THE EFFECT OF THE TUBE GEOMETRY AND MASS FLOW RATE ON THE FLUID PARAMETERS IN A COMPRESSION COOLING SYSTEM
SANGOTAYO Emmanuel O., ADEDEJI Kasali. A., AJIBOYE Daniel O., MURITALA Jelili A.
ETRJ. Vol. 5(1), 31 March, 2020
566 Download(s) 511 View(s)
Abstract: The air conditioning system works on the principle of vapour compression refrigeration cycle, and the
effectiveness of the air conditioning system depends on the fluid parameter of the refrigerant. Several
refrigerants ranging from Hydrofluorocarbon (HFC), Chlorofluorocarbon (CFCs), and some natural
refrigerants have found application in the compression cooling system. However, HFC and CFCs refrigerants
enhance the depletion of the ozone layer with a corresponding increase in global warming. Therefore, there is a
need to study the fluid parameters of the refrigerants R410a currently in use for a typical compression cooling
system and water as an alternative with respect to tube geometry and mass flow rate.
The energy balance equations for mass flow rate, fluid properties and the heat transfer coefficient for R410a
and water were used to examine the effect of varying tube diameter ranging from 0.01m to 0.03m, and mass
flow rate on the fluid characteristics in a compression cooling system using water and R410a as working fluids.
The Statistical Analysis Software (SAS) in Excel Package was used as the tool for numerical computation and
graphical presentation to solve the characteristic governing energy balance equations, and the results were
presented using the characteristic curves.
The results showed that the heat transfer coefficients and the fluid velocities for the two refrigerants decrease as
the cross-sectional area of the tube increases. Reynolds number increase as the mass flow rate increases with
R410a having a higher value. The effect of tube geometry shows that water has a higher heat transfer coefficient
than R410a. This study revealed that water has a good potential of being a replacement for R410a as a
refrigerant in a compression cooling system, thereby reducing the alarming effect of global warming.
