The effect of evaporator operating parameters on the flow patterns inside horizontal pipes

Abstract

A general and simple model for simulating the steady state behaviors of air-to-refrigerant fin-and-tube evaporator is introduced with the focus on the detailed flow patterns inside the tubes. In order to simulate the heat transfer between air and the working fluid, the evaporator is divided into a number of control volumes. Empirical correlations from literature were also adopted to estimate the void fraction, the internal and external heat transfer coefficients, and the pressure drops. Simulations were performed to study the effects of varying inlet air temperature, refrigerant mass flow rate and evaporation pressure on the flow patterns inside the horizontal pipe of the evaporator. The simulation results indicate that the proposed model can be used to predict flow patterns well. The predicted results of the model agree well with experimental results, the difference is within ±3% for the cooling capacity, and is within ±0.2% for refrigerant evaporation temperature.