• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.15 no.8
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• pp.4802-4808
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• 2014

A plate-fin tube type heat exchanger has a lighter weight, approximately 30%, than the conventional circular-fin type condenser of household refrigerator. Because the low weight means low cost, it can have significant effects on the growth of related businesses if similar performance can be guaranteed. To check the possibility of the use of such a plate fin-tube condenser, experimental evaluations were performed in this study. Four different condensers including a conventional circular fin-tube condenser were used for the test. A well designed refrigerant supply system was used to supply similar conditions with a refrigerator, and the heat transfer rate and pressure drops of air side were measured precisely. As a result, the plate fin-tube type condensers showed a lower heat transfer rate of more than 13% than the conventional circular fin-tube type condenser, but the air side pressure drop was reduced and the heat transfer per unit weight was increased. Therefore, it shows the possibility of the use of a plate fin-tube type condenser after optimizing the air flow path and increasing the air flow to make a similar heat transfer rate.