality of refrigerant coming
from test condenser was sub-cooled to a liquid state by extract-
A heat transfer area, m2 ing heat to cold water circulated from the condensing unit. The
Cp specific heat at constant pressure, J kg−1 K−1 municipal water was circulated inside a shell of the test-condenser
D coil mean diameter, mm for cooling purpose. The cooling water flow rate was regulated by a
d tube diameter, mm manually operated valve. The temperature of water inside the test-
g gravity, 9.81 m2 s−1 section was controlled by variac of 2 kW capacity. After the post-
e depth of dimple, mm condenser, a slight glass was positioned to ensure the continu-
o diameter of dimple, mm ous liquidity of refrigerant before entering the three magnetic gear
s pitch of dimple, mm pump connected side by side. The refrigerant flow rate was con-
p helical pitch, mm trolled by operating the speed of the magnetic gear pump through
G mass velocity, kg m−2 s−1 frequency inverter. The coriolis mass flow meter followed by mag-
h heat transfer coefficient, W m−2 K−1 netic gear pump was provided to measure the refrigerant flow rate.
h enthalpy, J/kg An appropriate pre-heater was designed from a 6 m long U-bend
l length, m stainless steel tube to control the vapor quality at the inlet of the
Nu Nusselt number test condenser. By supplying low voltage and high current through
K thermal conductivity, W m−1 K−1 step down auto transformer, sub-cooled refrigerant was vaporized
x vapor quality by heating the tube. A number of hand shut-off valves were facili-
Q heat transfer rate, W tated to provide facile installation of a component in the apparatus.
T temperature, °C A standard filter-drier was incorporated following the pre-heater to
ph preheater remove any foreign particles and moisture in refrigerant loop.
P pressure, kpa A schematic diagram of the test-section was shown in Fig. 2.
m˙ mass flow rate, kg/s The test-section was a counter flow helical coiled tube in shell type
Frv vapor Froud number heat exchanger. The refrigerant flowing inside the inner tube re-
R refrigerant moves the heat to the cooling water flowing the reverse direction
w wall to refrigerant flow inside the shell. There were two tubes taken as
ts test section inner tube, one smooth helical coiled tube and another one dimple
tt turbulent–turbulent helical coiled tube. The Schematic diagram of the inner tubes are
Prl Prandtl number shown in Fig. 3. Details of the inner tubes are given in Table 2. In
De Dean number order to construct dimpled helical coiled tube, number of marking
Re Reynolds number were made over the smooth straight tube throughout the length,
where dimple was constructed. After that, a smooth straight was
Greek symbols
wrapped over the wooden pattern to make the helically coiled
α void fraction
tube. Consequently, a marking was obtained over smooth helical
χ Martinelli parameter
coiled tube. As a next step, the smooth helically coiled tube was
θ helix angle, deg
processed to make the projections on its surface by using a round
ρ density, kg m−3
tip tool and thus a dimple helically coiled tube was obtained, as
μ dynamic viscosity, kg m−1 s−1
shown in Fig. 4. The shape of dimples in the inner surface of
φ two-phase multiplier
the helical coiled tube were spherical. The T-type thermocouples
࢞ difference
were located to measure the refrigerant temperature at the inlet
Subscripts of the pre-heater, inlet and outlet of the test-section. The outer
a acceleration wall temperature of the helical coiled tube was also measured with
G gravitational T-type thermocouple at six positions. In each position, four ther-
f frictional mocouples were placed 90° apart over the top, bottom and two
l liquid sides.
g gas In the present study, Presys T-25 N calibrator having tempera-
Eq equivalent ture range −25 °C–125 °C was used to calibrate the T-type thermo-
exp experimental couples. The thermocouples were calibrated in the operating tem-
fg latent heat of vaporization perature range of −10 °C–70 °C with an accuracy of ±0.1 °C of full
sat saturation condition scale. The pressure transducers with accuracy 0.25% were utilized
i inner to measure the refrigerant pressure at the inlet and outlet of the
o outer test-section and at the entrance of the pre-heater. Also Pressure
wat water drop between the test-section was measured by a differential pres-
out outlet sure drop transducer. The coriolis flow meter with an accuracy of
in inlet 0.1% was employed to measure the refrigerant mass flow rate. The
T total water flow rate in annulus tube was measured by a turbine flow
meter. The turbine flow meter has an accuracy of 1% of the full
scale. All thermocouple and pressure transducer signal were trans-
2. Experimental apparatus and procedures ferred to the multichannel data acquisition system with PXI con-
troller. The steady state condition was assumed when reading of
The simplified schematic diagram of the experimental appara- temperatures, pressure and mass flow rate remain constant for at
tus was illustrated in Fig. 1. The main component of experimental least 20 min. The details of the experimental condition are shown
apparatus consisted of three refrigerant magnetic gear pumps, cori- in Table 3. The uncertainties of experimental results are evalu-
olis mass flow meter, pre-heater, test-condenser, post-condenser ated by methodology which is suggested by Kline and McClintock
and data acquisition system. The test-condenser was a counter (1953) as shown in Table 4.
 A.K. Solanki and R. Kumar / International Journal of Refrigeration 107 (2019) 155–164
Table 1
Literature review of the experimental works on the heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of refrigerants inside the helically coiled tube.
Author Type and orientation of helical coiled tube
Kang et al. (2000) Type: Smooth helical coiled tube
Orientation: Vertical position
Yu et al. (2003) Type: Smooth helical coiled tube
Orientation: Horizontal, vertical and
inclined position
Han et al. (2005) Type: Smooth helical coiled tube
Orientation: Vertical position
Cui et al. (2008) Type: Micro-fin helical coiled tube
Orientation: Vertical position
Wongwises and Type: Smooth helical coiled tube
Polsongkram Orientation: Vertical position
(2006)
Lin and Ebadian Type: Smooth helical coiled tube
(2007) Orientation: Horizontal, vertical and
inclined position
Shao et al. (2007) Type: Smooth helical coiled tube
Orientation: Horizontal position
Hajeri et al. (2007) Type: Smooth helical coiled tube
Orientation: Vertical position
Mosaad et al. Type: Smooth helical coiled tube
(2009) Orientation: Vertical position
Gupta et al. (2014) Type: Smooth helical coiled tube
Orientation: Horizontal position
Mozafari et al. Type: Smooth helical coiled tube
(2015) Orientation: Horizontal, vertical and
inclined position
Salimpour et al. Type: Smooth helical coiled tube
(2017) Orientation: Horizontal, position
Kong et al. (2017) Type: Smooth helical coiled tube
Orientation: vertical and horizontal position
Solanki and Kumar Type: Smooth and dimpled helical coiled tube
(2018) Orientation: horizontal position
Kumar Solanki and Type: Smooth straight tube and micro-fin
Kumar (2018) helical coiled tube
Orientation: horizontal position
Yu et al. (2018) Type: Smooth helical coiled tube
Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of experimental set-ups.
157
Refrigerant Key findings
R-134a Overall heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop of R-134a enhanced with
increase in water mass flux.
R-134a Orientation of helical coiled tube had significant influence on the overall
heat transfer coefficients.
R-134a Saturation temperature and the mass flux of refrigerant had a significant
impact on the heat transfer coefficient.
R-134a Developed a correlation to predict the two-phase frictional pressure drop for
stratified and annular flow regimes, respectively.
R-134a Pressure drop of the helical coiled tube was about 29–46% higher than that
of smooth round tube while heat transfer coefficient was about 33–53%
higher.
R-134a Nusselt number of the refrigerant-side for angle 0 to 45° was about two
times more than that of angle 0 to 90°.
R-134a Heat transfer coefficients for a helical tube were about 4–13.8% higher than
that of straight tube.
R-134a Heat transfer coefficients of the refrigerant-side decline with increase of the
saturation temperature of refrigerant and increase with rise of the
refrigerant mass flux.
R-134a Pressure drop of refrigerant growths with increase of the refrigerant mass
flux.
R-134a Heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop decrease with increase of the
saturation temperature and increase with rise of mass flux and vapor
quality.
R-600a Maximum heat transfer coefficients and pressure drops were obtained at
+30° and 0° angles, respectively.
R-404A Coil pitch and curvature radii of helical coil tube had remarkable influence
on the heat transfer coefficient.
R-134a Heat transfer coefficient increases with rise of the system pressure, while
decreases with sub-cooling of refrigerant.
R-134a Dimple helically coiled tube gives a higher heat transfer coefficient and
frictional pressure drop compared to smooth helical coiled tube in the
percentage of 18–32% and 47–61%, respectively.
R-134a Micro-fin helical coiled tube offers a higher heat transfer coefficient
compared to smooth straight tube in the percentage of 160–255%.
Propane Heat transfer coefficient of propane enhances as vapor quality or mass flux
(R-290a) increases, while, the heat flux has insignificant effect on heat transfer
coefficient at same vapor quality.
158 A.K. Solanki and R. Kumar / International Journal of Refrigeration 107 (2019) 155–164

Fig. 2. Schematic diagram of test-section.

Fig. 3. Sketch diagram of the tubes: (a) Smooth helically coiled tube and (b) Dimpled helically coiled tube.
Table 2
Dimension of inner tubes.

Parameter Smooth helically coiled tube Dimpled helically coiled tube

Inner diameter of tube, mm 8.92 8.92

Outer diameter of tube, mm 9.52 9.52
length of tube, mm 2200 2200
Inside tube area, mm2 57,543 61,041
Coil mean diameter, mm 110 110
Coil pitch, mm 25 25
Number of turns 6 6
Dimple pitch (s), mm – 8.5
Helical pitch (p), mm – 10
Dimpled depth (e), mm – 1
Helix angle (θ ), degree – 49
Dimpled diameter (o), mm – 2

Table 3 3. Data reduction

Experimental conditions.

Parameter Range
The data reduction analysis was employed to calculate the two-
phase flow average heat transfer coefficient and the average fric-
Refrigerant R-600a
tional gradient during an experiment at steady state conditions.
Average saturation temperature (°C) 35, 45
Mass flux (kg m−2 s−1 ) 75, 115,156,191 For calculating the thermo-physical properties of R-600a, REFPROF-
Inner tube material copper 9 (Lemmon et al., 2010) was utilized. The average heat transfer co-
 A.K. Solanki and R. Kumar / International Journal of Refrigeration 107 (2019) 155–164 159

Fig. 4. Photographic view of dimpled helically coiled tube.

Table 4 Where, inlet vapor quality (xin )of the test section is evaluated by
Experimental uncertainties.
applying energy balance equation at the preheater as follows:
Measurement Uncertainty  
1 Q ph
Temperature (°C) 0.114 xin = hin,ph + − h f,in,ts (5)
h f g,ts,in mR
Refrigerant mass flow rate (kg s−1 ) 0.050 × 10−3
Water mass flow rate (kg s−1 ) 1.41 × 10−3 Where Qph is the electrical power supplied to the pre-heater. The
Pressure (kPa) 5.201
preheater is well insulated with ceramic wool to prevent the heat
Pressure drop (kPa) 0.125
Average vapor quality 6% loss from the preheater to environment. The ceramic wool is also
Heat transfer rate at pre-heater 7.26% covered with the steel strips. It is assumed that, the heat loss from
Heat transfer rate at test-section 12.23% preheater is negligible. The hin, ph is the enthalpy at the inlet of
Heat transfer coefficient 16.52% the preheater which is calculated by measuring the temperature
and pressure of sub-cooled liquid refrigerant. It is assumed that
energy loss between the preheater outlet and test section inlet is
efficient (havg ) is obtained by the following equation: neglected. Hence, the enthalpy at the test section inlet is equal to
the enthalpy at the outlet of pre-heater. The enthalpy of saturated
Qts
hav g = (1) liquid (hf,in,ts ) and enthalpy of vaporization (hfg,ts,in ) are determined
Ai (Tsat − Twi ) based on the temperature at the inlet of the test-section.
Where, Ai, Twi, and Qts , are the inner surface area on tube, average The outlet vapor quality of the test section is given by
inner wall surface temperature of the tube and heat transfer rate
 
hout ,t s − h f,out ,t s
inside the test section from tube to flowing water respectively. Tsat xout = (6)
h f g,out ,t s
is the average saturation temperature of refrigerant corresponding
to the average saturation pressure at the inlet and outlet of the test Where, hf,out,ts and hfg,out,ts are the enthalpy of the saturated liq-
section. uid and vaporization at the outlet of the test section, respectively,
The average inner wall surface temperature of the tube is given which are calculated by outlet temperature of the test section. The
by hout,ts is the enthalpy of the refrigerant at the outlet of the test sec-
 Do  tion which is determined by energy balance equation on the test
Twi = Two + Qts ln Di /2π KL (2) section as follows:
 Qwat

Where, Do , Di , Two , K and L are the outer diameter of the tube, hout ,t s = hin,ts − (7)
inner diameter of the tube, average temperature of outside tube mR
wall, thermal conductivity of the copper and length of the tube, Where, hin,ts and mR are the enthalpy of refrigerant at the inlet of
respectively. the test section and mass flow rate of the refrigerant, respectively.
The heat transfer rate (Qts ) is determined from:
4. Results and discussion
Qts = m˙ wat C pwat (Twat,out − Twat,in ) (3)
Where, Twat,out , Twat,in, m˙ wat ,and Cpwat, are the water temperature at An experimental study has been performed to determine the
outlet of test section and water temperature at inlet of test sec- heat transfer data during the condensation of R-600a in horizontal
tion, mass flow rate of water inside the test section, specific heat smooth helical coiled tube and dimpled helical coiled tube. The ef-
of water, respectively. fects of the mass flux, vapor quality and saturation temperature on
The average vapor quality of the refrigerant is the arithmetic the heat transfer coefficient of R-600a for the both tubes have been
mean of vapor quality at inlet and outlet of the test section which examined and analyzed. The following results of this investigation
can be defined as following equation: and their interpretations are discussed below.
x + xout ,t s
 Fig. 5 shows the effect of mass flux and vapor quality of R-600a
in,ts on the heat transfer coefficient inside the smooth and dimpled he-
xavg,ts = (4)
2 lical coiled tubes. It is clearly seen from the Fig. 5 that the heat
160 A.K. Solanki and R. Kumar / International Journal of Refrigeration 107 (2019) 155–164

Fig. 5. Effect of mass flux on condensation heat transfer coefficient of R600a inside the horizontal helical coiled tubes (a) smooth helical coiled tube (b) Dimpled helical
coiled tube.

Fig. 6. Effect of saturation temperatures on condensation heat transfer coefficients of R-600a inside tubes (a) Smooth helical coiled tube (b) Dimpled helical coiled tube.

transfer coefficient increases as mass flux increases. For instance, at
mass flux 75 kg m−2 s−1 with 35 °C, the heat transfer coefficients
of R-600a inside the smooth helical coiled tube are 1.895 and
5.279 kW m−2 K−1 corresponding to vapor quality 0.1 and 0.8, re-
spectively. As the refrigerant mass flux increases from 75 to 191 kg
m−2 s−1 , the heat transfer coefficients are increased to 4.540 and
9.695 kW m−2 K−1 corresponding to vapor quality 0.1 and 0.6 re-
spectively. Similarly, in case of dimpled helical coiled tube, the heat
transfer coefficient at mass flux 115 kg m−2 s−1 are achieved 3.580
and 9.452 kW m−2 K−1 for vapor quality of 0.1 and 0.6, respectively.
Moreover, for the mass flux of 156 kg m−2 s−1 , the heat transfer
coefficients are 5.083 and 11.801 kW m−2 K−1 corresponding to va-
por quality of 0.1 and 0.6, respectively. In addition, the heat trans-
fer coefficient of R-600a for the all range of mass flux ascends,
as vapor quality increases. This is because duo to the fact that as
the vapor quality increases, the velocity of the mixture escalates.
This situation grows the shear stress in the vapor liquid interface,
which in turn decreased the liquid film thickness. Therefore, de-
crease in liquid film resistance enhanced the heat transfer coeffi-
cient. Besides this, increase in the mass flux also enhances the heat
transfer coefficient. This is because, speed of the vapor and liquid
film raises, as mass flux of refrigerant increases and thereby, more
turbulence exists in flow. At high velocity of vapor-liquid mixture,
secondary flow becomes stronger which causes high shear stress
on the condensate film, resulting in a thin liquid film thickness
due to high deposition of liquid droplets in the vapor phase. Con-
sequently, the heat transfer coefficient is enhanced with a rise in
mass flux.
Fig. 6 depicts the effect of saturation temperature on the heat
transfer coefficient of R-600a for the smooth and dimpled helical
coiled tubes with the mass flux of 75 and 115 kg m−2 s−1 . It is
found that all trend lines for heat transfer coefficient at saturation
temperature 45 °C appears below that of 35 °C. For a smooth heli-
cal coiled tube, the heat transfer coefficient at 35 °C with mass flux
75 kg m−2 s−1 offers 10% and 15% higher than those of 45 °C corre-
sponding to vapor quality of 0.1 and 0.7, respectively. Similarly, in
 A.K. Solanki and R. Kumar / International Journal of Refrigeration 107 (2019) 155–164 161

Fig. 7. Comparison of average heat transfer coefficients of R-600a for tubes at different mass flux (a) 75 kg m−2 s−1 (b) 115 kg m−2 s−1 .

Fig. 8. Comparison of the average heat transfer coefficient at mass flux of 75 (a) R-600a (b) R-134a.

case of a dimpled helical coiled tube, for the mass flux of 115 kg
m−2 s−1 , the saturation temperature of 35 °C shows nearly 6–11%
higher heat transfer coefficient compared to that of 45 °C corre-
sponding to vapor quality of 0.1 and 0.6, respectively. This can be
explained by the thermo-physical properties of the refrigerant. As
the refrigerant saturation temperature increases, the thermal con-
ductivity of the fluid decreases, which leads to higher fluid thermal
resistance and then the heat transfer coefficient decreases. More-
over, the specific volume of the refrigerant is also decreased as the
saturation temperature increased. Decreases in a specific volume
tend to decrease in a vapor velocity, resulting in a decrease of tur-
bulence of the fluid flow. Hence, the heat transfer coefficient of re-
frigerant decreased. The same effect of saturation temperatures on
the heat transfer coefficient were also reported by the Wongwises
and Polsongkram (2006) for the condensation of R-134a inside the
helical coiled tube in tube type heat exchanger.
From Fig. 7, the average heat transfer coefficient of dimpled
helical coiled tube was compared with that of smooth helical
coiled tube at same saturation temperature of 35 °C with the same
mass flux. The experimental results showed that the dimpled he-
lical coiled tube provides higher heat transfer coefficient than
smooth helical coiled tube in the percentage of 32–48%. This is
because, in dimpled helically coiled tube, protrusions exist inside
the tube which boosts the turbulence on the vapor-liquid mix-
ture fluid flow. Therefore, secondary flow becomes more effective
and entrainment of liquid droplets also increased which tends to a
lower thermal resistance. Accordingly, dimpled helical coiled tube
provides enhancement in heat transfer. Aroonrat and Wongwises
(2016) also found same experimental results for dimpled helically
straight tube. They observed that protrusions inside the tube en-
hance the heat transfer by proper mixing of fluid flow and increase
an amount of turbulence on the two phase flow.
In Fig. 8, the correlation suggested by Aroonrat and Wong-
wises (2016) for straight dimpled tube has been used to com-
pare the experimental data of present study and previous work
(Solanki and Kumar, 2018) of author for dimpled helical coiled
tube. As is evident in the Fig. 8, Dimpled helical coiled tube shows
higher heat transfer coefficient compared to dimpled striaght tube
in the percentage of 112–164% for R600a and 56–79% for R-134a,
respectively. This is because, helically coiled tube produces the
162 A.K. Solanki and R. Kumar / International Journal of Refrigeration 107 (2019) 155–164

Fig. 9. Comparison of condensation heat transfer coefficient of R-134a and R-600a at mass flux of 115 kg m−2 s−1 for the tubes (a) smooth helical coiled tube (b) Dimpled
helical coiled tube.

centrifugal effect on two-phase flow and yields secondary flow Liquid Reynolds number, Rel is defined as:
which influences the flow of the vapor and liquid film. As vapor
G(1 − x )di
quality increases, the vapor velocity rises, consequently, secondary Rel = (10)
flow becomes stronger. The vapor flowing from center core of the μl
helically tube pushes the liquid film from the outer to inner tube Vapor Reynolds number, Rev is defined as:
wall, hence, vapor flows at center core of tube again. These pro-
Gxdi
duces a chaotic waves on the liquid film and more liquid entrain- Rev = (11)
ment. As a results, the heat transfer mechanism of helically coiled μv
was found to be different from that of straight tube. Liquid Prandtl number, Prl is evaluated from:
Fig. 9 shows the comparison of average heat transfer coefficient
C pl μl
of the refrigerants R-134a (data taken from the previous work of P rl = (12)
author Solanki and Kumar, 2018) and R-600a as a function of vapor kl
quality with the same saturation temperature of 35 °C and mass Boiling number is calculated from:
flux of 115 kg m−2 s−1 for both tubes. The results indicated that
q
during condensation, the refrigerant R-600a shows a higher heat Bo = (13)
G il v
transfer coefficient compared to refrigerant R-134a. The heat trans-
fer coefficients of R-600a are nearly, 64–128% and 92–132% higher Martinelli parameter, χ tt is calculated from:
than those of R-134a for the smooth helical coiled tube and dim-  1 − x 0 . 9  ρ 0 . 5  μ 0 . 1
v
pled helical coiled tube, respectively. This occurs duo to the dif- χtt = l
(14)
ferent thermodynamics property of both refrigerants. At same sat- x ρl μv
uration temperature, the refrigerant R-600a has a higher thermal And reduced pressure, pr is defined as:
conductivity and latent heat than those of R-134a.
ps
Some well-known correlations are available to determine the pr = (15)
two-phase flow Nusselt number during condensation of refriger- pcrit
ant inside a helical coiled tube. Following correlations to predict Similarly, Gupta et al. (2014) suggested the correlation to deter-
the heat transfer coefficient inside the helical coiled tube has been mine the Nusselt number during the condensation of R-134a inside
discussed below: the helical coiled in shell type heat exchanger. The following cor-
Wongwises and Polsongkram (2006) proposed a correlation for relation is given by the following Eq. (16),
prediction of two phase flow Nusselt number inside the heli-  
cal coiled tube-in-tube during condensation of R-134a. The two N ut p 3.024
= 0.4 1+ pr −0.63 (16)
phase flow Nusselt number (Nutp ) correlation is given by follow- N ul χtt0.8
ing Eq. (8).
where, Nul is the single phase Nusselt number which is proposed
 0.76  0.11 by Mori and Nakayama (1967).
(Nut p ) = 0.1352 DeEq (Prl )0.81 (χtt )0.04 ( pr )−0.33 Bo × 104 ⎧ ⎫
 1/12 ⎨  2.5 − 16 ⎬
(8) 1 5/6 0.4 di di
N ul = Re P rl 1 + 0.061 Rel
41 l D ⎩ D ⎭
where Equivalent Dean number, DeEq is defined as below:

  μ   ρ 0.5  d 0.5 (17)

v l i
DeEq = Rel + Rev (9) where, Liquid Prandtl number, Prl is defined in Eq. (12) and Liquid
μl ρv 2R
Reynolds number Rel is defined in the Eq. (10).
 A.K. Solanki and R. Kumar / International Journal of Refrigeration 107 (2019) 155–164 163

Fig. 10. Comparison of experimental Nusselt number for smooth helical tube with existing correlation (a) Wongwises and Polsongkram (2006) (b) Gupta et al. (2014).

Fig. 10(a) and (b) presents the comparison of the experimen-

tal Nusselt number for smooth helical coiled tube with that of
renowned correlation given by the Wongwises and Polsongkram
(2006) and Gupta et al. (2014). It is evident that, Wongwises and
Polsongkram (2006) overestimated the most of the experimental
Nusselt number data point of R-600a within an error band of +5%
to +40%. However, majority of the experimental data point falls
within an error band of +5% to +30%. Similarly, the experimen-
tal results were predicted by the Gupta et al. (2014) with an error
band of the +50% to −20%. Presently, there is no correlation for
prediction of the two phase flow Nusselt number in a smooth and
dimpled helically coiled tube during the condensation of R-600a.
By using the multi regression method, a new empirical correla-
tion has been established to predict the experimental heat transfer
coefficient for the refrigerants R-600a (present study) and R-134a
(previous work of author Solanki and Kumar, 2018) flowing inside
the smooth horizontal helical coiled tube. In order to develop the
correlation, the effects of equivalent Dean number, DeEq , Prandtl
number, Prl , Martinelli parameter, χ tt and reduced pressure, pr are
Fig. 11. Experimental two phase flow Nusselt number of smooth helically coiled
considered. The new proposed correlation to predict the two phase
tube compared with proposed correlation.
flow Nusselt number inside the smooth horizontal helical coiled
tube is:
 0.93
(Nut p )SHLT = 0.0746 DeEq (Prl )0.29 (χtt )0.06 ( pr )−0.10 (18)
Fig. 11 shows the comparison of the experimental two phase
flow Nusselt number during the condensation of R-600a and R-
134a inside the smooth helical coiled tube with that predicted by
proposed correlation, Eq. (18). It is observed that the proposed cor-
relation predicts the experimental results with an error less than
20%.
Similarly, a correlation has been developed to predict the ex-
perimental heat transfer coefficient during the condensation of for
the refrigerants R-600a (present study) and R-134a (previous work
of author Solanki and Kumar, 2018) flowing inside the dimpled he-
lical coiled tube.
 1.02
(Nut p )DHLT = 0.055 DeEq (Prl )0.24 (χtt )0.10 ( pr )−0.07 (19)
Fig. 12 has been drawn to show the comparison of the exper-
imental two phase flow Nusselt number during the condensation
of R-600a and R-134a inside the dimpled helical coiled tube with
that predicted by proposed correlation, Eq. (19). It is found that the Fig. 12. Experimental two phase flow Nusselt number of dimpled helically coiled
tube compared with proposed correlation.
experimental results fall within an error less than 20%.
164 A.K. Solanki and R. Kumar / International Journal of Refrigeration 107 (2019) 155–164
Furthermore, the R squared value is also measured that shows
the difference in proportion for a dependent variable that’s ex-
plained by an independent variable or variables in a regression
model. The R squared value can be calculated by following Eq. (20).
n  2
2 m=1 N uexp,m − N uPred,m
R =1− n (20)
m=1 (N uexp,m )
2
The values of R2 for the smooth helical coiled tube are 0.9950
for R-600a and 0.9933 for R-134a, respectively. While, for the dim-
pled helical coiled tube, the values of R2 are 0.9927 for R-600a and
0.9909 for R-134a, respectively.
5. Conclusion
The experimental investigation presents the effect of mass flux,
vapor quality and saturation temperature on the heat transfer co-
efficient during the condensation of R-600 inside the smooth and
dimpled helical coiled tubes. The following results are obtained:
1. The dimpled helical coiled tube provides higher heat trans-
fer coefficient than smooth helical coiled tube in the per-
centage of 32–48%.
2. The heat transfer coefficients of R-600a are nearly, 64–128%
and 92–132% higher than those of R-134a for the smooth
helical coiled tube and dimpled helical coiled tube, respec-
tively.
3. Finally, the correlations are developed to predict the conden-
sation heat transfer coefficient of R-600a inside smooth heli-
cal coiled tube and dimpled helical coiled tube with an error
less than 20%.
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