Evaporative heat transfer and pressure drop of R410A in microchannels

Convective boiling heat transfer coefficients and two-phase pressure drops of R410A are investigated in rectangular microchannels whose hydraulic diameters are 1.36 and 1.44 mm. The mass flux was varied from 200 to 400 kg/m(2)s, heat flux from 10 to 20 kW/m(2), as the saturation temperatures were maintained at 0, 5 and 10 degrees C. A direct heating method was used to provide heat flux into the fluid. The boiling heat transfer coefficients of R410A in the microchannels were much different with those in single tubes, and the test conditions only slightly affected the heat transfer coefficients before dryout vapor quality. The present heat transfer correlation for microchannels, which was developed by introducing non-dimensional parameters of Bo, We(1), and Re-1 used in the existing heat transfer correlations for large diameter tubes, yielded satisfactory predictions of the present data with a mean deviation of 18%. The pressure drops of R410A in the microchannels showed very similar trends with those in large diameter tubes. The existing two-phase pressure drop correlations for R410A in microchannels satisfactorily predicted the present data. (C) 2005 Elsevier Ltd and IIR. All rights reserved.