Influence of Oil on Heat Transfer Characteristics of R410A Flow Boiling in Conventional and Small Size Microfin Tubes

Key

2347

Conference Year

2014

Authors

Haitao Hu, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China, People's Republic ofFollow
Hao Peng, Key Lab of HVAC, Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture, China, People's Republic ofFollow
Guoliang Ding, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China, People's Republic ofFollow
Yongxin Zheng, International Copper Association Shanghai Office, China, People's Republic ofFollow
Yifeng Gao, International Copper Association Shanghai Office, China, People's Republic ofFollow
Ji Song, International Copper Association Shanghai Office, China, People's Republic of

Keywords

Correlation, Heat transfer, Oil, R410A, Small tube

Abstract

Compact heat exchangers for refrigeration and air-conditioning systems are beneficial to reduce cost, charge inventory and leakage of refrigerant, and to improve energy efficiency and safety. Using small diameter microfin tubes is one way to decrease the size of heat exchangers. Currently, small diameter micofin tubes with outside diameter (O.D.) of 5.0 mm and 4.0 mm O.D. begin to be applied in newly developed R410A air conditioners instead of conventional size tubes (e.g. 7.0 mm O.D. microfin tubes). With the decrease of the tube diameter, the pressure drop becomes much larger, resulting in the decrease of the heat exchanger performance. In order to avoid such performance decrease, the heat exchanger should be redesign based on clearly understanding the difference of the heat transfer characteristics between conventional size microfin tubes and small diameter micofin tubes. Therefore, the heat transfer characteristics of R410A flow boiling inside both conventional size microfin tubes and small diameter microfin tubes should be known. Under real working conditions of R410A air conditioner, some amount of oil inevitably circulates with the refrigerant and has a significant impact on refrigerant evaporation heat transfer characteristics (Shen and Groll, 2005; Thome, 1996). Therefore, the influence of oil on heat transfer characteristics of R410A flow boiling inside microfin tubes with different diameters covering from conventional size to small size should be investigated. Experiments of R410A-oil mixture flow boiling inside microfin tubes with different outside diameters of 4.0~7.0 mm were performed. The experimental results show that, for 7.0 mm microfin tube, the influence factor of oil on the heat transfer characteristics are larger than 1.0 under the conditions of low vapor qualities (xr,o < 0.4), presenting the enhancement effect of oil on heat transfer characteristics; with the increase of vapor quality, the enhancement becomes smaller, and is smaller than 1.0 under the conditions of low vapor qualities (xr,o > 0.65), showing the deterioration effect of oil on heat transfer characteristics. As the tube diameter decreases from 7.0 mm to 4.0~5.0 mm, the deterioration effect of oil is weakened, especially at intermediate and high vapor qualities; for 4.0-5.0 mm tubes, the presence of oil shows the enhancement effect on heat transfer characteristics under the conditions of intermittent vapor quality (0.4 < xr,o < 0.8), which is not the same as the deterioration effect for 7.0 mm tubes. The comparison of heat transfer coefficient for two 5.0 mm microfin tubes with different fin structures shows that, larger fin height and contact area of liquid with tube wall may enhance the heat transfer for oil-free R410A, but result in smaller enhancement effect of oil at low vapor qualities and smaller deterioration effect of oil at intermediate and high vapor qualities. Based on the experimental data for conventional and small size microfin tubes, a general heat transfer correlation for R410A-oil mixture flow boiling inside microfin tubes was developed, and it agrees with 94% of the experimental data of R410A-oil mixture in 4.0 mm ~ 7.0 mm microfin tubes within a deviation of ±30%.