Design of an Experimental Apparatus for Studying the Flow of Refrigerant R-134a in a Capillary Tube Refrigeration System

摘要

This report describes the development of an experimental apparatus for testingsmall-bore diameter expansion devices or capillary tubes. Interest in basicrefrigeration studies has increased due to the introduction of new refrigerants toreplace the ozone-depleting refrigerants currently being used as accordance with theMontreal Protocol. The refrigerant considered in this report is R-134a which is thepresent leader for replacing R-12 for domestic refrigerator applications. Theliterature review discusses the limited data which exists for R-134a and theexperimental apparatus developed for those studies. Also included are othercapillary tube experimental apparatuses used for studying different refrigerants andthe effect of suction-line heat exchange on the performance of the capillary tube.The final section of this thesis discusses some preliminary data taken using theexperimental apparatus.