Air-side heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of microchannel evaporators for household refrigerators

• Published in: International journal of heat and mass transfer 2020-02, Vol.147, p.118913, Article 118913
• Main Authors: Boeng, Joel, Marcon, Arthur A., Hermes, Christian J.L.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aerodynamics; Air flow; Correlation; Evaporation; Evaporator; Evaporators; Experimentation; Flow velocity; Fluid dynamics; Fluid flow; Heat exchangers; Heat transfer; Household appliances; Household application; Households; Microchannel; Microchannels; Pressure drop; Refrigeration; Refrigerators; Reynolds number; Thermal conductivity; Wind tunnels
• ISSN: 0017-9310; 1879-2189
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2019.118913

•New microchannel evaporator design to be used in frost-free household refrigerators.•Performance of sixteen prototypes evaluated in an open-loop wind-tunnel calorimeter.•Empirical correlations for j and f factors were devised with reasonable agreement. Microchannels are likely to be the next heat transfer technology for household refrigerating applications, especially due to their compact design and high heat transfer rate per unit of volume. In contrast to the conventional tube-fin evaporators, the available heat transfer and pressure drop correlations are not well-stablished yet. This study introduces a new microchannel evaporator design to be used in ‘no-frost’ household refrigerators. The performance of sixteen evaporators prototypes with distinct geometric characteristics were evaluated experimentally in an open-loop wind-tunnel calorimeter facility coming up with data for the overall thermal conductance and the air-side pressure drop data as a function of the air flow rate. Empirical correlations for Colburn j-factor and friction f-factor were devised in terms of the Reynolds number and key compact heat exchanger parameters, being able to predict 90% of the experimental counterparts within ±10% and ±20% error bands, respectively. Furthermore, comparisons against a typical no-frost tube-fin evaporator was carried out with respect to air-side pressure drop and overall thermal conductance, which indicated a promising potentiality of application in household refrigeration appliances.