Recent Advances in Enhancing Shell-Side Condensation in Refrigerant Condensers

This paper reviews recent advances that have been made in enhancing film condensation of fluorocarbon refrigerants in a bundle of horizontal tubes. The emphasis in the discussion is on the effects of fin geometry, vapor shear and condensate inundation. It is shown that the fin geometry is an important factor that controls the heat transfer performance. The effect of vapor shear is much smaller for a finned tube than for a smooth tube. The effect of condensate inundation is more marked for a three-dimensional fin tube than for a two-dimensional fin tube, Also, the effect is more marked for an in-line tube bundle than for a staggered tube bundle. For a two-dimensional fin tube with and without the effect of vapor shear and for a bundle of two-dimensional fin tubes with negligible vapor shear, several theoretical models exist that can predict the heat transfer coefficient with sufficient accuracy. The theoretical model can be used to optimize the fin geometry