• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.16 no.12
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• pp.1167-1174
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• 2004

The method to consider gravity effect on the performance of a condenser is developed, and a simple condenser having 'nU' type two circuits is analyzed. Each circuit has the same length and inlet air-side operational conditions. The only difference between two circuits is the direction of refrigerant flow, which is exactly opposite each other between the upper 'n' type circuit and the lower 'U' type circuit. It is shown that the gravity makes the distribution of refrigerant flow uneven in the two circuits at lower refrigerant flow rates; heat transfer rate also becomes uneven. Moreover, much of the refrigerant exists as liquid state in the circuit having low refrigerant flow rate, which will make the cycle balance unstable in the refrigeration cycle system like a heat pump.

• Proceedings of the SAREK Conference
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.371-375
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• 2009

The distribution control of refrigerant flow is one of the basic technique to enhance system efficiency. However, if engineers forget to control the refrigerant flow speed in all operation range, refrigerant flow mal distribution becomes a noise source. The refrigerant flow noise should be checked and controlled at the lowest air flow mode which is the most silent mode and frequently used in night time.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.10 no.12
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• pp.3546-3552
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• 2009

In this study, an analysis code was created for a 190*650*25-mm (W*H*D) parallel-flow evaporator, and research was done on how to increase the heat transfer rate of aluminum PF heat exchanger for application in IDU. After varying the R410A refrigerant up-down flow to two and three passes and the distribution ratio to 1:1:1 and 1:2:2, it was determined that the two-pass flow has a 30% higher partial heat transfer rate and a 25% lower heat transfer coefficient compared to the three-pass flow. As for the distribution ratios of the three-pass flow, 1:1:1 was found to have a lower refrigerant pressure loss than 1:2:2 distribution. It was assumed, though, that the refrigerant distribution had a uniform flow and that its value was thus overestimated in the actual case of maldistribution in each pass.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.15 no.12
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• pp.1043-1048
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• 2003

An experimental investigation was executed to determine the capacity degradation due to non-uniform refrigerant distribution in a multi-path evaporator. In addition, the possibility of recovering the capacity reduction by controlling the refrigerant distribution among refrigerant paths was assessed. The finned-tube evaporator, which had a three-path and three-depth-row, was tested by controlling inlet quality, exit pressure, and exit superheat for each refrigerant path. The capacity reduction due to superheat unbalance between each path was as much as 30%, even when the overall evaporator superheat was kept at a target value of 5.6$^{\circ}C$. It may indicate that the internal heat transfer within the evaporator assembly caused the partial capacity drop. For the evaporator having air mal-distributions, the maximum capacity reduction was found to be 8.7%. A 4.5% capacity recovery was obtained by controlling refrigerant distribution to obtain the target superheat at the outlet of each path.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.27 no.9
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• pp.491-496
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• 2015

Generally, the phase of the refrigerants that circulate in air-conditioning systems is repeatedly changed from liquid to gas and from gas to liquid. In vapor-compression refrigeration, the refrigerant at the inlet of the evaporator is in a gas-liquid two-phase state; therefore, to enhance the heat-transfer performance of the evaporator, the even distribution of the refrigerant across multiple passages of the evaporator is essential. Unlike the distribution of a single-phase refrigerant, multi-phase distribution requires further considerations. It is known that the multi-phase distribution at the outlet of the distributor is affected by factors such as the operating condition, the distributor's shape, and the insertion depth of the outlet pipes; here, the insertion depth of the outlet pipes is especially significant. In this study, for a cylindrical distributor with a 90-degree bend entrance and three outlet pipes, the flow uniformity at the outlet pipes was numerically tested in relation to variations of the insertion depth of the outlet pipes.

• Proceedings of the SAREK Conference
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• 2008.06a
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• pp.340-345
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• 2008

A computer program, which simulates the parall flow evaporator was developed. The program was having used to simulate the sample $650\;mm{\times}190\;mm$ frontal area, 25 mm flow depth and 3.0 mm fin pitch. It was shown that the cooling capacity of 3kW could be available from the sample. The present model, however, does not consider refrigerant mal-distribution in each pass, which is known to reduce the cooling capacity of the parallel flow heat exchanger.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.14 no.9
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• pp.741-748
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• 2002

The present study investigated the two-phase flow characteristics of refrigerant R-22 in T-branch with horizontal and vertical inlet tube The key experimental parameters were the orientation of inlet and branch tubes (horizontal and vertical), diameter ratio of branch tube to inlet tube (1 and 0.61), inlet mass flux (200~500 kg/$m^2$s) and inlet quality (0.1~0.4). Predicted pressure profile agreed with the measured data within 25.4%. The flow distribution ratio decreased as the mass flux increased. The flow distribution ratio decreased by 12~25% as the tube diameter ratio decreased from 1 to 0.61, and decreased by 38~47% as the orientation of branch changed from horizontal to vertical upward for horizontal inlet tubes. As the orientation of inlet tube changed from horizontal to vertical upward for horizontal branch, the flow distribution ratio increased by 15~68%, but the quality in the branch tube decreased by 28~92% due to phase separation.

• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.717-727
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• 2006

The present study experimentally investigated the effect of flow direction and other flow parameters on two-phase flow distribution of refrigerants at a T-junction, and also suggested a prediction model for refrigerant in a T-junction by modifying previous model for air-water flow. R-22, R-134a, and R-410A were used as test refrigerants. As geometric parameters, the direction of the inlet or branch tube and the tube diameter ratio of branch to inlet tube were chosen. The measured data were compared with the values predicted by the models developed for air-water or steam-water mixture in the literature. We propose a modified model for application to the reduced T-junction and vertical tube orientation. Among the geometric parameters, the branch tube direction showed the biggest sensitivity to the mass flow rate ratio for the gas phase, while the inlet quality showed the biggest sensitivity to the mass flow rate ratio among the inlet flow parameters.

• International Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.130-136
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• 2008

The refrigerant R-134a flow distributions are experimentally studied for a round header/ten flat tube test section simulating a brazed aluminum heat exchanger. Three different inlet orientations(parallel, normal, vertical) were investigated. Tests were conducted with downward flow for the mass flux from 70 to 130 $kg/m^2s$ and quality from 0.2 to 0.6. In the test section, tubes were flush-mounted with no protrusion into the header. It is shown that normal and vertical inlet yielded approximately similar flow distribution. At high mass fluxes or high qualities, however, slightly better results were obtained for normal inlet configuration. The flow distribution was worst for the parallel inlet configuration. Possible explanation is provided based on flow visualization results.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.199-204
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• 2003

In the present study, the compression process in scroll compressor was simulated in consideration of flow leakage and heat transfer. Tangential and radial leakages of the refrigerant between the scrolls were considered as nozzle flow. The experiment was first conducted with a scroll compressor for automobile air conditioning system and R134a as a refrigerant. Temperature and pressure were measured at the suction and discharge ports of the compressor to determine the thermodynamic states of the refrigerant flow. Temperature distribution of the scroll with the involute angle was also measured by thermocouples that were installed inside the scroll. Measured temperature distribution was compared with the numerical results. From this result, the thermal effect of mechanical contact was found to be important in heat transfer of the compression process.