Falling film evaporation: State-of-the-art review of recent work

A state-of-the-art review of falling film evaporation on single tubes and tube bundles is presented. Emphasis is placed on recent work and, in particular, on studies on the new alternative refrigerants and ammonia. Both plain and enhanced tubes are addressed in the survey plus the effects of oil on heat transfer. The enhanced tubes provide a very high level of heat transfer augmentation for falling film evaporation on horizontal bundles, sharply reducing the required refrigerant charge compared to flooded evaporator designs.