Microchannel Heat Exchangers with Carbon Dioxide (2001)

The objective of the present study was to determine the performance of CO{sub 2} microchannel evaporators and gas coolers in operational conditions representing those of residential heat pumps. A set of breadboard prototype microchannel evaporators and gas coolers was developed and tested. The refrigerant in the heat exchangers followed a counter cross-flow path with respect to the airflow direction. The test conditions corresponded to the typical operating conditions of residential heat pumps. In addition, a second set of commercial microchannel evaporators and gas coolers was tested for a less comprehensive range of operating conditions. The test results were reduced and a comprehensive data analysis, including comparison with the previous studies in this field, was performed. Capacity and pressure drop of the evaporator and gas cooler for the range of parameters studied were analyzed and are documented in this report. A gas cooler performance prediction model based on non-dimensional parameters was also developed and results are discussed as well. In addition, in the present study, experiments were conducted to evaluate capacities and pressure drops for sub-critical CO{sub 2} flow boiling and transcritical CO{sub 2} gas cooling in microchannel heat exchangers. An extensive review of the literature failed to indicate any previous systematic study in this area, suggesting a lack of fundamental understanding of the phenomena and a lack of comprehensive data that would quantify the performance potential of CO{sub 2} microchannel heat exchangers for the application at hand. All experimental tests were successfully conducted with an energy balance within {+-}3%. The only exceptions to this were experiments at very low saturation temperatures (-23 C), where energy balances were as high as 10%. In the case of evaporators, it was found that a lower saturation temperature (especially when moisture condensation occurs) improves the overall heat transfer coefficient significantly. However, under such conditions, air side pressure drop also increases when moisture condensation occurs. An increase in airflow rate also increases the overall heat transfer coefficient. Air side pressure drop mainly depends on airflow rate. For the gas cooler, a significant portion of the heat transfer occurred in the first heat exchanger module on the refrigerant inlet side. The temperature and pressure of CO{sub 2} significantly affect the heat transfer and fluid flow characteristics due to some important properties (such as specific heat, density, and viscosity). In the transcritical region, performance of CO{sub 2} strongly depends on the operating temperature and pressure. Semi-empirical models were developed for predictions of CO{sub 2} evaporator and gas cooler system capacities. The evaporator model introduced two new factors to account for the effects of air-side moisture condensate and refrigerant outlet superheat. The model agreed with the experimental results within {+-}13%. The gas cooler model, based on non-dimensional parameters, successfully predicted the experimental results within {+-}20%. Recommendations for future work on this project include redesigning headers and/or introducing flow mixers to avoid flow mal-distribution problems, devising new defrosting techniques, and improving numerical models. These recommendations are described in more detail at the end of this report.