Investigations on the Heat Transfer of Cryogenic Fluid Flow

Through Coated Helical Channels

MD Aliya Rain *1, K.E. Reby Roy2 , Rupak Chaudhary3
*1
School of Aerospace, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China. * [email protected]
2
Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, TKM College of Engineering, Kerala, India [email protected]
3
College of Aerospace, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 210016, China.

Abstract durable and transfer heat rapidly [1]. It shows the effectiveness
Heat transfer is one of the most important phenomena in any of ultrathin scalable chemical vapor deposited (CVD) graphene
thermodynamic process. Heat losses occurring in such processes
are to be minimized, but sometimes heat transfer is to be enhanced coatings to promote dropwise condensation. In typical
to increase the performance of the system and maintain the industrial systems, condensed vapor forms a thin liquid film on
required temperature within the system. It is found that applying the condenser surface known as filmwise condensation, is not
coating of Graphene in a helical coil of single turn causes more desired due to the large thermal resistance to heat transfer.
heat transfer than non-coated. The coating material, graphene was Conversely in dropwise mode of condensation, droplets roll-off
used as a layer of few micrometer thicknesses to the inner wall of
the coil. The layer thickness of Graphene and inlet velocity of fluid at sizes approaching the capillary length and clear the surface
were varied. Optimum result was obtained at 100-micrometer for renucleation, commonly resulting in 5−7× higher heat
thickness. Similar results with slight deviations were obtained for transfer performance compared to filmwise condensation. In
different velocities. The result was verified using different fluids this paper, heat transfer enhancements of 4× were demonstrated
like water, liquid oxygen, and liquid nitrogen. compared to filmwise condensation, and the robustness of these
Keywords: CFD, COMSOL, Cryogenic Fluids, Heat Transfer,
Helical Channel CVD coatings was superior to typical hydrophobic monolayer
coatings.

I. INTRODUCTION P. Goli, H. Ning, and other four members experimented and

demonstrated that chemical vapor deposition of graphene on Cu
Heat exchange between flowing fluids is one of the most films strongly enhances their thermal diffusivity and thermal
important physical processes of concern, and a variety of heat conductivity [2]. The deposition of graphene increases the
exchangers are used in different type of installations, as in thermal conductivity of 9-µm thick Cu films by up to 24% near
process industries, compact heat exchangers nuclear power room temperature and 25- µm thick Cu films by 16%. The
plant, HVACs, food processing, refrigeration, etc. enhancement is primarily due to changes in Cu morphology
Coating materials identified for heat transfer enhancement during graphene deposition and associated with its temperature
are Graphene layer, Anodized Aluminum oxide, Zinc oxide, treatment. They found that the thermal conductivity of 9 µm Cu
CNT, etc. As a result of coating film-wise condensation gets sample is increased from 290 W/mK to 369.5 W/mK when the
replaced by dropwise condensation, which decreases the sample coated by single-layer graphene of 0.35nm thick.
contact angle, increase the surface contact area and hence Experiments done by Ronnie A. Munoz demonstrates the
higher heat transfer rate. Graphene coating used in this analysis evaporation time and wetting limit temperature for a water
leads to an increase in heat spreading ability of copper due to droplet on the surface of a bare, Zeolite-A-coated, or ZSM-5-
enlargement of copper grain sizes. coated stainless steel substrate [3]. For all samples, as the
Working towards the goal of saving energies and making hydrophilicity increases, the evaporation time decreases, and
compact design for mechanical and chemical devices and the wetting limit temperature increases. Both Zeolite-A and
plants, the enhancement of heat transfer is one of the key factors ZSM-5 coatings improve upon the bare SS-304 surface by
in the design of heat exchangers. Heat transfer enhancement decreasing the evaporation time and increasing the wetting limit
techniques are generally divided into two types namely active temperature, with Zeolite-A coatings offering higher
techniques and Passive techniques. Active techniques make use improvement.
of external sources such as mechanical aids, surface vibrations, Neshat E et al. conducted a numerical investigation on heat
fluid vibration, electrostatic fields, and jet impingement. transfer from hot water in the shell to cold water flowing in the
Passive techniques generally follow modification in geometry helical coil and found that shell-side fluid temperature
such as treated surfaces, rough surface, extended surface, swirl determines mass flow rate, specific heat of fluids and geometric
flow devices, coiled tubes and additives for gases and liquid. parameters of the coil [4].
A team of researchers at MIT developed a method of coating Jayakumar J. S. et al. performed the CFD analysis of single-
condensers used in power plants with graphene, to make them phase flow inside helically coiled tubes and found that the fluid

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21-22 November, 2019, Nanjing, China
particles undergo oscillatory motion inside the pipe causing for the thin layer is not required when layer type is selected as
fluctuation in heat transfer rates [5]. conductive. It reduces the number of mesh elements as such a
thin layer can be represented as a boundary instead of the
Coating materials identified for heat transfer enhancement
domain.
are the Graphene layer, Anodized Aluminum oxide, Zinc oxide
coating, CNT, Hydrophilic zeolite coating. This paper studies This paper presents the heat transfer analysis done using
in detail the effect of graphene coating. COMSOL Multiphysics. Three cases are considered here as
heat transfer in the 2D plate, heat transfer in 2 phases and heat
transfer in the helical coil.
II. METHODOLOGY
The Heat Transfer Module in COMSOL is broadly used by
III. MODELS AND ANALYSIS
engineers, product designers, developers, and researchers for
detailed geometric models to study the influence of heating and Heat transfer analysis in the helical channel and the effect of
cooling in devices and processes. It is easy to obtain various coating materials are analyzed by varying fluid materials and
physical properties like heat capacity, thermal conductivity, and fluid flow rates. Fluid materials varied are liquid nitrogen and
emissivity from built-in Material Library and add-on Material liquid oxygen. Flow rates are varied from 0.1m/s to 0.001m/s.
Library in COMSOL. The module also contains relations for To carry out the analysis in the helical channel, some
calculation of heat transfer coefficients. preliminary investigations were carried on three simple cases;
they are heat transfer in plate, two-phase water boiling, and
The Navier- Stokes equations can be seen as Newton’s
straight tube cases.
second law of motion for fluids, and it governs the motion of
fluids. In the case of a compressible Newtonian fluid, this A. Case I: Heat Transfer in a plate
yields:
Heat transfer in the plate is investigated by considering the
2D model of a rectangular plate. The geometry of 0.02x0.01 m2
as shown in fig 1 is taken for the current study. Inlet temperature
at the left side is given as 600K while ambient temperature and
convection coefficients are 300K and 10W/m2K. The thin layer
of 1e-4m is selected on the right side of the geometry shown in
figure 1.

Where u is the fluid velocity, p is the fluid pressure, ρ is the

fluid density, and μ is the dynamic viscosity of the fluid. The
different terms correspond to the inertial forces (1), pressure
forces (2), viscous forces (3), and the external forces applied to
the fluid (4). The Navier-Stokes equations were derived by
Navier, Poisson, Saint-Venant, and Stokes between 1827 and
1845.
These equations are always solved together with the
continuity equation:

Fig.1. Variation of surface temperature

These are the major equations for fluid flow modeling.

Because of their complexity and for complex geometries,
solving them analytically is tedious and so has to be solved
numerically.
Non-isothermal flow is the case where fluid temperature is
not constant and also material properties such as density and
viscosity changes accordingly.
There is an advance feature in COMSOL Multiphysics that
makes it easy in adding a thin conductive layer. The layer must
Fig.2. Variation of net heat rate with time
be of good thermal conductivity. Generating mesh separately

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 C. CASE III. Heat transfer in Helical coil:
Fig. 2 depicts the variation of net heat rate with time. At time For the analysis of heat transfer in helical coil, numerical
t=4s, net heat rate increases by 328% when coated with simulation by considering three different fluids is done. It is
thickness e-4m that of without coating. It is due to the high investigated by passing water, liquid nitrogen, and liquid
thermal conductivity of graphene coating. oxygen through the coil. Flow rate is varied from 0.1m/s to
B. CASE II. Heat transfer in 2 phases: 0.001m/s. As the cryogenic fluid is a matter of study for this
paper, results obtained for liquid nitrogen and liquid oxygen are
In this case, an external heat flux (the flame) is applied to discussed here.
a solid surface (the pot), which is in contact with the liquid (the
water). A surface heat flux of 105 W/m2 is applied, which is
above the Leidenfrost point. An excess temperature on the
surface of around 600 K is expected (1000 K total temperature)
to sustain film boiling.

Fig.5. Geometric model

First, a helical coil model of 1 turn, major radius of 100mm,

minor radius of 10mm and axial pitch of 50mm is drawn. Coil
material applied is copper, and a thin layer of coating is added
to the inner wall of the coil. Properties of coating material are
given as similar to graphene as thermal conductivity of
Fig.3. Geometry showing surface volume fraction
2000W/Mk, density of 1500 kg/m3, heat capacity of 730 J/kg K
8 The flow of fluid is taken as Turbulent flow under k-epsilon
7
model. The total number of mesh elements is 33,967. Flow is
with also taken as time-dependent and isothermal time taken is up to
6
Coatin 50s.
g 1E-4
5
Net Heat
Rate (W)

Fluid: Liquid Nitrogen

4
Witho
ut In this case, liquid nitrogen is passed through the coil.
3
Coatin Boundary conditions are Inlet temperature of 77K, velocity of
2 g
0.01m/s. The outside medium is an air of convection coefficient
1 of 10 W/m2K, Temperature of 300K.
0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5
-1

Time (s)
Fig.4. Neat heat rate variation with time

Fig. 4 depicts the variation of net heat rate with time. It can be
seen that at time t=2s Heat rate increases by 300% with coating
of 1e-4.

Fig.6. Close view of temperature contour

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21-22 November, 2019, Nanjing, China
 Fig.9. Variation of heat rate with time for LN2

Fluid: Liquid Oxygen

In this case, liquid oxygen is passed through the coil.
Boundary conditions are Inlet temperature of 88K, velocity of
0.01m/s. Outside medium is an air of convection coefficient 10
W/m2K and temperature of 300K.
Fig.7. Close view of temperature gradient contour

Fig. 7 depicts temperature gradient variation at outlet section

slice of the coil at different time t= 1, 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50s.
The temperature gradient is higher along the interface surface
of solid and fluid as this is the area where heat transfer
interaction occurs.

Fig.10. Temperature variation with time for LOX

Fig. 10 depicts the variation of temperature with time when
liquid oxygen is passed through the coil at a flow rate of
0.01m/s. At time t=50s, the net average temperature decreases
by 0.272K when coated with thickness 10-4m.
Fig.8. Variation of temperature with time for LN2
Fig. 11 depicts the variation of heat rate with time when liquid
At time t=50s, the average temperature is decreased by 0.3% oxygen is passed through the coil at a flow rate of 0.01m/s. It
when the coil is coated with a thickness of 1e-4m. Figure 9 demonstrates that the effect of coating thickness of 1e-4m is
depicts the variation of heat rate with time when liquid nitrogen more significant than that of 1e-5m. At time t=20s, heat rate
is passed through the coil at a flow rate of 0.01m/s. It shows increases by 300% when coated with e-4m.
heat rate increases with the application of coating since both the
values are negative. At time t=25s, Heat rate is increased by
89.75% when coated with 1e-4m.

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21-22 November, 2019, Nanjing, China
 helically coiled tubes," Computers and Chemical Engineering,
vol. 34, p. 430–446, 2010.
[6] Hong hu, Cheng Xu, Yang Zhao, Reid Shaeffer, Kirk J. Ziegler b
and J.N. Chung, "Modification and enhancement of cryogenic
quenching heat transfer by a nanoporous surface," International
Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, vol. 80, pp. 636-643, 2015.
[7] Changzhao Pan, Yuan Zhou and Junjie Wang, "CFD study of heat
transfer for oscillating flow in helically coiled tube heat-
exchanger," Computers and Chemical Engineering, vol. 69, no.
[4] et al., “,” () ., pp. 50- 65, 2014.
[8] Yigit Kemal Demirel, Mahdi Khorasanchi , Osman Turan, Atilla
Incecik and Michael P. Schultz, "A CFD model for the frictional
resistance prediction of antifouling coatings," Ocean
Engineering, vol. 89, pp. 21- 31, 2014.
[9] Timothy J. Rennie and Vijaya G.S. Raghavan, "Experimental
studies of a double-pipe helical heat exchanger," Experimental
Thermal and Fluid Science, 2005.

Fig.11 Variation of heat rate with time for LOX

IV. CONCLUSION
Heat transfer analysis on 2D plates shows an increase of heat
rate by 328% with graphene coating. Coating thickness was
varied from 1e-4m, 1e-5m, and 1e-6 m. Coating of 1e-4m was
found to be effective for heat transfer enhancement. It was
found that heat rate increases by 89.7% for liquid nitrogen and
by 300 %for liquid oxygen.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This work was supported in part by Kailash Joshi and Asmit
Gautam.

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21-22 November, 2019, Nanjing, China