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Off-cycle condensate drainage behaviour of compact heat exchangers: assessment and enhancement.

Author(s) : JOARDAR A., GU Z., JACOBI A. M.

Summary

In many HVAC&R applications, fast and efficient drainage of either retained condensate or melted water after a defrosting cycle is highly desirable. Applications where off-cycle drainage is important, the so-called dynamic dip test has been demonstrated to be a fast and efficient method for comparative and screening studies. In this work, refrigeration evaporators and air-conditioning condensers were dip-tested to study the effect of heat exchanger orientation, surface coating (hydrophilic and hydrophobic) and fin-surface enhancement (louver vs. lanced) on condensate drainage and retention. From the experiments, it is found that surface tension effects in interfin and louver gaps play a key role in the retention of condensate in high-fin-density compact heat exchangers. Experiments were also conducted to seek passive methods to counter surface-tension effects for drainage enhancement. Results with the so-called "drainage enhancing strips" in conjunction with hot-water soaking were found to be very effective in reducing water retention.

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Details

  • Original title: Off-cycle condensate drainage behaviour of compact heat exchangers: assessment and enhancement.
  • Record ID : 2007-1477
  • 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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