AN ASSESSMENT OF THE STATE OF THE ART, AND POTENTIAL DESIGN IMPROVEMENTS, FOR FLAT-TUBE HEAT EXCHANGERS IN AIR CONDITIONING AND REFRIGERATION APPLICATIONS - PHASE I

Technical Report · Sun Sep 30 04:00:00 EDT 2001

OSTI ID:788920

Jacobi, A M ^[1]; Park, Y; Tafti, D; Zhang, X

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1. Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Technology Institute

Project objective is to evaluate the air-side heat transfer and pressure-drop performance of serpentine-fin, flat-tube heat exchangers. This assessment is conducted for smooth, corrugated, and interrupted fins, over a wide range of geometric and operating parameters, spanning HVAC and R applications. The performance of serpentine-fin, flat-tube exchangers is compared to that of conventional round-tube designs, which are considered the technology baseline. The research includes a literature review, a preliminary comparison of flat-tube to round-tube performance, a computational fluid dynamic study of flow through the heat exchangers, and complementary modeling to predict the performance of flat-tube designs over a wide range of conditions. Recommendations are provided for a new experimental study to provide performance data for dry, wet, and frosted-surface conditions. Specific flow visualization and naphthalene sublimation experiments are recommended to understand the flow and heat transfer interactions in the flat-tube geometry. These data could be used to evaluate condensate retention and frost-formation effects on flat-tube heat exchanger performance, and to compare this behavior to that of the conventional round-tube geometry. These findings will be highly valuable to design and development engineers as they work toward the next generation of highly compact, energy efficient HVAC and R systems.

• Research Organization: Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Technology Institute, Arlington, VA (US)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EE); USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EE) (US)
• DOE Contract Number: FC05-99OR22674
• OSTI ID: 788920
• Report Number(s): DOEOR22674/ARTI-21CR/20020-01; Program Contract Number 605-20020-01
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
AIR CONDITIONING
AIR-SIDE
COMPACT
CONDENSATES
CORRUGATED FINS
ENERGY EFFICIENT
ENGINEERS
FLAT-TUBE
FLOW VISUALIZATION
GEOMETRIC PARAMETERS
GEOMETRY
HEAT EXCHANGER
HEAT EXCHANGERS
HEAT TRANSFER
HVAC
HVAC& R
INTERRUPTED FINS
NAPHTHALENE
PERFORMANCE
PRESSURE DROP
PRESSURE-DROP
REFRIGERATION
RETENTION
ROUND-TUBE
SERPENTINE-FIN
SMOOTH FINS
SUBLIMATION