Flow boiling heat transfer characteristics of R245fa refrigerant in a plate heat exchanger

Abstract

Plate heat exchangers (PHEs) are used extensively in industrial applications and, owing to their compactness, and higher thermal efficiency, they are keys component of organic Rankine cycle (ORC) application. This study presents the experimental heat transfer characteristics during flow boiling of R245fa refrigerant with a commercial working fluid used in ORCs; inside brazed plate heat exchanger with chevron angle of 65 degree. The flow boiling heat transfer characteristics were measured with varying saturation temperatures, mass flux and heat flux, which range from 55.5 °C-61.8 °C, 15.5-17.4 kg m-2 s-1, and 6400-10120 W m-2, respectively. The experimental results showed that flow boiling heat transfer coefficient is dependent upon the heat flux and mass flux. The results showed that the heat transfer coefficient increases with the increase of heat flux, and then starts to decrease due to local dry out. However, at low mass flux, locally triggering dry out was more prominent than that high mass flux. The heat transfer coefficient showed to be sensitive to the change in the saturation temperature. Moreover, flow boiling heat transfer coefficient showed a linear relationship with mass flux of the refrigerant.