A numerical study on condensation heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of low pressure vapor in a plate heat exchanger

In this work, the condensation heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of plate heat exchangers were simulated, and the 3-D temperature, pressure, and velocity fields were obtained. From the flow field, we can see that the velocity of vapor is higher than that of condensate. From the pressure field, we can see that the pressure shows a downward trend along the flow direction, and there is, the more pressure drop in the first half of the plate. From the temperature field, we can see that the temperature gradient increases with the increase of velocity and pressure gradient. Meanwhile, the effect of vapor mass-flow, dryness and super-heat on condensation heat transfer coefficients and pressure drops were investigated. The results show that the pressure drop and heat transfer coefficient both increase with the increase of dryness, degree of superheat and mass-flow. In addition, the correlation equations developed to predict the condensation heat transfer and friction factor perfectly agree with the experimental results.