The effect of condensate inundation on steam condensation heat transfer to wire-wrapped tubing

Abstract

Steam condensation heat transfer measurements were made in a 5-tube test condenser having an additional perforated tube to simulate up to 30 active tubes. Results were obtained for smooth tubes and roped tubes wrapped with wire. A Sieder-Tate equation was used to correlate the inside heat-transfer coefficient. For smooth tubes, a leading coefficient of 0.029 was found, while it was 0.061 for the roped tubes. The average condensing coefficient measured for 30 smooth tubes was 0.59 times the Nusselt coefficient calculated for the first tube. When the smooth tubes were wrapped with wire, this ratio increased up to 0.86. Further, roped tubes without wire experienced a ratio of 0.63, while roped tubes wrapped with wire resulted in a ratio of 0.86. These preliminary data show that wire-wrapped tubes may lead to a significant reduction in condenser surface area.