PHE-9 Evaporation in Plate Heat Exchangers: Heat Transfer and Pressure Drop Methods
In 2003, HTRI collected experimental data for a plate evaporator and a plate condenser using a modified Alfa Laval Evaporator Test Module. Using these data, we improved our boiling heat transfer and pressure drop methods for plate heat exchangers. The pressure drop method includes new correlations for liquid volume fraction and the C factor. The boiling method contains a new correlation for a two-phase convection factor and a new criterion for the transition from wet-wall to partial dry-wall flow boiling. This report also proposes a new correlation for the transition from wet-wall boiling to total vaporization in the partial dry-wall mist flow regime. The improved methods more accurately predict the heat transfer and pressure drop data for the evaporator.