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