Experimental study and modelling of heat transfer during condensation of pure fluid and binary mixture on a bundle of horizontal finned tubes

An experimental investigation was conducted to measure the local heat transfer coefficient for each row in a trapezoidal finned horizontal tube bundle during condensation of both pure fluid (HFC 134a) and several compositions of the non-azeotropic binary mixture HFC 23/HFC 134a. The test section is a 13×3 (rows × columns) tube bundle and the heat transfer coefficient is measured using the modified Wilson plot method. The inlet vapour temperature is fixed at 40 °C and the water flow rate in each active row ranges from 170 to 600 l/h. The test series cover five different finned tubes all commercially available, K11 (11 fins/inch), K19 (19 fins/inch), K26 (26 fins/inch), K32 (32 fins/inch), K40 (40 fins/inch) and their performances were compared. The experimental results were checked against available models predicting the heat transfer coefficient during condensation of pure fluids on banks of finned tubes. Modelling of heat exchange during condensation of binary mixtures on bundles of finned tubes based on the curve condensation model is presented.