Boiling heat transfer enhancement of water on tubes in compact in-line bundles

In desalinization devices and some heat exchangers making use of low-quality heat energy, both wall temperatures and wall heat fluxes of the heated tubes are generally quite low; hence they cannot cause boiling in flooded tube-bundle evaporators with common large tube spacing. However, when the tube spacing is very small, the incipient boiling in restricted spaces can generate and results in higher heat transfer than that of pool boiling at the same heat flux. This study investigated experimentally the effects of tube spacing, positions of tubes and test pressures on the boiling heat transfer of water in restricted spaces of the compact in-line bundles consisting of smooth horizontal tubes. The experimental results show that tube spacing and tube position have significant effects on the boiling heat transfer in a compact tube bundle. There is an optimum tube spacing that provides the largest heat transfer coefficient at the same heat flux.