3844 -- An Experimental Evaluation of Capillary Tube-Suction Line Heat Exchanger Performance with R152a PDF

Capillary tube-suction line heat exchanger performance correlations predicting mass flow rate and effective subcooling have been generated for refrigerant R152a for application to household refrigerators. These prediction correlations were developed from experimental data taken over a range of applicable operating boundary conditions and heat exchanger geometries. Due to the large number of variables that could potentially influence heat exchanger performance, statistical methods were employed in designing the test plan and in reducing the data. For these experiments, the measured mass flow rate ranged between 6.5 and 15.5 lbm/h (2.95 and 7.03 kg/h), and the effective subcooling level ranged between 25degF and 50degF (13.9degC and 27.8degC). A comparison of the R152a results to experimental data for R12 was also made.

KEYWORDS: year 1995, experiment, calculating, capillary tubes, suction, heat exchangers, performance, refrigerants, R152a, fluid flow, subcooling, refrigerators, comparing, R12, heat flow, testing