• International Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration
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• v.7
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• pp.11-21
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• 1999

The capillary tube and short tube orifice have been widely used as an expansion device in the refrigeration and air-conditioning system. To improve the system performance, expansion devices need to be optimized with the components of a refrigeration system. In the present study, a numerical model for a capillary, which could predict the flow rate and properties along a tube, was developed by assuming homogeneous two-phase flow. A semi-empirical flow model for evaluation of the flow rate through a short tube orifice was also developed by using the experimental data. Finally, the results of the numerical model for a capillary was compared with those of the semi-empirical model for a short tube orifice to identify the dominant flow factors for the expansion devices.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.118-128
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• 1998

Capillary and short tube orifice have been widely used as an expansion device in refrigeration and air-conditioning system. To improve the system performance, expansion devices need to be optimized with the components of a refrigeration system. In the present study, a numerical model for a capillary, which can predict properties along a tube and flow rate through a tube, was developed by assuming homogeneous two-phase flow, A semi-empirical flow model that can be used to evaluate the flow rate through a short tube orifice was also developed by summarizing the experimental data. Finally, the results of the numerical model for capillaries were compared with those of the semi-empirical model for short tube orifices to verify dominant flow factors for the expansion devices.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.15 no.8
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• pp.661-666
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• 2003

Constant area expansion devices such as capillary tubes, short tube orifices are being gradually replaced with electronic expansion valves (EEVs) because of increasing focus on comfort and energy conservation. In this study, the performance of a water-to-water heat pump as a function of refrigerant charge is investigated in steady state, cooling mode operation with expansion devices of a capillary tube and an EEV. The performance of the capillary tube system varies drastically according to the change of refrigerant charge amount and inlet temperature of the secondary fluid in the condenser. Cooling capacity and COP of the EEV system show little dependence on the refrigerant charge, while those are strongly dependent on the secondary fluid temperature at the condenser inlet. In general, for a wide range of operating conditions the EEV system shows much higher performance as compared with the capillary tube system. The performance of the EEV system can be optimized by adjusting EEV opening to maintain a constant superheat at all test conditions.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.928-936
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• 1999

An experimental study was performed to investigate characteristics of an inverter driven water-to-water refrigeration system with a variation of compressor frequencies and expansion devices. The frequency of a compressor varied from 30Hz to 75Hz, and performance of the systems applying three different expansion devices such as capillary tube, thermostatic expansion valve(TXV), and electronic expansion valve(EEV) were measured. The load conditions were altered by varying the temperature of the secondary fluid entering condenser and evaporator with a constant flow rate. When the test conditions were deviated from the standard value(rated value), TXV and EEV showed better performance than capillary tube due to optimum control of mass flow rate and superheat. In the present study, it was observed that the variable area expansion device had better performance than constant area expansion device in an inverter refrigeration system due to active control of flow area with a change of compressor frequency and load conditions.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.31 no.1 s.256
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• pp.91-98
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• 2007

Air-conditioners use a spirally coiled capillary tube as an expansion device to enhance compactness of the unit. However, most empirical correlations in open literature were developed for straight capillary tubes without considering coiled effects on the mass flow rate. The objectives of this study are to investigate the flow characteristics of coiled capillary tubes and to develop a generalized correlation for mass flow rate through coiled capillary tubes. The mass flow rates through the coiled capillary tubes and straight capillary tubes were measured by varying operating conditions and tube geometry. The condensing temperatures varied at 40.5, 47.5 and $54.5^{\circ}C$, and subcoolings altered at 3.5, 6.5 and $11.5^{\circ}C$. The mass flow rates of the coiled capillary tubes decreased by 5 to 16% compared with those of the straight capillary tubes at the same operating conditions. An empirical correlation was developed by introducing equivalent length of capillary tube with non-dimensional parameters for coiled shape. The present correlation predicts the data with average and standard deviations of 0.33% and 3.24%, respectively.

• International Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.192-197
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• 2004

A capillary tube, which is a common expansion device in small sized refrig-eration and air-conditioning systems, should be redesigned properly to establish an optimum operation cycle of a refrigerating system with alternative refrigerants. Based on experimental data for R-22, R-290, and R-407C, an empirical correlation is developed to predict mass flow rate through capillary tubes. Dimensionless parameters are derived from the Buckingham Pi theorem, considering the effects of operating conditions and capillary tube geometry on mass flow rate. Approximately $97\%$ of the present data are correlated within a relative deviation of $\pm\;10\%.$ The present correlation also predicts the data obtained from open literature within $\pm\;15\%.$ In addition, rating charts of refrigerant flow rate for R-12, R-22, R-134a, R-152a, R-407C, R-410A, R-290, and R-600a are developed.

• International Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.60-68
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• 2000

An experimental study was peformed to investigate characteristics of an inverter driven heat pump system with a variation of compressor frequency and expansion device. The compressor frequency varied from 30Hz to 75Hz, and the performance of the system ap-plying three different expansion devices such as capillary tube, thermostatic expansion valve(TXV), and electronic expansion valve (EEV) was measured. The load conditions were altered by varying the temperatures of the secondary fluid entering condenser and evaporator with a constant flow rate. When the test condition was deviated from the standard value(rated value), TXV and EEV showed better performance than capillary tube due to optimal control of mass flow rate and superheat. In the present study, it was observed that the variable area expansion device had better performance than constant area expansion device in the inverter heat pump system due to active control of flow area with a change of com-pressor frequency and load conditions.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.359-364
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• 2002

A popular type of residential air conditioner is the split system which has two separate units: indoor and outdoor units During field installation of the split system, the potential exists for not setting the charge exactly to the manufacturer´s specifications. The objective of this study is to investigate the effects of the refrigerant charge on the performance of the air conditioner. An air conditioner with capillary tube expansions was tested for various refrigerant charges. The results indicated that the more charge resulted in the more flowrate of the refrigerant. The flowrate of the refrigerant was one of the most important factors to understand the e(sects of the charge on the performance of the air conditioner with capillary tube expansions. Under-charge results in wide region of superheated vapor of the refrigerant in the evaporator, while over-charge results in high temperature of the liquid refrigerant in the evaporator.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.576-581
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• 2011

In this paper, the prediction of adiabatic capillary tube of heat pump using carbon dioxide is investigated theoretically and experimentally to offer the basic design data for the operating parameters of this system. The operating parameters considered in this study include evaporation temperature, cooling pressure of gas cooler, mass flowrate, and the length and diameter of capillary tube. Based on study results of several researchers, the correlation predicting the length of capillary tube of $CO_2$ heat pump was proposed. And the experimental results of evaporation temperature, mass flowrate and cooling pressure in adiabatic capillary tube have an good agreement to those calculated from Eq. (3) within 0.63~10.9%. Therefore, the prediction calculating the length of adiabatic capillary tube of $CO_2$ heat pump was proposed at the given conditions such as cooling pressure, evaporation temperature and capillary tube diameter.

• International Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2003

The examinations of the operating mechanism of an oscillating capillary tube heat pipe (OCHP) using the visualization method revealed that the working fluid in the OCHP oscillated to the axial direction by the contraction and expansion of vapor plugs. The contraction and expansion were due to the formation and extinction of bubbles in the evaporating and condensing part, respectively The actual physical mechanism, whereby the heat which was transferred in such an OCHP was complex and not well understood. In this study, a theoretical model of the OCHP was developed to model the oscillating motion of working fluid in the OCHP. The differential equations of two-phase flow were applied and simultaneous non-linear partial differential equations were solved. From the analysis of the numerical results, it was found that the oscillating motion Of working fluid in the OCHP was affected by the operation and design conditions such as the heat flux, the charging ratio of working fluid and the hydraulic diameter of flow channel. The simulation results showed that the proposed model and solution could be used for estimating the operating mechanism in the OCHP.