A generalized correlation for evaporation heat transfer of refrigerants in micro-fin tubes

A generalized correlation for flow boiling heat transfer in horizontal micro-fin tubes was developed by implementing non-dimensional parameters accounting for heat transfer enhancement over smooth tubes and physical phenomena into the basic form of a smooth tube correlation. The enhancement factor in nucleate boiling consists of surface tension and turbulence effects generated by the liquid flow. A modified Reynolds number having some similarities with the roughness Reynolds number is introduced into the model to estimate heat transfer enhancement in convective boiling. The ratio of the liquid film thickness to the fin height is also employed in the correlation. The database of the present correlation includes 749 data points for five different refrigerants. The present correlation has a relatively simpler form to employ and yields closer fit to the experimental data with a mean deviation of 20.5% as compared to the existing correlations in the literature. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.