Abstract Falling film evaporation is one main technique of seawater desalination. Heat transfer tube is core component of falling film evaporator. Spirally fluted tube is one of the widely used enhanced heat transfer tubes with high efficiency. However, there are few practical applications of the spirally fluted tube to seawater desalination. In order to evaluate the feasibility of its application to desalination, the enhanced heat transfer performance of the aluminum brass spirally fluted tube was investigated firstly, relying on the horizontal tube falling film evaporation heat transfer platform with the tap water as medium. The effect of sprinkling density, heat flux, temperature difference and evaporating temperature on heat transfer of the tube was analyzed. Then, the fouling performance of the spirally fluted tube was researched by means of a pilot plant of low temperature multiple effect distillation (LT-MED) desalination which was running 180 days in the actual working conditions of desalination projects. The results show that heat transfer efficiency of spirally fluted tube is 35% higher than that of smooth tube, and the fouling on the spirally fluted tube is thinner, more porous and easier to remove than that on the smooth tube.
XING Yu-Lei, QI Chun-Hua, HAN Xu, FENG Hou-Jun, 吕Qing-Chun , FENG Jian-Min.Enhanced Heat Transfer and Fouling Performance of the Spirally Fluted Tube in Falling Film Evaporation[J] Chemcial Industry and Engineering, 2013,V30(4): 48-54
2013, Vol. 30 
