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Modelling and testing of water-coupled microchannel gas coolers for natural refrigerant heat pumps.

Author(s) : FRONK B. M., GARIMELLA S.

Summary

An experimental and analytical study on the performance of a compact, microchannel water-carbon dioxide (CO2) gas cooler was conducted. The gas cooler design under investigation used an array of serpentine refrigerant microchannel tubes wrapped around water passages containing offset strip fins. The geometry led to a generally counterflow configuration between the two fluids. The test facility consisted of two CO2 compressors, a water-coupled evaporator, the test gas coolers, and the requisite data acquisition and control systems. Data were obtained at varying inlet conditions for three gas coolers of the same design, but different sizes. Measured heating capacity for the three different gas coolers ranged from 2.0 to 6.5 kW. An analytical model was developed to predict the heat transfer and pressure drop performance of the gas cooler. A segmented approach was used to account for the steep gradients in the thermodynamic and transport properties of the supercritical CO2. The model predicted heating capacity with an average absolute error of 7.5% for all data points obtained using the three different gas cooler sizes. Refrigerant- and water-side pressure drops were under predicted by the model. In general, the refrigerant-side resistance was the limiting factor in heat transfer for all cases. The results of this study can be used to optimize gas cooler design for a variety of CO2 heat pump applications over a wide range of operating conditions. The effect of changing geometric parameters of the heat exchanger can be predicted without the need for costly prototype development and testing.

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Pages: 2009-5

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Details

  • Original title: Modelling and testing of water-coupled microchannel gas coolers for natural refrigerant heat pumps.
  • Record ID : 2009-1972
  • Languages: English
  • Source: 3rd Conference on Thermophysical Properties and Transfer Processes of Refrigerants
  • Publication date: 2009/06/23

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