Numerical and Experimental Investigation of Condensation Phenomenon in a Commercial-Type Condenser in Terms of Different Air Velocities and Refrigerants

Abstract In this study, the influence of different speeds of air passing over the outer surface of the air-cooled finned-tube condenser on the condensing phenomenon occurring inside the condenser, in which R134a, R1234yf, and R507a were used as refrigerants, was examined using thermodynamic analysis (experimental study), computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis, and thermal camera monitoring methods. The thermal camera monitoring method was used to obtain temperature images of the condenser surface. Additionally, the temperature and flow distributions inside and outside the condenser, whose three-dimensional geometry was created in a computer environment, were analyzed using CFD analysis under steady-state conditions. For the refrigerants used, increasing the air velocity by an average of 85% resulted in a maximum increase of 14.93% and 9.85% in the condenser capacity and refrigerant-side convection heat transfer coefficient, respectively. It was also found that the condensation phenomenon gradually improved, resulting in a maximum reduction of 69.07% in the degree of quality (the ratio of the mass of vapor to the total mass). With respect to the results obtained from the study, it was determined that the highest deviation between the results obtained from the experimental study and CFD analysis was 15.73% when the average convection heat transfer coefficient of refrigerant R1234yf was taken into consideration. The agreement between the temperature images obtained from the thermal camera monitoring method and the contours obtained from the CFD analysis was also good.