404
HVAC&R
RESEARCH
Heat Transfer Coefficient (Nusselt number)
Two types of heat transfer coefficients have been reported in the literature-one considers the
overall effect of frost on the heat transfer rate in the heat exchanger, defined with the underlying
cold surface temperature, while the other gives the heat transfer from the air to the frost layer at
the frost layer surface, defined by the frost surface temperature. Although the first definition cor-
rectly includes the latent load effect of frost on the equipment, the latter
is
more consistent with
the definition of reflecting convective sensible heat removed from ambient. Therefore, we only
report the latter type of correlations here, also because this is the one required in a frost growth
model. Table
4
summarizes the results.
As
can be seen, a significant number of studies have been reported in the literature. Most cor-
relations follow the same form as the classic Reynolds number or Grashof number correlations
for the nonfrosting surfaces. Two correlations by Mao et al. (1992) and O’Neal and Tree (1985)
were developed directly from their experiments where the time-dependent Nusselt number is
correlated. Although they are very useful for validating the model simulation, the use of correla-
tions has to be strictly limited to the reported range
of
operating conditions.
In some of the experimental work reported, the heat transfer coefficient is defined as follows:
where
qw
is the heat flux measured from an imbedded heat flux meter on the cold surface
between the frost layer and cold plate or derived
from
the energy balance. According to the heat
balance, the above-defined heat transfer coefficient includes both the sensible heat between the
ambient and frosting surface and the latent heat due to frost growth. This explains why the
Nus-
selt number with frost
is
higher than that for nonfrosting surfaces, meaning the extra cooling
load for the refrigerating coil. If one needs to consider only the heat transfer between the ambi-
ent and frost surface (not the bare equipment surface), the following should hold:
PPsg
dF
hsensible
hW
T,
-
Tydt
(4)
The second term on the right side of the above equation depends on time in a frosting process.
In many modeling studies, as will be discussed later, it
is
generally assumed that hsensible follows
the correlations for nonfrosting surfaces and is, therefore, independent of time if the ambient
condition remains stable. However, one may argue that under turbulent flow ambient conditions,
frost formation results in the time-dependent surface roughness that will lead to the time-depen-
dent
hsensible.
It is, therefore, necessary to conduct further studies to confirm or find the accuracy
of convective heat transfer coefficient
hsensible
under frosting conditions.
In Figure 6, a test condition is chosen to illustrate the Nusselt number calculated from various
sources. Under a given ambient and a plate surface temperature, the Reynolds number based on
the plate length is varied from
5,000
to
50,000.
The correlation by
Hosoda
and Uzuhashi (1967)
includes the latent heat of sublimation. The resultant
Nu
is up to three times higher than those
considering only the sensible convective heat between the frost surface and surrounding air. The
results from O’Neal
[N6
in Table 41 yield higher heat transfer coefficients, while
Yun
et al.
(2002) IN111 give lower values of
hsensible,
delaying the partition from dry surface behavior
until a Reynolds number of 3
x
1
O4
is reached.
An
interesting curve results from the [N4] Gnie-
linski (1976) equation, which, at a medium Reynolds number of 2.3
x
lo4,
changes the projec-
tion to a more conservative value, giving the same results of
ml
i]
correlation.
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