Condensing two-phase pressure drop and heat transfer coefficient of propane in a horizontal multiport mini-channel tube: Experimental measurements

• Propane, a natural and ozone friendly refrigerant, was experimentally tested.
• The study was performed within a minichannel multiport tube of 1.16 mm inner diameter.
• Condensing two-phase flow tests were performed at 30, 40 and 50 °C.
• Classical correlations can predict frictional pressure gradient data.

This article reports the condensing flow heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop results of propane (R290) flowing through a square section horizontal multiport mini-channel tube made of aluminium having an internal diameter of 1.16 mm and a condensing length of 259 mm. Pressure drop and two phase flow experiments were performed at saturation temperatures of 30, 40 and 50 °C. Heat flux was varied from 15.76 to 32.25 kWm−2 and mass velocity varied from 175 to 350 kg m−2 s−1. The results show that the two-phase friction pressure gradient increases with the increase of mass velocity and vapour quality and with the decrease of saturation temperature. The heat transfer coefficients showed to increase with increases of vapour quality and mass velocity while increases of saturation temperature were observed to reduce heat transfer coefficient. The two phase frictional pressure drop correlations of Sun and Mishima and Agarwal and Garimella, and the two-phase flow heat transfer correlations of Koyama et al. and Wang et al. predicted well the experimental results.