Evaluation of existing condensation heat transfer models in horizontal micro-fin tubes

Three condensation heat transfer correlations for micro-fin tubes are reviewed in this paper. These heat transfer models were developed by using different approaches to account for the heat transfer enhancement effect in micro-fin tubes. The heat transfer coefficients predicted by the three models are compared to 414 experimental data points for pure refrigerant. The Yu and Koyama [Proceedings of the International Refrigeration Conference at Purdue, 1998, pp. 325-330] model displayed poor prediction on most of the R22 pure refrigerant data used for its validation. In addition, this model does not clearly describe the effects of the tube geometries on the heat transfer coefficient in micro-fin tubes. In general, the other two models, Cavallini et al. [Enhanced Heat Transfer 6 (1999) 441] and Kedzierski and Goncalves [Enhanced Heat Transfer 6 (1999) 161], are capable of predicting most of the pure refrigerant experimental data sets within the mean absolute deviation range of +/-30%. However, Cavallini et al. [Enhanced Heat Transfer 6 (1999) 441] achieves better predictions for most of the pure refrigerant data sets if compared with the other model. (C) 2003 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.