Flow Patterns of Tetraflouroethane Refrigerant in Different Small Diameter Tubes Used for Vaccine Delivery Boxes

This study aims to determine the flow patterns of tetrafluorethane refrigerant in different small diameter tubes. It attempts to establish a relationship among the temperature, pressure drop, volumetric flow of tetraflouroethane refrigerant in a 900 mm long small diameter tube. Tests are conducted to determine the effect of varying hydraulic tube diameter to the temperature and pressure drop of tetraflouroethane refrigerant in different flow rate. A copper tube with hydraulic diameter of 0.20 mm, 0.25 mm, 0.30 mm, 0.35 mm, 0.40 mm and 0.45 mm were used in this study. For every known hydraulic diameter, there are six (6) test points located in every 150 mm interval. The experimental rig is composed of six (6) pieces of 900 mm long copper tubes for the given hydraulic diameters. Each tube is marked with 150 mm, 300 mm, 450 mm, 600 mm, 750 mm and 900 mm. The markings represent the length of capillary tubes in millimeters where test points are located. A pressure transducer is attached to every test point and is used to measure the pressure drop at every length of the small diameter capillary tube. The result shows that pressure drop increases as the tube hydraulic diameter decreases and attained an evaporator temperature as low as -5 oC. The smaller the diameter of the tube, the more it is effective to give pressure drop for the design of a handy vaccine delivery box refrigeration system.