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An experimental study of the flow of LPG as refrigerant inside an adiabatic helical coiled capillary tube in vapour compression refrigeration system

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Abstract

This paper presents an experimental investigation for the flow of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) as a refrigerant inside an adiabatic helically coiled capillary tube in vapour compression refrigeration system. The effect of various geometric parameters and operating conditions like capillary tube inner diameter, length of capillary tube, coil diameter and different inlet subcoolings on the mass flow rate of LPG through the helical coiled capillary tube geometry has been investigated. It has been established that the coil diameter significantly influences the mass flow rate of LPG through the adiabatic helical capillary tube. It has been concluded that the effect of coiling of capillary tube reduces the mass flow rate by 5–12 % as compared to those of the straight capillary tube operating under similar conditions. The data obtained from the experiments are analyzed and a dimensionless correlation has been developed. The proposed correlation predicts that more than 90 % of experimental data which is in agreement with measured data in an error band of ±10 %.

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Abbreviations

c p :

Specific heat at constant pressure (J kg−1 K−1)

D :

Coil diameter of capillary tube (m)

d :

Capillary tube inner diameter (m)

L :

Capillary tube length (m)

\( \dot{m} \) :

Mass flow rate (kg s−1)

M :

Number of repeating variables

N :

Total number of variables

P :

Inlet pressure of capillary tube (Pa)

∆T sub :

Degree of subcooling (K)

ρ :

Density (kg m−3)

μ :

Coefficient of viscosity (kg m−1 s−1)

f:

Liquid

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Vaishno College of Engineering, Nurpur, Kangra, 176403, HP, India

    Sanjeev Singh Punia

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Beant College of Engineering and Technology, Gurdaspur, 143521, PB, India

    Jagdev Singh

Authors
  1. Sanjeev Singh Punia
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  2. Jagdev Singh
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Correspondence to Sanjeev Singh Punia.

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Punia, S.S., Singh, J. An experimental study of the flow of LPG as refrigerant inside an adiabatic helical coiled capillary tube in vapour compression refrigeration system. Heat Mass Transfer 51, 1571–1577 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00231-015-1523-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00231-015-1523-5

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