A Study on a Microchannel Condenser in a R410A A/C System

R410A 냉방시스템의 마이크로채널 응축기에 관한 연구

A microchannel condenser as a part of a R410A residential air-conditioning system was examined experimentally and numerically in this study. The system was operated in separate environmental chambers and its performance was measured in ARI A, B, and C conditions. A numerical model for the microchannel condenser was developed and its results were compared with the experimental results. The model simulated the condenser with the assumption of the uniform air and refrigerant distribution, and with the consideration of the non-uniform air distribution at the face of the condenser and refrigerant distribution in the headers. In order to consider the non-uniform air distribution, air velocity contours were generated from the measured local air velocities at the face of the condenser. The simulation results showed that the effect of the air and refrigerant distribution was not a significant parameter in predicting the capacity of the microchannel condenser which was experimentally examined in this study. The comparison of the calculated and experimental results showed that the condenser capacity could be predicted well for every test condition. However, the prediction of refrigerant pressure drop deviated significantly from the measured values.