• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.44-55
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• 1998

The evaluation of aluminum flat tube and louver fin heat exchangers for a condenser in residential air-conditioning applications has been conducted. A series of tests for two-different brazed aluminum heat exchangers was performed and the results were compared with conventional fin and tube heat exchangers for residential air-conditioning system. Refrigerant charge amount for a window-system air-conditioner with the brazed aluminum condenser is decreased by 35% and the volume and material of heat exchanger can be reduced by 50% compared to the conventional fin and tube heat exchangers.

• Proceedings of the SAREK Conference
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.222-228
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• 2007

The effect of inclination angle on the heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of brazed aluminum heat exchangers is experimentally investigated. Three samples having different fin pitches (1.25, 1.5 and 2.0 mm) were tested. Results show that heat transfer coefficient is not affected by the inclination angle. However, the friction factor increases as the inclination angle increases with negligible difference between the forward and backward inclination. Both the heat transfer coefficient and the friction factor are the smallest at $P_f$=1.5mm, followed by $P_f$=2.0mm and 1.25mm. Possible explanation is provided considering the louver layout. Comparison with existing correlations is also mad.

• International Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.130-136
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• 2008

The refrigerant R-134a flow distributions are experimentally studied for a round header/ten flat tube test section simulating a brazed aluminum heat exchanger. Three different inlet orientations(parallel, normal, vertical) were investigated. Tests were conducted with downward flow for the mass flux from 70 to 130 $kg/m^2s$ and quality from 0.2 to 0.6. In the test section, tubes were flush-mounted with no protrusion into the header. It is shown that normal and vertical inlet yielded approximately similar flow distribution. At high mass fluxes or high qualities, however, slightly better results were obtained for normal inlet configuration. The flow distribution was worst for the parallel inlet configuration. Possible explanation is provided based on flow visualization results.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.181-188
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• 2008

The effect of inclination angle on the heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of the brazed aluminum heat exchangers is experimentally investigated. Three samples having different fin pitches(1.25, 1.5 and 2.0 mm) were tested. Results show that heat transfer coefficient is not affected by the inclination angle. However, the friction factor increases as the inclination angle increases with negligible difference between the forward and backward inclination. Both the heat transfer coefficient and the friction factor are the smallest at $F_p=1.5mm$, followed by $F_p=2.0mm$ and 1.25mm. Possible explanation is provided considering the louver layout. Comparison with existing correlations is also made.

• Proceedings of the SAREK Conference
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.1123-1128
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• 2009

The refrigerant R-134a flow distributions are experimentally studied for a round header/ten flat tube test section simulating a brazed aluminum heat exchanger. Three different inlet orientations (parallel, normal, vertical) were investigated. Tests were conducted with downward flow for the mass flux from 70 to $130\;kg/m^2s$ and quality from 0.2 to 0.6. In the test section, tubes were flush-mounted with no protrusion into the header. It is shown that normal and vertical inlet yielded approximately similar flow distribution. At high mass fluxes or high qualities, however, slightly better results were obtained for normal inlet configuration. The flow distribution was worst for the parallel inlet configuration. Possible explanation is provided based on flow visualization results.

• International Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.156-162
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• 2007

Flow visualization experiments were conducted for two louver arrays having large louver pitch ratio ($L_p/F_p=1.0$ and 1.4). Flow efficiencies and critical Reynolds numbers were obtained from the data, and were compared with existing correlations. The correlations failed to predict the present flow efficiency data adequately; some correlation overpredicted the data, while others underpredicted the data. Large louver pitch ratio of the present model, which is outside of the applicable range of the correlations may partly be responsible. The critical Reynolds numbers obtained from the present flow visualization data were in close agreement with those obtained from the heat transfer tests on actual flat tube heat exchangers. Existing correlations on the critical Reynolds number generally overpredicted the present data.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.26 no.12
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• pp.1681-1691
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• 2002

The heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of heat exchangers with louver fins were experimentally investigated. The samples had small fin pitches (1.0 mm to 1.4 mm), and experiments were conducted up to a very low frontal air velocity (as low as 0.3 m/s). At a certain Reynolds number (critical Reynolds number), the flattening of the heat transfer coefficient curve was observed. The critical Reynolds number was insensitive to the louver angle, and decreased as the louver pitch to fin pitch ratio (L$_{p}$F$_{p}$) decreased. Existing correlations on the critical Reynolds number did not adequately predict the data. It is suggested that, for proper assessment of the heat transfer behavior, the louver pattern in addition to the flow characterization need to be considered. The heat transfer coefficient increased as the fin pitch decreased. At low Reynolds numbers, however, the trend was reversed. Possible explanation is provided considering the louver pattern between neighboring fins. Different from the heat transfer coefficient, the friction factor did not show the flattening characteristic. The reason may be attributed to the form drag by louvers, which offsets the decreased skin friction at a low Reynolds number. The friction factor increased as the fin pitch decreased and the louver angle increased. A new correlation predicted 92% of the heat transfer coefficient and 90% of the friction factor within $\pm$10%.10%.