Film Heat Exchangers: Hydrodynamics and Heat Transfer (Review)

The task of intensifying film evaporation and boiling is extremely relevant. It is of great interest for technologies of chemical, oil refining, food, cryogenic, and refrigeration industries. To date, a lot of experimental material has been accumulated in this area. However, correct physical models are still missing because of the complexity of describing the hydrodynamics and heat and mass transfer, which requires use of experimental data. It is often that experimental results of different works contradict each other, and it is difficult to distinguish the main factors and dimensionless criteria. There is a global trend of reduction in the mass and size of heat exchangers, which necessitates intensification of transfer processes. This review critically examines various approaches and offers effective criteria for analyzing and summarizing the existing experimental data on filmheat exchangers. The reviewshows that finning stabilizes the film flow and allows intensifying the heat transfer manifold, both during evaporation and boiling.