Experimental Research and Cfd Simulation on Microchannel Evaporator Header to Improve Heat Exchanger Efficiency
Year: 2006
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: Microchannel evaporator performs superior heat transfer efficiency and capacity at compact size comparing with conventional tube-fin evaporator.Design an appropriate coil header assembly is one of major tasks, which could affect the desired heat exchanger efficiency and capacity.An experimental investigation of three coil inlet header configurations, which are single, dual and distributor inlet headers, is conducted in the paper.A practical evaluation method, by means of measuring air temperature differential across coil to evaluate refrigerant distribution uniformity in coil header, is introduced.CFD models are also generated to simulate refrigerant liquid flow contours of these three inlet header configurations.Finalize the research, the distributor header configuration appears the most uniform distribution in conjunction with symmetrical flow distribution.The dual inlet header configuration also significantly improves distribution uniformness and symmetry comparing with the single inlet header configuration.
Authors: Zhihai Dong, John Bean
Institution: Purdue University West Lafayette
Language: English
Subfield: Mechanical Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1570227356