Performance analysis of finned-tube CO2 gas cooler with advanced 1D-3D CFD modelling development and simulation

Abstract

Due to natural refrigerant applied, CO2 transcritical refrigeration and heat pump systems have been widely applied and attracted more attentions. As a main component, CO2 gas cooler plays an important role in the system performance and thus requires further development for design and control optimizations with advanced technology. Correspondingly, a new coupled 1D and 3D Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model on a finned-tube CO2 gas cooler has been proposed and developed. The CFD model has been validated by comparing with literatures for parameters including airside heat transfer coefficient, refrigerant side temperature profile as well as heating capacity. The model has been applied to predict the heat exchanger performance at different operating conditions of both air and refrigerant sides and maldistributions of air flow inlet. It is found from the simulation results that the refrigerant temperature decreases abruptly in the first coil row and the refrigerant temperature profile along the heat exchanger tubes is affected by thermal conduction between two adjacent tube rows through fins. In addition, the higher air flow inlet velocity can reduce greatly the coil approach temperature and thus improve the system efficiency. Similar effect can also be found from refrigerant pressure. Furthermore, the non-uniform air flow patterns can affect considerably the coil performance in terms of the refrigerant temperature profile, coil approach temperature, coil heating capacity and system energy efficiency. The developed CFD model can be an efficient tool for the performance evaluation and optimisation of the CO2 gas cooler and its associated system.