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Experimental analysis of refrigerants flow boiling inside small sized microfin tubes

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Abstract

The refrigerant charge reduction is one of the most challenging issues that the scientific community has to cope to reduce the anthropic global warming. Recently, mini microfin tubes have been matter of research, since they can reach better thermal performance in small domains, leading to a further refrigerant charge reduction. This paper presents experimental results about R134a flow boiling inside a microfin tube having an internal diameter at the fin tip of 2.4 mm. The mass flux was varied between 375 and 940 kg m−2 s−1, heat flux from 10 to 50 kW m−2, vapor quality from 0.10 to 0.99. The saturation temperature at the inlet of the test section was kept constant and equal to 30 °C. R134a thermal and fluid dynamic performances are presented and compared against those obtained with R1234ze(E) and R1234yf and against values obtained during R134a flow boiling inside a 3.4 mm ID microfin tube.

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Abbreviations

c :

Specific Heat [J kg K−1]

D i :

Inner Diameter at the Fin Tip [m]

(−dp/dz):

Pressure Gradient [Pa m−1]

G :

Mass Velocity [kg m−2 s−1]

h :

Specific Enthalpy [J kg−1], Fin Height [m]

HF :

Heat Flux [W m−2]

HTC :

Heat Transfer Coefficient [W m−2 K−1]

I :

Current [A]

i :

Uncertainty

L :

Sample Length [m]

\( \dot{m} \) :

Mass Flow Rate [kg s−1]

n :

Fin Number [−]

p :

Pressure [bar]

P :

Power [W]

q :

Heat Flow Rate [W]

t :

Temperature [°C]

x :

Vapor Quality [−]

y :

Physical Quantity

z :

Coordinate Along the Flow Direction [m]

β :

Helix Angle [°]

Δp :

Pressure Drop [Pa]

ΔT :

Temperature Difference [K]

ΔV :

Electric Potential Difference [V]

γ :

Apex Angle [°]

a:

Momentum Term

EL:

Electric

f:

Frictional

in:

Inlet

L:

Saturated Liquid

loss:

Losses

out:

Outlet

p:

At constant pressure

pc:

Precondenser

ref.:

Refrigerant

sat:

Saturation

tot:

Total

TS:

Test Section

V:

Saturated Vapor

vs:

Superheated Vapor

w:

Water

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Acknowledgments

The support of Wieland-Werke AG and of Dr. Christoph Walther on this research activity is gratefully acknowledged. The support of the MIUR through the PRIN Project 2009TSYPM7_003 and of the Università di Padova (Project CPDA107382 and Project CPDR141037) on this research is gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Padova, Via Venezia 1, 35131, Padova, Italy

    Andrea Diani & Luisa Rossetto

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  1. Andrea Diani
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  2. Luisa Rossetto
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Andrea Diani.

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Highlights

• Flow boiling of R134a is studied inside a 2.4 mm ID microfin tube.

• Heat transfer coefficients and frictional pressure drops are measured.

• R134a thermal and hydraulic behavior is compared against that of R1234ze(E) and R1234yf.

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Diani, A., Rossetto, L. Experimental analysis of refrigerants flow boiling inside small sized microfin tubes. Heat Mass Transfer 54, 2315–2329 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00231-017-2111-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00231-017-2111-7

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