Effect of the Slinger Ring on the Forced Convection Heat Transfer in a Window Air Conditioner

Abstract

The present study evaluates the effect of the slinger ring on the forced convection heat transfer in window air conditioners. Slinger rings are fitted around condenser fans to spread the condensate onto the condenser to achieve additional cooling. The single-phase forced convection is simulated to compare the thermal performance of the multiphase flow by the slinger ring. Experiments are performed to validate the numerical results. The numerical results well reconstruct the experimental ones, showing the regional dependent distribution and the discharge of the sprayed condensates by the slinger ring. The slinger ring causes a considerable heat transfer on the condenser coils by spraying the condensates, compared with the single-phase flow. However, the inner region of the slinger ring and the fan is almost the dead zone for the condensate spray, since the strong axial flow protects the entrainment of the splashed condensate, which is explained by the isotherms and velocity vectors. The regions of the occurrence of the additional heat transfer are almost overlapped to those exposed to the condensates sprayed by the slinger ring. The slinger ring contributes to a substantial increase of approximately 17% in the heat transfer on the condenser coils, compared with the single-phase flow.