Experimental investigation on condensation heat transfer coefficient and frictional pressure drop of low GWP refrigerant R1234yf on a wavy fin surface

Abstract

Refrigerant R1234yf is an ideal substitute to replace R134a due to its lower value of global warming potential (GWP). The thermophysical properties of R1234yf are similar with R134a and thus it is considered as a potential replacement for R134a in thermal fluid systems. Further, it was noticed that there is a lack of analysis on the condensation of R1234yf in a brazed plate fin compact heat exchanger (CHE) employing wavy fins. In the present work, condensation heat transfer coefficient and frictional pressure drop of refrigerant R1234yf are investigated in a brazed plate fin compact heat exchanger with wavy fin surfaces. The test condenser with wavy fin surface was selected to examine the condensation heat transfer coefficient and frictional pressure drop using refrigerants R134a and R1234yf for varying mass flux and saturation temperatures. The present study also discusses the dependency of specific kinetic energy of refrigerant on frictional pressure drop. Further, using the experimental data of wavy fin surfaces, suitable correlations for the condensation heat transfer coefficient and frictional pressure drop of R1234yf were proposed. The present paper also reports the comparison made between refrigerants R134a and R1234yf. Comparison between R1234yf and R134a shows that condensation heat transfer coefficient and frictional pressure drop of R1234yf is 9–16 % and 10–17 %, respectively, lower than of R134a in the mass flux range 15–44 kg/m2s.