Experimental investigation on flow condensation pressure drop of R134a in microfin tube at high mass flux

Abstract

Abstract To clarify the influencing mechanisms of the experimental condition and the tube structure on the pressure drop of heat transfer fluid, the two-phase flow condensation pressure drop of R134a inside the microfin tube was experimentally studied at high mass flux, which is different from other conventional researches. The experimental result shows the pressure drop is proportional to mass flux and fin helical angle, and is inversely proportional to condensation temperature and coolant Reynolds number. Moreover, the experimental data of pressure drop was compared with the predicted value of some existing correlations for the microfin tube. It can be found that the correlations of Cavallini et al., Han et al. and Haraguchi et al. show a good prediction effect with mean relative deviation (MRD) of 13.89, 16.08 and −2.19%, respectively. The correlations of Pierre/0.053, Kedzierski et al. and Choi et al. all underestimate most of the experimental data of the pressure drop inside the tube, and their prediction deviations are >10%. That is, the application effect of the separated flow model is better than that of the homogeneous flow model. Finally, the Kedzierski et al. correlation was improved to realize a high-precision prediction of the fluid flow mechanism inside the tube. Because the prediction deviation of the improved correlation between the experimental value and the predicted value was greatly reduced, its prediction deviation is <10% for R134a and R410A; therefore, it can be said the improved correlation has a good predictive result for the pressure drop.