• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.28 no.8
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• pp.1195-1202
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• 2004

In this paper an experimental study was investigated for two-phase flow distribution in compact heat exchanger header. A test section was consisted of the horizontal bottom dividing header($\phi$: 5 mm, L: 80 mm) and 10 upward circular mini channels ($\phi$: 1.5 mm, L: 850 mm) using an acrylic tube. Three different types of tube intrusion depth were tested for the mass flux and inlet mass quality ranges of 50 - 200 kg/$m^2$s and 0.1 - 0.3, respectively. Air and water were used as the test fluids. The distribution of vapor and liquid is obtained by measurement of the total mass flow rate and the calculation of the quality. Two-phase flow pattern was observed, and pressure drop of each channel was measured. By adjusting the intrusion depth of each channel an uniform liquid flow distribution through the each channel was able to solve the mal-distribution problem.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers
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• v.19 no.10
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• pp.2586-2594
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• 1995

Two phase flow phenomena are observed in many industrial facilities and make much importance of optimum design for nuclear power plant and various heat exchangers. This experimental study has been investigated the classification of the flow pattern, the local void distribution and convective heat transfer in swirl and non-swirl two phase flow under the isothermal and nonisothermal conditions. The convective heat transfer coefficients in the single phase water flow were measured and compared with the calculated results from the Sieder-Tate correlation. These coefficients were used for comparisons with the two-phase heat transfer coefficients in the flow orientations. The experimental results indicate, that the void probe signal and probability density function of void distribution can used into classify the flow patterns, no significant difference in voidage distribution was observed between isothermal and non-isothermal condition in non-swirl flow, the values of two phase heat transfer coefficients increase when superficial air velocities increase, and the enhancement of the values is observed to be most pronounced at the highest superficial water velocity in non-swirl flow. Also two phase heat transfer coefficients in swirl flow are increased when the twist ratios are decreased.

• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.840-848
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• 2006

We carried out numerical studies to investigate the single- and two-phase flow characteristics in the single- and multi-channels. We used the finite volume method to solve the mass and momentum conservation equations. The volume of fluid model is used to predict the two-phase flow in the channel. We obtained the distribution of velocity fields, pressure drop and air volume fraction for different water mass flow rates. We also calculated the distribution of mass flow rates in the multi-channels to understand how the flow is distributed in the channels. The calculated results for the single- and two-phase flow are partly compared with the present experimental data both qualitatively and quantitatively, showing relatively good agreement between them. The numerical scheme used in this study predicts well the characteristics of single-and two-phase flow in a multi-channel.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.16 no.9
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• pp.828-837
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• 2004

The present study investigated two-phase flow distribution, phase separation and pressure drop in multi-microchannel tubes under adiabatic condition. The test section consisted of inlet and outlet headers with the inner diameter of 19.4㎜ and 15 parallel microchannel tubes. Each microchannel tube brazed to the inlet and outlet headers and had 8 rectangular ports with the hydraulic diameter of 1.32㎜. The key experimental parameters were orientation of header (horizontal and vertical), flow direction of refrigerant into the inlet header (in-line, parallel and cross flow) and inlet quality (0.1, 0.2 and 0.3). It was found that the orientation of the header had relatively large effect on the flow distribution and phase separation, while the inlet quality didn't affect much on them. The horizontal header showed the better flow distribution and phase separation characteristics than the vertical one. The parallel flow condition with the horizontal header showed the best performance for the flow distribution and phase separation characteristics under the test conditions. Two-phase pressure drops through the microchannel tubes with the horizontal header were higher than those of the microchennel tubes with the vertical header due to gravitational effect.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.187-197
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• 1996

Many investigations have been made to determine the pressure drop and heat transfer characteristics for single phase flow in tape generated swirl flow. But few studies have been carried out to investigate the heat transfer in two component, two phase swirl flow with non-boiling. An experimental study has been conducted to determine the effects of tape twist ratios on two phase convective heat transfer coefficients, pressure drop, and void fraction distribution in a non-boiling, air-water, two phase flow. The flow conditions were both swirl and non swirl flows. The internal diameter of the test section is 42.5mm. The tape twist ratios of pitch to diameter ratio varied from 4.0 to 10.6. The heating conditions were isothermal and nonisothermal. The flow patterns identified with experiments were bubbly, bubbly-slug, slug, and slug-annular flow in up-flow. This study has concluded that no significant difference in void fraction distribution were observed both isothermal and nonisothermal conditions, the pressure drop for two phase flow with twisted tape swirler increase as the tape twist ratio decrease, and that values of two phase heat transfer coefficient increase when the tape twist ratio decreases.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.324-330
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• 2013

The main objective of this work is to experimentally investigate the effect of inlet geometries on the distribution of two-phase annular flow at header-channel junctions simulating the corresponding parts of compact heat exchangers. The cross-section of the header and the channels were fixed to $16mm{\times}16mm$ and $12mm{\times}1.8mm$, respectively. Experiments were performed for the mass flux and the mass quality ranges of $30{\sim}140kg/m^2s$ and 0.3~0.7, respectively. Air and water were used as the test fluids. Three different inlet geometries of the header were tested:no restriction (case A), a single 8 mm hole at the center (case B), and nine 2 mm holes around the center (case C) at the inlet, respectively. The tendencies of the two-phase flow distribution were different, in each case. For cases B and C (flow resistance exists), more uniform flow distribution results were seen, compared with case A(no flow resistance), due to the flow pattern change to mist flow from annular flow at the inlet, and the flow recirculation near the end plate of the header.

• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.717-727
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• 2006

The present study experimentally investigated the effect of flow direction and other flow parameters on two-phase flow distribution of refrigerants at a T-junction, and also suggested a prediction model for refrigerant in a T-junction by modifying previous model for air-water flow. R-22, R-134a, and R-410A were used as test refrigerants. As geometric parameters, the direction of the inlet or branch tube and the tube diameter ratio of branch to inlet tube were chosen. The measured data were compared with the values predicted by the models developed for air-water or steam-water mixture in the literature. We propose a modified model for application to the reduced T-junction and vertical tube orientation. Among the geometric parameters, the branch tube direction showed the biggest sensitivity to the mass flow rate ratio for the gas phase, while the inlet quality showed the biggest sensitivity to the mass flow rate ratio among the inlet flow parameters.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.30 no.8 s.251
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• pp.780-787
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• 2006

Several types of different header designs are numerically studied to have uniform distribution of two phase flow in the evaporator header having multi-channels. The different geometries include the inlet tube position into the header and the width of header. In the numerical calculation, two types of two-phase model such as homogeneous model and VOF(Volume Of Fluid) model are employed. In this study, the mal-distribution number, $M_d$, is newly defined to evaluate the averaged level of the flow distribution in the whole passes of the evaporator. As results, two phase flow in the header can be visualized using post-processing of numerical results. Furthermore, the optimum position of the inlet tube into the header and the width of header can be proposed for the better distribution of refrigerant(R-134a) flow.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.31-37
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• 2006

The present study has been experimentally investigated the effect of geometric and operating parameters on the two-phase flow distribution of refrigerants in a horizontal T-junction. The operating parameters were the kind of refrigerants (R-22, R- l34a, and R-410A), saturated temperature, and the inlet mass flux and quality. The geometric parameters were the tube diameter and the tube diameter ratio. The measured data of refrigerants were compared with the values predicted using the models developed by several researchers for air/water or steani/water two-phase flow. Among the operating parameters, the inlet Quality was the most sensitive to the mass flow rate ratio. Between the geometric parameters, the tube diameter ratio was more sensitive than tube diameter.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.335-347
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• 2016

One of major errors in flow rate measurement for two-phase flow using an Electrical Capacitance Sensor (ECS) concerns sensor sensitivity under temperature raise. The thermal effect on electrical capacitance sensor (ECS) system for air-water two-phase flow monitoring include sensor sensitivity, capacitance measurements, capacitance change and node potential distribution is reported in this paper. The rules of 12-electrode sensor parameters such as capacitance, capacitance change, and change rate of capacitance and sensitivity map the basis of Air-water two-phase flow permittivity distribution and temperature raise are discussed by ANSYS and MATLAB, which are combined to simulate sensor characteristic. The cross-sectional void fraction as a function of temperature is determined from the scripting capabilities in ANSYS simulation. The results show that the temperature raise had a detrimental effect on the electrodes sensitivity and sensitive domain of electrodes. The FE results are in excellent agreement with an experimental result available in the literature, thus validating the accuracy and reliability of the proposed flow rate measurement system.