EXPERIMENTALLY VALIDATED MICROCHANEL HEAT EXCHANGER PERFORMANCE AND CHARGE PREDICTIONS USED TO COMPARE CHARGE REDUCTION POTENTIALS OF SOME REFRIGERANTS

摘要

This paper presents an experimentally validated simulation model developed to obtain accurate prediction of microchannel heat exchanger performance and charge. Effects of using various correlations are presented and discussed with focus on microchannel condensers. Experiments with different refrigerants including propane and ammonia are used to validate the model. The experimentally validated model is used to compare the charge reduction potential of various refrigerants. The procedure for charge reduction analysis described in the paper is the reduction of the internal (refrigerant) volume of the condenser until a pressure drop is obtained that results in a 1% decrease in COP from the refrigeration cycle with no pressure drop.