Liquid nitrogen injection into water: Pressure build-up and heat transfer

This paper is concerned about the expansion of a small amount of liquid nitrogen injected into a relatively large pool of water and the heat transfer behaviour during the process. Both the transient pressure and temperature profiles are experimentally measured and analysed. The results show that the pressure and the rate of pressure rise increase approximately linearly with increasing injection pressure and reach, respectively, to 284 kPa and 500 kPa/s at a liquid nitrogen injection velocity of ∼0.85 m/s. The temperature varies little during the injection process due to relatively small amount of liquid nitrogen injected. A comparison of the experimental results with related work on surface boiling of cryogen suggests that the heat transfer of direct mixing be much stronger than boiling on smooth surfaces and flow boiling through smooth pipes, but comparable to the boiling on very rough surfaces and flow boiling in pipes with porous inserts. A comparison with the results generated by injecting a small amount of water into liquid cryogens shows that a higher pressure increase rate could be achieved if operating conditions are optimised to induce fragmentation. Implications of the results to cryogenic engine work output and ways to improve the performance of cryogenic engines are also discussed.     

A review on heat exchanger thermal hydraulic models for cryogenic applications

Heat exchangers are the main components in cryogenic processes. Thermo-economic considerations set the need for high-effectiveness equipment and accurate models. This situation is challenging due to the complex operating conditions and the fact that some physical effects, such as changes in fluid properties, flow maldistribution, axial conduction and heat leakage, cannot be neglected.In this work a systematic review of the state of art and challenges in modeling cryogenic heat exchangers is presented. They include lumped parameters, distributed parameters and stream-evolution models. These formulations fail to take all relevant effects into account.A general discussion on the performance of the reviewed models is presented. In general, more effects are included in the framework of numerical solution of discretized energy balance equation. Two main points stand out as not considered by the present models, namely the effects of pressure drop on heat transfer and the existence of partial flow mixing. These two effects are highly relevant for two-phase flow and multi-component applications, as in LNG processes.     

Carbon–ammonia pairs for adsorption refrigeration applications: ice making, air conditioning and heat pumping

A thermodynamic cycle model is used to select an optimum adsorbent-refrigerant pair in respect of a chosen figure of merit that could be the cooling production (MJ m⁻³), the heating production (MJ m⁻³) or the coefficient of performance (COP). This model is based mainly on the adsorption equilibrium equations of the adsorbent–refrigerant pair and heat flows. The simulation results of 26 various activated carbon–ammonia pairs for three cycles (single bed, two-bed and infinite number of beds) are presented at typical conditions for ice making, air conditioning and heat pumping applications. The driving temperature varies from 80 °C to 200 °C. The carbon absorbents investigated are mainly coconut shell and coal based types in multiple forms: monolithic, granular, compacted granular, fibre, compacted fibre, cloth, compacted cloth and powder. Considering a two-bed cycle, the best thermal performances based on power density are obtained with the monolithic carbon KOH-AC, with a driving temperature of 100 °C; the cooling production is about 66 MJ m⁻³ (COP = 0.45) and 151 MJ m⁻³ (COP = 0.61) for ice making and air conditioning respectively; the heating production is about 236 MJ m⁻³ (COP = 1.50).     

Transient and steady-state experimental investigation of flash tank vapor injection heat pump cycle control strategy

Recent research on vapor injection technique has been mostly focused on performance improvement using different system configurations. The flash tank cycle typically shows better performance than the internal heat exchanger cycle. However, the flash tank cycle control strategy is not yet clearly defined. In this study, a novel cycle control strategy is proposed for an R-410A vapor injection flash tank heat pump system and its feasibility was experimentally investigated. The proposed novel cycle control strategy utilized an electronic expansion valve (EEV) for the upper-stage expansion and a thermostatic expansion valve for the lower-stage expansion, and applied an electric heater in the vapor injection line to introduce superheat to the injected vapor by providing a control signal to the upper-stage EEV. Both transient and steady-state system behaviors were studied. The proposed cycle control strategy was found to be able to provide reliable control to the system.     

缠绕式绕管铝制换热器漏气的技术分析和改进

缠绕式绕管铝制换热器使用一段时间后,会出现漏气现象,进而影响换热效率。从制造和运行环境等方面对漏气原因进行了技术分析,找到了杜绝漏气现象的技术方案。介绍技术方案的具体实施。     

热泵型变频空调APF提升方法探讨

按照新版国标GB 21455-2013《转速可控型房间空气调节器能效限定值及能效等级》的要求,本文对提升热泵型变频空调产品APF的方法进行了探讨,提出通过采用小管径换热器、无力矩补偿双转子高效压缩机、自保持四通阀以及找出最佳能效的室内外风量拐点等可有效提高空调产品APF的方法。     

A review on application of carbonaceous materials and carbon matrix composites for heat exchangers and heat sinks

Carbonaceous materials and carbon matrix composites (CAMCs) have potential to be used in heat exchangers and heat sinks for a number of thermal management applications related to HVAC&R systems, especially in high-temperature and corrosive environments. Recent developments in carbonaceous materials, such as new, natural graphite, carbon foam, carbon nanotubes, and CAMCs, open opportunities for new heat exchanger designs for compact and lightweight applications. The property data of various monolithic carbonaceous materials and CAMCs and their applications in liquid-to-liquid heat exchangers, liquid-to-gas heat exchangers, gas-to-gas heat exchangers and heat sinks are reviewed in this paper. While it is clear that these materials do hold promise for use in the construction of heat exchangers in different applications, additional research is still required in material properties, life-time behavior, structural design and manufacturing cost reduction.     

Performance comparison between a single-stage and a cascade multi-functional heat pump for both air heating and hot water supply

Multi heat pumps have been widely used in buildings due to their higher energy efficiency. Recently, demands for multi-functional heat pumps, which can provide heating, cooling, and water heating in a building, have been increased. In this study, a cascade multi-functional heat pump, combining a multi heat pump using R410A for air heating with a water heating unit using R134a for hot water supply, was investigated experimentally. The performance of the cascade multi-functional heat pump was measured by varying the refrigerant charge amount, EEV opening, water flow rate, and water inlet temperature. Test results were compared with those of a single-stage multi-functional heat pump using R410A for air and water heating. The cascade multi-functional heat pump adopting the water heating unit showed more stable air and water heating operations and higher water outlet temperatures than the single-stage multi-functional heat pump.     

Fan-less heat exchanger concept for CO2 heat pump systems

A novel system for space heating has been developed taking advantage of the favourable characteristics of the transcritical CO₂ cycle, where heat is rejected by cooling of supercritical gas at gliding temperature. By a proper design of a counter flow heat exchanger it is possible to heat air to high temperatures and thereby giving the driving force for circulation of air through the heat exchanger, in consequence without using a fan. A concept without a fan, here called a fan-less concept, would give several advantages; no noise, no power consumption for the fan and increased comfort with reduced air draft in the room. The concept may also be used for heat rejection in systems for light commercial applications or other applications where fan assisted heat rejection concepts are used today.

An experimental study of a CO₂ to air heat exchanger has been performed. The heat exchanger was made of a vertically finned aluminium profile. Tubes for CO₂ were mounted in the base of the profile. CO₂ at supercritical pressure flowing downwards through the profile was heating air flowing in the channels formed by the fins of the profile. In this way a perfect counter flow heat exchange was obtained. The prototype heat exchanger was 2000 mm high and 190 mm wide, with 45 mm deep fins.

A simulation model was developed and verified to give good accordance with the experimental data. The model was then used to study how different design parameters influence the efficiency of the heat exchanger. By altering the number of fins and the fin thickness of the tested profile, the heat output at a given condition could be increased to almost double, meaning that the initial design was relatively far from optimal.

With the original heat exchanger profile design concept a heat exchanger with height, width and depth of, respectively 2000, 750 and 200 mm, would be required in order to achieve a heat output of 2500 W if the constraints for assumed acceptable efficiency was applied. If a heat exchanger with less height is preferred, the width will have to be increased in order to maintain about the same front area, width times height. Ideas have also been introduced for how to improve both the compactness and efficiency of the heat exchanger by introducing a compact counter flow heat exchanger in the lower part of the air flow channel. It is concluded that the new concept looks promising for use as the indoor heat exchanger in an air-to-air heat pump or as a gascooler for heat rejection in small commercial equipment, when using CO₂ as refrigerant.     

Modeling and experimental investigation of accumulators for automotive air conditioning systems

A stream analysis model was developed to simulate the behavior of accumulators and their influence on the automotive air conditioning (A/C) systems. It allows a comprehensive steady state simulation with a set of input conditions such as refrigerant vapor mass flow rate and pressure at the inlet of an accumulator. In this study, the refrigerant/oil mixture is R134a/PAG oil which are totally miscible, but could be any air conditioning refrigerant/oil, including carbon dioxide (CO₂)/oil. The model accounts for all major effects inside the accumulator, such as friction, bends, sudden expansion, sudden contraction and heat exchange. The outputs are vapor quality, pressure and temperature at various positions of accumulator. In order to verify the mathematical model, experiments are performed in an experimental setup made up of real size automotive air conditioning components. The simulated results agree well with the experimental data. The simulation and experimental results show an important function of accumulators that is to determine the vapor quality into compressor, and thus has influence on the performance of whole automotive A/C systems.     

Refrigerant R134a condensation heat transfer and pressure drop inside a small brazed plate heat exchanger

This paper presents the experimental tests on HFC-134a condensation inside a small brazed plate heat exchanger: the effects of refrigerant mass flux, saturation temperature and vapour super-heating are investigated.A transition point between gravity controlled and forced convection condensation has been found for a refrigerant mass flux around 20 kg/m² s. For refrigerant mass flux lower than 20 kg/m² s, the saturated vapour heat transfer coefficients are not dependent on mass flux and are well predicted by the Nusselt [Nusselt, W., 1916. Die oberflachenkondensation des wasserdampfes. Z. Ver. Dt. Ing. 60, 541–546, 569–575] analysis for vertical surface. For refrigerant mass flux higher than 20 kg/m² s, the saturated vapour heat transfer coefficients depend on mass flux and are well predicted by the Akers et al. [Akers, W.W., Deans, H.A., Crosser, O.K., 1959. Condensing heat transfer within horizontal tubes. Chem. Eng. Prog. Symp. Ser. 55, 171–176] equation. In the forced convection condensation region, the heat transfer coefficients show a 30% increase for a doubling of the refrigerant mass flux. The condensation heat transfer coefficients of super-heated vapour are 8–10% higher than those of saturated vapour and are well predicted by the Webb [Webb, R.L., 1998. Convective condensation of superheated vapour. ASME J. Heat Transfer 120, 418–421] model. The heat transfer coefficients show weak sensitivity to saturation temperature. The frictional pressure drop shows a linear dependence on the kinetic energy per unit volume of the refrigerant flow and therefore a quadratic dependence on the refrigerant mass flux.     

Refrigerant charge reduction: On a new design optimization criterion for compact heat exchangers

With refrigerant charge reduction concern we introduce a new criterion, the so-called Ecological Cost (EC), and establish its relevance for HEXs design optimization. EC takes into account both entropy generation in the HEX and its refrigerant charge by the special environment cost values c and c’. EC minimization is conducted with given heat flux rate or given temperature difference. Results show that optimal design value depends on device life duration and on c/c’ Leakage effect can also be included in EC. We establish a link between EC and TEWI and show that optimal EC leads to optimal TEWI. We deal in the second part of this paper with volumes optimal allocation of cold and hot heat exchangers under given total volume or total refrigerant fluid mass constraint when assuming reversible cycle.     

Analysis of thermal cycling efficiency and optimal design of heating/cooling systems for rapid heat cycle injection molding process

Rapid heat cycle molding (RHCM) is a molding process that the mold cavity is rapidly heated to a high temperature before plastic melt injection, and then cooled quickly once the cavity is completely filled. Heating/cooling efficiency and temperature uniformity of the RHCM system are two key technical parameters to ensure a high productivity and high-quality products. In this study, a numerical model to analyze the heat transfer in heating and cooling phases of RHCM was built. The effect of heating/cooling medium, layout and structure of the heating/cooling channels, mold structure, etc., on heating/cooling efficiency and temperature uniformity was studied and discussed by analyzing the thermal responses of the molding system in RHCM process. Based on the simulation results, the optimization design of the RHCM mold with hot-fluid heating was performed. Then, a new RHCM mold structure with a floating mold cavity was proposed to improve the heating/cooling efficiency and temperature uniformity. The effectiveness of this new mold structure was also verified by numerical experiments. At last, a RHCM production line with steam heating and water cooling was constructed for a thin-wall plastic part. In testing production, the molding systems can be heated and cooled rapidly with a molding cycle time of about 72 s. The production results show that the aesthetics of the molded parts was greatly enhanced and the weld mark on the plastic part’s surface was completely eliminated.     

Research on air-source heat pump coupled with economized vapor injection scroll compressor and ejector

The performance of the heat pump can be improved further when running under low temperature conditions when an ejector is used in a heat pump system coupled with economized vapor injection (EVI) scroll compressor. In this paper, the design method of the heat pump system with ejector (EVIe) is presented, and the process for designing the heat pump with ejector has been summarized. The optimal location of the vapor injection inlets is at the place where the vapor can inject into the working chambers when they just be closed. The reasonable value for the entrainment ratio u of the ejector is between 0.1 and 0.2. One prototype heat pump was designed under the condition of the evaporation temperature of −20 °C, and an experimental setup was established to test the prototype. The measured results demonstrated that the heating EER of the heat pump system with ejector could reach about 4% higher than that of the system without ejector when the heating capacity remained nearly constant.     

Refrigerant R134a vaporisation heat transfer and pressure drop inside a small brazed plate heat exchanger

This paper presents the experimental heat transfer coefficients and pressure drop measured during refrigerant R134a vaporisation inside a small brazed plate heat exchanger (BPHE): the effects of heat flux, refrigerant mass flux, saturation temperature and outlet conditions are investigated. The BPHE tested consists of 10 plates, 72 mm in width and 310 mm in length, which present a macro-scale herringbone corrugation with an inclination angle of 65° and corrugation amplitude of 2 mm.The experimental results are reported in terms of refrigerant side heat transfer coefficients and frictional pressure drop. The heat transfer coefficients show great sensitivity both to heat flux and outlet conditions and weak sensitivity to saturation temperature. The frictional pressure drop shows a linear dependence on the kinetic energy per unit volume of the refrigerant flow.The experimental heat transfer coefficients are also compared with two well-known correlations for nucleate pool boiling and a correlation for frictional pressure drop is proposed.     

A general model for two-stage vapor compression heat pump systems

Two-stage vapor compression technology has high potential of performance improvement for cold climate heat pumps, and there are several types of inter-stage configurations that need to be evaluated before making a choice. A general model of these configurations is first derived from a subcooler cycle and then is extended to be capable of evaluating many other inter-stage configurations by employing an “input domain”. The model is solved with a sequential algorithm and an analytical initial solution of the intermediate pressure is presented. After an experimentally validation with additional calculations of the subcooling parameter, the evaporating and condensing pressure, this general model is then used in the performance comparison and analysis of eight different inter-stage configurations. At last, case studies show that, this general model is capable of performing performance comparison among cycles with different types of inter-stage configurations, as well as refrigerant selection and operational analysis.     

Development of compact heat exchangers for CO2 air-conditioning systems

Compact and lightweight heat exchangers are needed for motor vehicle air-conditioning systems and for several types of unitary equipment. The high-pressure natural refrigerant CO₂ is now being evaluated for use in such applications, and efficient heat exchangers are being developed and investigated. Carbon dioxide heat exchangers are designed for high refrigerant mass flux and use small-diameter tubes or extruded flat microchannel tubes. Refrigerant-side heat transfer coefficients are higher than with fluorocarbons, and reduced internal surface areas can therefore be tolerated. Both small-diameter mechanically expanded round-tube heat exchangers and brazed microchannel-type units have been built and tested successfully. Results show that compact heat exchangers optimized for CO₂ are very competitive with baseline HFC/HCFC units in terms of physical dimensions, exchanger mass and thermal performance. Smaller tube and manifold dimensions can give reduced size compared with HFC-134a equipment. The temperature approach between air inlet and refrigerant outlet is much lower in CO₂ gas coolers than in baseline system condensers of equal size and capacity, and the reduced refrigerant exit temperature has a marked influence on the coefficient of performance, Microchannel heat exchangers give the best overall efficiency. Refrigerant distribution in multiport manifolds and heat transfer tubes does not seem to be a problem.     

KDON-400Y/400Y型空分设备循环气系统带水的分析及处理

分析了KDON - 40 0Y/ 4 0 0Y型空分设备循环气系统带水的原因 ,对流程部分进行了相应改进 ,采用了新的加热工艺 ,使问题得到圆满解决     

主换热器效率下降导致空分设备被迫停车的分析与处理

介绍了永钢21000m3/h空分设备因主换热器换热效率下降而被迫停车故障的经过,分析后得出原因为:空压机泄漏的润滑油进入主换热器并冻结成油薄膜,使换热系数降低,最后阐述了处理过程。