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Modelling fin-and-tube gas cooler for transcritical carbon dioxide cycles.

Author(s) : CORRADI M., CECCHINATO L., SCHIOCHET G., et al.

Summary

In CO2 transcritical refrigeration cycles, fin-and-tube coils are still interesting as possible gas cooling devices, due to their lower costs when compared with recent aluminium minichannels heat exchangers. In spite of the very high working pressures, a commercial coil with four ranks of 3/8" copper tube and louvered fins has been studied as a gas-cooler in a test rig built at the University of Padova for testing CO2 equipment operating with air as a secondary fluid. The test rig consists of two closed loop air circuits acting as the heat sink and heat source for the gas cooler and evaporator, respectively. The tested refrigerating circuit consists of two tube-and-fin heat exchangers as the gas cooler and the evaporator, a back-pressure valve as the throttling device, a double-stage compound compressor equipped with an oil separator and an intercooler. A full set of thermocouples, pressure transducers and flow-meters allows the measurement and recording of all the main parameters of the CO2 cycle, enabling to perform heat balance both air-side and refrigerant-side. Tests were focused on two different gas coolers, with continuous and cut fins, and on two different circuit arrangements. Test on each heat exchanger were run at three different inlet conditions, both for CO2 and air. A simulation model was developed for this type of heat exchanger and the most outstanding models proposed for the carbon dioxide supercritical cooling heat transfer coefficients were implemented and compared in the code. The model results are compared with the experimental data for the finned coil: emphasis is given to the effect of heat conduction through fins between adjacent tube ranks on the system efficiency.

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Details

  • Original title: Modelling fin-and-tube gas cooler for transcritical carbon dioxide cycles.
  • Record ID : 2007-1473
  • Languages: English
  • Source: 2006 Purdue Conferences. 18th International Compressor Engineering Conference at Purdue & 11th International Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Conference at Purdue [CD-ROM].
  • Publication date: 2006/07/17

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