This paper presented a numerical study that predicts critical mass flow rate, pressure, vapor quality, and void fraction along a very long tube with small diameter or capillary tub under critical condition by the drift flux model. Capillary tubes are simple expansion devices and are necessary to design and optimization of refrigeration systems. Using dimensional analysis by Buckingham’s π theory, some generalized correlations are proposed for prediction of flow parameters as functions of flow properties and tube sizes under various critical conditions. This study is performed under the inlet pressure in the range of 0.8 ≤ pin ≤ 1.5Mpa, subcooling temperature between 0 ≤ ΔTsub ≤ 10 °C. The tube diameter is in the range of 0.5 ≤ D ≤ 1.5mm and tube length between 1 ≤ L ≤ 2m for water, ammonia, refrigerants R-12, R-22 and R-134 as working fluids. Comparison between the results of the present work and some experimental data indicates a good agreement. Cluster of data close to the fitted curves also shows satisfactory results.
Although HFC-134a is a common refrigerant for residential and mobile refrigeration systems, investigators are dealing with replacing it with new alternatives because of its harmful environmental and global warming effects. Recently HFO-1234yf and HFO-1234ze have been introduced as suitable alternative refrigerants because they have zero ozone depletion potential (ODP) and low global warming potential (GWP) and possess thermophysical properties similar to those of HFC-134a. Because there is no experimental data on the performance of these new refrigerants in capillary tubes and short-tube orifices, a recently developed numerical model for analysis of critical two-phase flow through these tubes is used to predict the critical mass flow rate and pressure distribution of HFO-1234yf and HFO-1234ze under various operating conditions. The applied numerical model is based on a comprehensive two-fluid model including the effects of two-phase flow patterns and liquid-phase metastability. The numerical method has been validated by comparing numerical results of the critical flows of HFC-134a, R-410A, and HCFC-22 with available experimental data. The developed numerical simulation is applied in order to develop comparison and selection charts for short-tube orifices based on the common refrigerant HFC-134a and the alternative new refrigerants HFO-1234yf and HFO-1234ze.
Small-diameter tubes are utilized widely as expansion devices in refrigeration systems. They are employed in either kinds of short-tube orifices or long capillary tubes. Performance of these tubes is reliant upon critical flashing of the two-phase flow that controls the mass flow rate of the refrigeration system resulting in a steep reduction in pressure and temperature. The critical flow condition is approached whenever the mass flow rate increases to an amount whereby the choked-flow phenomenon occurs at the outlet of the tube. Due to their very small tube diameter, the evaporating two-phase flow, and the choked-flow condition, numerical analysis of flow through short-tube orifices is challenging. Accordingly, all available numerical analyses of such flows are performed as one-dimensional and in the majority of them, auxiliary correlations are applied to simplify the solution procedure. Typical approaches include homogeneous flow models and separated flow models, both of which consider the two-phase region in thermal equilibrium. The most comprehensive method for analyzing such flows is the two-fluid model in which there is no assumption of equilibrium between phases. Because of the complicated nature of this model, it has been used in a very limited number of previous investigations. Furthermore, two-phase flow calculations at the entrance and vena contracta region were eliminated. In the current investigation, additional steps utilized to improve the accuracy of computations include the following: (1) applying the most comprehensive two-fluid model including the effect of various two-phase flow patterns and the metastability of liquid phase, and (2) performing a two-phase analysis of the evaporating flow through the entrance and vena contracta regions which involves simulating the region as a converging diverging tube and performing a quasi-one-dimensional solution of governing equations through this region. Results showed more compatibility with experimental data in comparison with those of previous investigations for predicting the critical flow condition of common refrigerants HFC-134a and HFC-410a through short-tube orifices and long capillary tubes.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.