Abstract:

In this study, the mathematical modeling of microchannel heat exchangers (MCHEs) has been experimentally examined for applications where there is a single-phase refrigerant flow such as pre-heating/cooling, superheating/subcooling. A mathematical simulation model has been developed for louvered fin MCHEs where the working fluid is R600a, which estimates the outlet temperature, total heat transfer capacity and entropy generation of the R600a. To imrpove the accuracy of the model, different mass velocities in the passes and uniform air velocities at the face of MCHE have been taken into consideration in the proposed model. Different from other models in the literature, a calculation system created by two discretization level has been applied to take into account these effects. Non-uniform air velocities have been taken into consideration via dividing the face of the MCHE into airflow regions in the model. Experimental study has been performed to validate the model results. It concluded that the model predicts the outlet temperature with an average absolute deviation within ±10% for all investigated test conditions. It is found that the taking into consideration non-uniform air velocity improves accuracy of the model. The entropy generation mechanisms in the MCHE have been investigated and it has been determined that the contribution of the fluid flow irreversibility to entropy generation is quite low compared to heat transfer irreversibility.

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