Investigation on the boiling heat transfer characteristics of R404A and R134a under stratified flow condition

An experimental investigation on the flow boiling heat transfer characteristics of R404A and R134a for low mass flux and heat flux conditions in a smooth horizontal tube is reported. Refrigerant saturation temperatures -15, -10, -5 and 0 A degrees C were considered for the flow boiling conditions. The influence of the mass flux, heat flux and saturation temperature on the heat transfer coefficients of R404A and R134a are discussed in detail. The predominant flow pattern for the tested conditions is confirmed to be the stratified-wavy flow. The study revealed that the heat transfer coefficient is a strong function of the heat flux, throughout the flow boiling process, and the nucleate boiling contribution is much higher for R404A compared to that of R134a. The heat transfer characteristic of R404A is compared with that of R134a, to understand their relative performance in low temperature appliances. A modified correlation for the flow boiling heat transfer coefficient of R404A is developed to fit the experimental results of R404A.