An experimental study on the evaporation heat transfer and pressure drop of R-1234ze(E) in a shell and plate heat exchanger

摘要

A new refrigerant, R-1234ze(E) has emerged to substitute hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerants,such as R-134a, owing to high global warming potential (GWP). The condensation heat transfercharacteristics of R-1234ze(E) have been investigated mainly in plate heat exchangers andhorizontal tubes. However, the evaporation heat transfer characteristics of R-1234ze(E) in shell andplate heat exchangers are very limited in the literature. The objective of this study is to investigatethe evaporation heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of R-1234ze(E) in a shell and plateheat exchanger. The evaporation heat transfer characteristics of R-1234ze(E) are measured andanalyzed in the shell and plate heat exchanger with the fixed saturation temperature of 15 ºC byvarying the mass flux, heat flux, and vapor quality. Moreover, empirical correlations for theevaporation heat transfer coefficient and friction factor of R-1234ze(E) in the shell and plate heatexchanger are developed based on the measured data.