Abstract
The specific objective of this study was to develop an IRDS (integrated receiver drier subcooling) condenser model for use in a mobile air-conditioning system. A three-zone model based on the desuperheating, two-phase, and subcooling sections of a condenser could be used to estimate the performance with a good accuracy. Overall heat transfer coefficients for each of the three sections, expressed as a function of the air velocity across the condenser and refrigerant mass flow rate and the model using the elemental difference method incorporate calculations to determine the pressure drop, heat performance within the condenser and it includes physical parameters (pass, tube hole size and length) that can be varied to analyze potential design changes without exhaustive experimental efforts. it was found that an accuracy of heat performance was within 5% in case of using the various condensers, the refrigerant pressure drop was predicted within 25% and the pressure drop of air side was well matched with experiment data within 4%.