Visualization of refrigerant flow at the capillary tube inlet of a high-efficiency household refrigerator

[EN] The subcooled condition at the condenser outlet ensures complete condensation, which is necessary in vapor compression systems to increase the cooling capacity and ensure the liquid conditions at the expansion device inlet. However, in household refrigerators, recent works indicate the presence...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Martínez-Ballester, Santiago, Bardoulet, Laetitia, Pisano, Alessandro, Corberán, José M.
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2017
País:España
Institución:Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV)
Repositorio:RiuNet. Repositorio Institucional de la Universitat Politécnica de Valéncia
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:riunet.upv.es:10251/140975
Acceso en línea:https://riunet.upv.es/handle/10251/140975
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Household refrigerator
Capillary tube
Subcooling
Flow visualization
MAQUINAS Y MOTORES TERMICOS
Descripción
Sumario:[EN] The subcooled condition at the condenser outlet ensures complete condensation, which is necessary in vapor compression systems to increase the cooling capacity and ensure the liquid conditions at the expansion device inlet. However, in household refrigerators, recent works indicate the presence of two-phase flow at the capillary tube inlet. These systems behave quite differently from other refrigeration systems due to the extremely low capacity In the present work, a test bench was built to visualize the refrigerant flow at the condenser outlet and at the capillary tube inlet of a commercial household refrigerator. A transparent tube replaced the end of the condenser and three transparent filters were installed with different orientations. Different positions of the capillary tube within the filters were also tested. Despite measuring a certain subcooling, all the reported visualizations showed that the capillary tube was steadily drawing in two-phase flow.