• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
• /
• v.24 no.1
• /
• pp.45-50
• /
• 2012

The plate fin and tube type of heat exchanger is widely used in air conditioner, and the heat exchanger is assembled by the mechanical expansion of copper tubes and fastening the aluminum fin. The objective of the present study is to investigate how the mechanical expansion of copper tube affects on the heat transfer performance of a plate fin and tube type heat exchanger. This study has been performed by experimental and numerical methods. The numerical and experimental results show that the tube expansion ratio has a influence on the heat transfer performance. Within the tested expansion ratio, the contact pressure shows the peak value and it decreases as the expansion ratio increases. Air-side heat transfer coefficient increases until the expansion ratio reaches 1.23, and then decreases with the similar pattern to the contact pressure. Also, contact heat transfer coefficient shows the maximum when the contact pressure is highest as well as the air-side heat transfer coefficient.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
• /
• v.12 no.10
• /
• pp.932-940
• /
• 2000

An experimental study on evaporative heat transfer characteristics in micro-fin tubes before and after expansion process has been performed with R-22. Single-grooved micro-fin tubes with outer diameter of 9.52 mm were used as test sections, and it was uniformly heated by applying direct current to the test tubes. Experiments were conducted at mass flow rates of 20 and 30 kg/hr. For each mass flow rate condition, evaporation temperature was set at 5 and $15^{\circ}C$and heat flux was changed from 6 to 11 kW/$m^2$ The evaporative heat transfer coefficient of micro-fin tubes after expansion is decreased because of the crush of fins and enlargement of inner diameter compared to that before expansion. Convective boiling effect decreased remarkably at higher quality range in the micro-fin tube after expansion, and the difference of the heat transfer coefficient in micro-fin tubes before and after expansion was greater for higher quality region. The evaporative heat transfer coefficient of the micro-fin tube after expansion was 19.9% smaller on the average than that before expansion.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2007.11a
• /
• pp.538-541
• /
• 2007

An expansion device plays an important role in optimizing the heat pumps by controlling refrigerant flow and balancing the system pressures. Conventional expansion devices are being gradually replaced with electronic expansion valves due to increasing focus on comfort, energy conservation, and application of a variable speed compressor. In addition, the amount of refrigerant charge in a heat pump is another primary parameter influencing system performance. In this study, the flow characteristics of the expansion devices are analyzed, and the effects of refrigerant charge amount on the performance of the heat pump are investigated at various operating conditions. Cooling capacity of the heat pump system is strongly dependent on load conditions. The heat pump system is very sensitive with a variation of refrigerant charge amount. But, the performance of it can be optimized by adjusting the flow rate through expansion device to maintain a constant superheat at all test conditions.

• 연구논문집
• /
• s.34
• /
• pp.29-38
• /
• 2004

The objective of this study is to investigate the pressure drop and heat transfer characteristics of the micro-fin tubes before and after the tube-expansion process. Test tubes are single-grooved micro-fin tubes made of copper with an outer diameter of 9.52 mm before the tube-expansion. The direct heating method is applied in order to make the refrigerant evaporated in the micro-fin tubes. The test ranges of the heat flux, mass flux, and the saturation pressure are 5 to 15kW/$m^2$, 100 to 200 kg/$m^2s$ and 540 to 790 kPa, respectively. The effects of the mass flux, heat flux, and the saturation pressure of the refrigerant on the pressure drop and the heat transfer are presented for the refrigerant R22. In the test conditions of this study, the heat transfer coefficient for the micro-fin tube after the tube-expansion is about 16.5% smaller than that before the tube-expansion because the fin height of micro-fin is reduced and the fin shape becomes flatter. The micro-fin tube after the tube-expansion has about 7.7% greater average pressure drop than that before the tube-expansion process.

• New & Renewable Energy
• /
• v.3 no.4
• /
• pp.22-30
• /
• 2007

An expansion device plays an important role in optimizing the heat pumps by controlling refrigerant flow and balancing the system pressures. Conventional expansion devices are being gradually replaced with electronic expansion valves due to increasing focus on comfort, energy conservation, and application of a variable speed compressor. In addition, the amount of refrigerant charge in a heat pump is another primary parameter influencing system performance. In this study, the flow characteristics of the expansion devices are analyzed, and the effects of refrigerant charge amount on the performance of the heat pump and the variation of compressor speed are investigated at various operating conditions. Mass flow rate through capillary tube, short tube orifice, and EEV was strongly dependent on the upstream pressure and subcooling. The heat pump system is very sensitive with a variation of refrigerant charge amount. The performance of it can be optimized by adjusting the flow rate through expansion device to maintain a constant superheat at all test conditions.

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

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
• /
• v.47 no.6
• /
• pp.293-296
• /
• 2014

Fe-Ni has been of great interest because it is known as one of low thermal expansion alloys as various application areas. This alloy was fabricated by electroforming process, and effect of heat treatment on thermal expansion and hardness was investigated. Nano-crystalline structure of 13.3 - 63.5 nm in size was observed in the as-deposited alloy. To investigate the effect of heat treatment on grain growth and mechanical/thermal properties, we conducted hardness and coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE). From this, we confirmed these properties were varied by heat treatment. In this nano-crystalline alloy, we could observe abnormal behavior in thermal expansion between $350-400^{\circ}C$. Additionally, an abrupt change in hardness has also been observed. However, once the grains grow up to micro-sized the mechanical and thermal properties mentioned above were stabilized similar to those of bulk alloys due to heat treatment.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
• /
• v.28 no.11
• /
• pp.428-433
• /
• 2016

The fin and tube heat exchanger using a two-port tube has in air-conditioner heat exchanger because heat transfer performance. This study investigates the feasibility of a fin and tube heat exchanger using two-port copper tube by mechanical expansion. The optimum size of the tube-expanding bullet for the heat exchanger using two-port tube was through numerical calculation. The heat exchanger using a two-port tube was fabricated by mechanical expansion, and the heat exchanger performance was evaluated condensation and evaporation experiments. Compared to the heat exchanger of a conventional circular tube, the pressure drop per unit length of the heat exchanger with a two-port tube decreased. Compared to the heat exchanger using a conventional circular tube, the overall heat transfer coefficient of heat exchanger with a two-port tube increased up to 13% in the case of condensation, and up to 25% in the case of evaporation. The two-port tube heat exchanger outperforms conventional heat exchanger for air conditioner with a inner grooved circular tube.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
• /
• v.24 no.7
• /
• pp.553-559
• /
• 2012

A plate-fin heat exchanger is a type of heat exchanger widely used in air conditioners, and tubes and fins are tightly assembled by the mechanical expansion process of tubes. The tube expansion process deforms the grooves inside the tube, and the groove shapes also affect the adhesion between tubes and fins. In this study, the adhesion and heat transfer performance affected by the tube expansion of the non-uniform groove shape tube with different heights are investigated by both analysis and experiments. From the analysis method, it was shown that the contact pressure of non-uniform groove tube is higher than that of the uniform groove tube, and the most appropriate high groove number of the non-uniform groove tube is designed for the maximum contact pressure. From the experimental results, the decreasing rate of the condensation heat transfer coefficient is smaller in the non-uniform groove tube with different heights, compared to the conventional uniform groove tube. Also, the air-side heat transfer coefficient of the non-uniform groove tube with different heights is higher than that of the uniform groove tubes.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.10 no.3
• /
• pp.138-152
• /
• 1996

Many studies of heat transfer on the swirling flow or unswirled flow in a abrupt pipe expansion are widely carried out. The mechanism is not fully found evidently due to the instabilities of flow in a sudden change of the shape and appearance of turbulent shear layers in a recirculation region and secondary vortex near the corner. The purpose of this study is to obtain data through an experimental study of the swirling flow and heat transfer downstream of an abrupt expansion in a circular pipe with uniform heat flux. Experiments were carried out for the turbulent flow nd heat transfer downstream of an abrupt circular pipe expansion. The uniform heat flux condition was imposed to the downstream of the abrupt expansion by using an electrically heated pipe. Experimental data are presented for local heat transfer rates and local axial velocities in the tube downstream of an abrupt 3:1 & 2:1 expansion. Air was used as the working fluid in the upstream tube, the Reynolds number was varied from 60, 00 to 120, 000 and the swirl number range (based on the swirl chamber geometry, i.e. L/d ratio) in which the experiments were conducted were L/d=0, 8 and 16. Axial velocity increased rapidly at r/R=0.35 in the abrupt concentric expansion turbulent flow through the test tube in unswirled flow. It showed that with increasing axial distance the highest axial velocities move toward the tube wall in the case of the swirling flow abrupt expansion. A uniform wall heat flux boundary condition was employed, which resulted in wall-to-bulk temperatures ranging from 24.deg. C to 71.deg. C. In swirling flow, the wall temperature showed a greater increase at L/d=16 than any other L/d. The bulk temperature showed a minimum value at the pipe inlet, it also exhibited a linear increase with axial distance along the pipe. As swirl intensity increased, the location of peak Nu numbers was observed to shift from 4 to 1 step heights downstream of the expansion. This upstream movement of the maximum Nusselt number was accompanied by an increase in its magnitude from 2.2 to 8.8 times larger than fully developed tube flow values.