Numerical model for water vapour condensation on hydrophilic coating enhanced fin surface under dehumidifying condition.

Hydrophilic coating enhanced fin-tube heat exchangers are widely used in air conditioning and refrigeration systems, and are usually operated under dehumidifying conditions, in which the water condensates as films and retains on the fin surfaces. A numerical model for predicting the water vapour condensation on hydrophilic coating enhanced fin was developed. In the model, the mass transfer rates during film formation and the contact angles of the film were introduced into the control equations as source terms; the mass transfer rates were predicted based on the species conservation on the fin and condensate film surfaces. The experimental validation results show that, the deviations of heat transfer and pressure drop are both less than 20%.