Over time attempts have been made to understand the flow characteristics of refrigerants through capillary tubes as well as to seek more thermally efficient working fluids for refrigeration systems. This study investigated the flow of nanorefrigerants through adiabatic capillary tubes of vapour compression refrigeration systems; and afterwards creates numerical models that will account for solution of refrigerant side pressure drop and mass flow rate. Also in this study, a CFD flow analysis was carried out using a CFD simulation/solver such that the results of the simulations obtained were discussed so as to establish a distinction between the conventional and nano-refrigerants. Upon comparison of the CFD results of nanorefrigerants (CuR134a, CuR600a) and the conventional refrigerants (R134a, R600a), the conventional refrigerants were noticed to have more isothermal regions implying that heat was not being transferred quickly enough to raise the temperature of the adjoining region thus proving that the addition of nanoparticles improves the thermophysical properties of the base fluid. Also, based on the results of the study of the flow patterns of both working fluids, the density of pressure contours in the conventional refrigerants was far larger than that of the nanorefrigerant implying that more compressor work and ultimately greater power will be required. The findings from this study were validated with experimental results showing that a CFD analysis tool/method can be employed to understudy the phenomenal changes that take place in nano-refrigerant movement through capillary tubes without recourse to experimentation.
展开▼
