Transient and steady-state natural convection heat transfer from a heated horizontal concrete cylinder

Abstract

In refrigeration systems, it is possible to reduce energy consumption (compressor power) and increase COP by decreasing the condensation temperature Decreasing the condensation temperature can be achieved either by increasing the overall heat transfer coefficient or heat transfer surface area of the condenser. Usually, the radiuses of condenser tubes of domestic refrigerators are quite smaller than the critical radius. Thus, the radius can be increased up to the critical radius by coating the bare condenser tube to increase heat transfer. On the other hand, refrigerators operate discontinuously depending on the ambient temperatures. Coating material stores some of the heat during the working period and continues heat transfer during the off period so that the condenser continues transferring heat while the compressor is not working. Storage effect depends on the specific heat and density of the coating material. Transient and steady-state natural convection heat transfer from a heated horizontal cylinder covered with concrete layer by molding is studied experimentally and numerically to determine the effects of the parameters considered above The copper and the concrete test cylinders used in the experimental study have a length of 1 in and outer diameter of 9.45 mm and 68.5 mm respectively The ambient and copper cylinder surface temperatures varied between 20 degrees C-30 degrees C and 30 degrees C-50 degrees C respectively. Constant heat flux was applied to bare and concrete cylinders. Transient heat transfer experiments were performed when bare, and concrete cylinders were reached to steady state condition Heat transfer rates under transient conditions from bare and concrete horizontal cylinders were compared and heat transfer enhancement was determined. Based on the experimental data average Nusselt numbers were calculated and compared with the well known correlations. Also temperature distributions obtained from numerical simulations were very close to the experimental data The effect of the decrease in the temperature of the inner copper cylinder surface (condensation temperature) on COP was investigated considering an ideal Carnot refrigeration cycle It is found that the enhancement in COP of a Carnot refrigeration cycle is 35.7% under transient condition. (C) 2010 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.