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Experimental study of the effect of spiral-star fins and nano-oil-refrigerant mixture on refrigeration cycle characteristics

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Abstract

Compression refrigeration cycle is widely used in air conditioning and cooling industries. Energy saving and improving refrigeration cycle performance are very important. Improving the thermal properties of the refrigerant and changing the structure of the evaporator are some of the ways to increase the cooling capacity and performance of the refrigeration cycle. In the present study the impact of utilizing aluminum spiral-star fins in the evaporator and R134a-nanooil on the performance of a vapor compression refrigeration cycle is experimentally investigated. Evaporator is a shell-tube heat exchanger in which water flows in the shell side and refrigerant flows in the tube side. SiO2–TiO2 nanoparticles were chosen and synthesized by sol–gel procedure that was assisted with sono-chemical irradiation. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) depicts morphology and size of the nanostructures, also X-ray diffraction pattern (XRD) analyzes phase of the nanoparticles. Refrigerant mass flow rate is in the range of 0.9–2.1 kg min−1, while different concentrations are considered for SiO2–TiO2-oil including 0.05, 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3 percent. The results revealed that addition of nano-oil can improve heat transfer coefficient by 56% and coefficient of performance (COP) of cycle by 8% maximally. Furthermore, installing aluminum fins in the evaporator tubes can enhance heat transfer coefficient by 80% and COP of cycle by 16.4% maximally and using nano-oil/fins can increase heat transfer coefficient and COP by 155% and 25%, respectively.

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Abbreviations

η :

Efficiency

\(h_{{{\text{fg}}}}\) :

Latent enthalpy of vaporization (J g−1)

\(D_{{\text{i}}}\) :

Inner diameter of pipe (m)

Δx :

Vapor quality change

A :

Area (m−2)

COP:

Coefficient of performance

G :

Mass velocity (kg m−2 s−1)

h :

Enthalpy (J g−1)

h :

Convection heat transfer coefficient (W m−2 K−1)

k :

Conductivity (W m−1 K−1)

L :

Evaporator test length (m)

m :

Mass (kg)

Q :

Heat transfer rate (W)

q :

Radial heat flux (W m−2)

R :

Refrigerant

s :

Entropy (J kg−1 K−1)

t :

Temperature (°C)

u :

Velocity (m s−1)

U :

Overall heat transfer coefficient (W m−2 K−1)

V :

Vapor

W :

Element power (W)

x :

Vapor quality

ρ :

Density (kg m−3)

\(\psi\) :

Specific exergy (J g−1)

\(\omega\) :

Mass fraction

comp:

Compressor

eva:

Evaporator

in:

Inlet

is:

Isentropic

L :

Liquid

loc:

Local concentration

no:

Nominal concentration

out:

Outlet

s:

Surface

sat:

Saturation

w:

Wall

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mechanical Engineering, Arak University of Technology, Arak, 38181-41167, Iran

    Somayeh Davoodabadi Farahani & Mohammad Farahani

  2. Department of Science, Arak University of Technology, Arak, 38181-41167, Iran

    Davood Ghanbari

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  1. Somayeh Davoodabadi Farahani
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Farahani, S.D., Farahani, M. & Ghanbari, D. Experimental study of the effect of spiral-star fins and nano-oil-refrigerant mixture on refrigeration cycle characteristics. J Therm Anal Calorim 147, 6469–6480 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-021-10921-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-021-10921-0

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