Experimental investigation on the drop-in performance of R407C as a substitute for R22 in a screw chiller with shell-and-tube heat exchangers

A drop-in test of a mixed refrigerant R407C is performed in a commercial screw chiller with shell-and-tube heat exchangers originally designed for R22. The test results show a severe performance reduction when substituting the refrigerant from R22 to R407C. The reason for the performance reduction is analyzed comprehensively, and the influence of thermodynamic properties, compressor efficiency, and heat transfer is evaluated quantitatively. The major factor causing the performance reduction is assessed as the degradation of the heat transfer in using the mixed refrigerant, R407C. The heat transfer degradation in the evaporator is found to be larger and influences more on the chiller performance reduction. The performance reduction caused by the evaporator is approximately two times compared with that of the condenser.     

Experimental evaluation of R22 and R407C evaporative heat transfer coefficients in a vapour compression plant

The mean heat transfer coefficients of R22 and R407C in the coaxial counterflow evaporator (20 mm ID) of a refrigerating vapour compression plant have been experimentally measured. The experimental conditions under which heat transfer coefficients were determined reflect a typical working situation for small-scale refrigeration systems. The heat flux ranged from 1.9 to 9.1 kW/m² and the mass flux was varied from 30 to 140 kg/m² s. The results illustrate that the R22 heat transfer coefficient is always greater than that of R407C. Furthermore, a comparison carried out between the experimental data and those predicted by means of the most credited literature relationships showed a strongly overprediction for R407C coefficients.     

Coefficients d'échange locaux au cours de l'ébullition du R22 et du R407C dans des tubes horizontaux, lisse ou micro-ailetéLocal heat transfer coefficients during boiling of R22 and R407C in horizontal smooth and microfin tubes

The purpose of this study is to experimentally investigate forced convective boiling. The heat transfer coefficients of pure refrigerant R22 and non azeotropic refrigerant mixture R407C were measured in both a smooth tube and a microfin tube. The tests have been carried out with a uniform heat flux all along the tube length. The refrigerant mass flux was varied from 100 to 300 kg m⁻² s⁻¹ and heat fluxes from 10 to 30 kW m⁻². Local heat transfer coefficients depend strongly on heat flux at a low quality and on mass fluxes at a high quality. When compared to smooth tube, the microfin tubes exhibit a significant heat transfer enhancement, up to 180%. In comparison to R22, the R407C heat transfer coefficients of smooth and microfin tubes are 15 to 35% lower, respectively. The best heat transfer enhancement is obtained at low heat flux and mass flow rate.     

Experimental investigation of the performance of R22, R407C and R410A in several capillary tubes for air-conditioners

The objective of this study is to present test results and to develop a dimensionless correlation on the basis of the experimental data of adiabatic capillary tubes for R22 and its alternatives, R407C (R32/125/134a, 23/25/52 wt.%) and R410A (R32/125, 50/50 wt.%). Several capillary tubes with different length and inner diameter were selected as test sections. Mass flow rate through the capillary tube was measured for several condensing temperatures and various degrees of subcooling at the inlet of each capillary tube. Experimental conditions for the condensing temperatures were selected as 40, 45 and 50°C, and the degrees of subcooling were adjusted to 1.5, 5 and 10°C. Mass flow rates of R407C and R410A were compared with those of R22 for the same test conditions. The results for straight capillary tubes were also compared with those of coiled capillary tubes. A new correlation based on Buckingham π theorem to predict the mass flow rate through the capillary tubes was presented based on extensive experimental data for R22, R407C and R410A. Dimensionless parameters were chosen considering the effects of tube geometry, capillary tube inlet conditions, and refrigerant properties. Dimensionless correlation predicted experimental data within relative deviations ranging from −12% to +12% for every test condition for R22, R407C and R410A. The predictions by the developed correlation were in good agreement with the results in the open literature.     

Condensation heat transfer coefficients of R22, R407C, and R410A on a horizontal plain, low fin, and turbo-C tubes

In this study, condensation heat transfer coefficients (HTCs) were measured on a horizontal plain tube, low fin tube, and Turbo-C tube at the saturated vapor temperature of 39 °C for R22, R407C, and R410A with the wall subcooling of 3–8 °C. R407C, a non-azeotropic refrigerant mixture, exhibited a quite different condensation phenomenon from those of R22 and R410A and its condensation HTCs were up to 50% lower than those of R22. For R407C, as the wall subcooling increased, condensation HTCs decreased on a plain tube while they increased on both low fin and turbo-C tubes. This was due to the lessening effect of the vapor diffusion film with a rapid increase in condensation rate on enhanced tubes. On the other hand, condensation HTCs of R410A, almost an azeotrope, were similar to those of R22. For all refrigerants tested, condensation HTCs of turbo-C tube were the highest among the tubes tested showing a 3–8 times increase as compared to those of a plain tube.     

R407C替代R22的房间空调器特性研究

在分析比较非共沸混合制冷剂R407C和R22的热力特性的基础上，对R407C替代R22的房间空调器特性进行了实验研究，获得了用R407C直接替代R22时，房间空调器的最佳毛细管长度和最佳充灌量，并对进一步提高R407C房间空调器性能提出了建议。     

R22制冷系统采用R407C后的设计改进

主要介绍了环保工质R407C在实际生产中的应用,从制冷循环的四大件(压缩机、冷凝器、膨胀阀、蒸发器)的设计和选择上介绍了设计思路,并对测试结果进行了分析.     

Experimental investigation on minichannel parallel flow condenser performance with R22, R410A and R407C

A performance evaluation of minichannel parallel flow (MCPF) condenser in residential/commercial refrigeration system has been carried out in calorimeter room with wind tunnel in this paper. The heat rejection and pressure drop characteristics for heat exchangers were compared using R22, R410A and R407C as working fluids. The experimental results showed that heat rejection of MCPF condenser with R410A was higher than that of R22 and R407C by 15.6~26.3% and 12.3~22.7% under full and partial load conditions, respectively. The refrigerant side pressure drop trend of R410A in MCPF condenser was smaller than that of R22 and R407C under the same mass flow rate.     

Flow condensation heat transfer coefficients of R22, R134a, R407C, and R410A inside plain and microfin tubes

Flow condensation heat transfer coefficients (HTCs) of R22, R134a, R407C, and R410A inside horizontal plain and microfin tubes of 9.52 mm outside diameter and 1 m length were measured at the condensation temperature of 40 °C with mass fluxes of 100, 200, and 300 kg m⁻² s⁻¹ and a heat flux of 7.7–7.9 kW m⁻². For a plain tube, HTCs of R134a and R410A were similar to those of R22 while HTCs of R407C are 11–15% lower than those of R22. For a microfin tube, HTCs of R134a were similar to those of R22 while HTCs of R407C and R410A were 23–53% and 10–21% lower than those of R22. For a plain tube, our correlation agreed well with the present data for all refrigerants exhibiting a mean deviation of 11.6%. Finally, HTCs of a microfin tube were 2–3 times higher than those of a plain tube and the heat transfer enhancement factor decreased as the mass flux increased for all refrigerants tested.     

R404A和R407C在水平强化管外的凝结换热实验研究

实验研究了近共沸制冷工质R404A与非共沸制冷工质R407C在水平强化换热管管外的凝结换热性能。采用"Wilson图解法"对实验数据进行处理。结果表明:对于R404A和R407C,强化管外的凝结换热系数随着壁面过冷度的增加而增大,呈现出与纯工质冷凝时不同的变化趋势,这主要是近共沸或非共沸工质凝结过程中,某些组分的凝结会遇到其它组分的凝结气膜热阻所造成的;随着过冷度增加,易挥发组分开始凝结,气膜变薄,冷凝传热系数增大。R407C在强化换热管管外的凝结换热系数比R404A要小70%左右,这是由于R407C的温度滑移较R404A要大,管外形成的凝结扩散气膜造成的影响更大。R407C在高热流密度工况下的换热效果提升明显,故应尽量工作在高热流密度区域。     

Influence of the expansion device on the performance of a heat pump using R407C under a range of charging conditions

The objective of this study is to investigate the effects of the expansion device on the performance of a water-to-water heat pump using R407C, which has been considered as one of the alternative refrigerants to replace R22 with “soft-optimization”, at various charging conditions. The heat pump applying the expansion devices of a capillary tube and an EEV was tested by varying refrigerant charge amount from −20% to +20% of full charge and changing water temperature entering the condenser from 30 °C to 42 °C, while maintaining water temperature entering the evaporator at 25 °C. The R22 capillary tube system is utilized as a baseline unit for the performance comparison with the R407C system. The performance of the capillary tube system is more sensitive to off-design charge than that of the EEV system. As the refrigerant charge deviates from the full charge, the R407C EEV system shows a much lower degradation of capacity and COP as compared to the R22 and R407C capillary tube systems due to an optimum control of superheat by electronically adjusting the EEV opening. In addition, the R407C EEV system shows more a stable compressor discharge temperature at off-design charge than the R407C capillary tube system.     

冷藏车层叠式蒸发器应用R404A与R22和R134a的比较

采用分布参数法对层叠式蒸发器建立数学模型，并对蒸发器采用R404A，R22和R134a时的换热和流动性能进行模拟比较。结果表明，在空调工况范围内，新型中低温混合制冷剂R404A具有R134a换热性能好和R22压降小的特点，能够很好地适用于冷藏车系统空调侧层叠式蒸发器。     

Capillary tube selection for HCFC22 alternativesSélection de capillaires pour les frigorigènes de remplacement du HCFC22

In this paper, pressure drop through a capillary tube is modeled in an attempt to predict the size of capillary tubes used in residential air conditioners and also to provide simple correlating equations for practicing engineers. Stoecker's basic model was modified with the consideration of various effects due to subcooling, area contraction, different equations for viscosity and friction factor, and finally mixture effect. McAdams' equation for the two-phase viscosity and Stoecker's equation for the friction factor yielded the best results among various equations. With these equations, the modified model yielded the performance data that are comparable to those in the ASHRAE handbook. After the model was validated with experimental data for CFC12, HFC134a, HCFC22, and R407C, performance data were generated for HCFC22 and its alternatives, HFC134a, R407C, and R410A under the following conditions: condensing temperature; 40, 45, 50, 55°C, subcooling; 0, 2.5, 5°C, capillary tube diameter; 1.2–2.4 mm, mass flow rate; 5–50 g/s. These data showed that the capillary tube length varies uniformly with the changes in condensing temperature and subcooling. Finally, a regression analysis was performed to determine the dependence of mass flow rate on the length and diameter of a capillary tube, condensing temperature, and subcooling. Thus determined simple practical equations yielded a mean deviation of 2.4% for 1488 data obtained for two pure and two mixed refrigerants examined in this study.     

Reasons for drop in shell-and-tube condenser performance when replacing R22 with zeotropic mixtures. Part 1. Analysis of experimental findings

An experimental and theoretical investigation was made to find out the reasons for the drop in shell-and-tube condenser performance when replacing R22 with a zeotropic mixture R407C. Measurements show that at lower condenser loads the reduction in performance can be as large as 70% compared to the full condenser load. Calculation results are compared with experimental results for two different condensers, one with micro-finned tubes and one with 3-D finned tubes. Calculations show that the degree of mixing of the newly formed condensate on a tube and the drained condensate is a factor influential enough to explain the performance drop. 3-D finned tubes seem to have better mixing in the condensate than integral finned tubes.     

R32/R134a和R407C用于变浓度热泵系统的实验

为了解决R32/R134a应用于变浓度热泵系统存在的排气温度过高问题,提出使用三元混合工质R407C用于该系统中.以R32/R134a和R407C作为工质在变浓度容量调节热泵系统中进行了吸气压力不变时的变浓度实验.实验结果表明,R407C在本系统中变浓度范围低于R32/R134a,但R407C的排气温度和耗功均低于R32/R134a,具有良好的变浓度调节潜力.     

不同混合比下丙烷和二氟乙烷替代R22理论研究

针对目前替代R22应用比较广泛的R407C和R410A存在的一些问题，提出一种由丙烷R290和二氟乙烷R152a组成的混合制冷剂来替代R22，分析该混合制冷剂的环境影响指数、安全特性和润滑油等问题，并针对不同配比情况下的温度滑移特性、热力学特性和循环特性进行了理论研究，与R407C和R410A进行了对比，得出R290质量分数在50％～90％之间时组成的混合制冷剂是一种对环境危害很小，温度滑移很小，具有合适的压比和COP，润滑特性很好的优良近共沸制冷剂，用于替代R22优于R407C和R410A。     

Artificial neural network models for depicting mass flow rate of R22, R407C and R410A through electronic expansion valves

The utilization of electronic expansion valves (EEVs) in refrigeration and air conditioning systems is increased for energy saving and comfort environmental. However, experimental data and refrigerant mass flow models through EEVs are very limited in open literature. In this study, a new technique using artificial neural network (ANN) is applied to depict the mass flow rates of R22 and its alternatives R407C and R410A flowing through EEVs based on the error back propagation learning algorithm. Two strategies are followed; the first is to construct individual ANN models for each refrigerant, and the second is to construct a generalized ANN model for the three investigated refrigerants. The experimental results from open literature are used to construct the ANN models. The ANN models results showed a good agreement with the corresponding experimental data. For individual models, the relative deviations for R22, R407C, and R410A are within ±0.7%, ±1.1%, and ±0.006%, respectively. While for generalized model, the relative deviations are within ±2.5%. Also the generalized model was tested out of its construction range in a predictive mode and it was found to be a reliable tool to estimate the refrigerants mass flow rates.     

Condensation heat transfer coefficients for R22 and R407C in gravity driven flow regime within a smooth horizontal tube

The quasi local heat transfer coefficients of R22 and R407C in the coaxial counterflow condenser (20 mm ID) of a refrigerating vapour compression plant have been experimentally measured. The experimental conditions under which the heat transfer coefficients were determined reflect a typical working situation for small scale refrigeration systems. The plant runs with low mass fluxes of refrigerant within the range of 45.5–120 kg/m²/s. During the experimental tests the pressure at the inlet of the test condenser varies within a fixed range between 15.2 and 14.3 bar. The results illustrate that the R22 heat transfer coefficient is always greater than that of R407C. Furthermore, comparisons between the experimental data and the values predicted by means of the most credited literature relationships for gravity-driven condensation are reported.     

Calculation of thermodynamic properties of R407C and R410A by the Martin–Hou equation of state — part I: theoretical development

A theoretical development of the thermodynamic properties of two mixtures of hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerants, i.e. R407C and R410A (in the superheated vapour state), is carried out. The modelling is based on the Martin-Hou equation of state, which has long been used for pure hydrofluorocarbons (e.g. R134a) with good results. Since R407C and R410A are very well investigated refrigerants, the analytical procedure here derived concerns with those thermodynamic properties of R407C and R410A (in the superheated state) that are not published in the current specialised literature. They are: compressibility factor, isentropic and isothermal compressibility, volume expansivity, isentropic and isothermal exponent, speed of sound and Joule–Thomson coefficient. These properties may be used as a theoretical basis for research into the optimal HFC-mixture for compressor efficiency and for performing cycle calculations in the vapour-phase region for systems working with R407C and R410A.     

Exergetic analysis of a vapour compression refrigeration system with R134a, R143a, R152a, R404A, R407C, R410A, R502 and R507A

This communication deals with the exergetic analysis of a vapour compression refrigeration system with selected refrigerants. The various parameters computed are COP and exergetic efficiency in the system. Effects of degree of condenser temperature, evaporator temperature and sub-cooling of condenser outlet, supper-heating of evaporator out let and effectiveness of vapour liquid heat exchanger are also computed and discussed. In this study, it was found that R134a has the better performance in all respect, whereas R407C refrigerant has poor performance.