An experimental facility for microchannel research and evaporating R134a in microchannel tube

Microchannel research is important for heat exchanger design. Heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop are the two most important parameters to be measured in an experimental facility. A featured design of heat transfer behavior and pressure drop testing facility for both evaporating and condensing refrigerant in microchannel tubes are made and introduced in this thesis. Details of the installing of the test section, conditioning section, pressure sensors, and other important component of the facility are discussed in section 2. The calibration process of measurement instruments and results are reported in section 3. Heat loss to ambient, effect of thermal paste contact resistance, and temperature uniformity have been discussed in detail. The process of data reduction and uncertainty analysis are discussed. In section 4, testing results of the facility with evaporating R134a are given. Both heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop are measured and reported in this thesis. The conclusion gives a brief summary of this thesis. The appendix has included calibration data from section 2 and raw data from section 4.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Mechanical Engineering

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2016

Author dc:creator

• Li, Houpei

Contributors dc:contributor

• Hrnjak, Predrag

• Experiment
• Refrigerant
• Heat transfer
• Pressure drop
• Microchannel
• R134a

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2016, Houpei Li

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/90666

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/90666