Experimental Investigation of Condensation Pressure Drop of R134a in Smooth and Grooved Multiport Flat Tubes of Automotive Heat Exchanger

Condensation frictional pressure drop was obtained in multiport micro channel smooth and grooved flat tubes using R134a. The study consists of two smooth and one grooved tube. Refrigerant R134a is studied over a mass flux 490-1600 kg/m(2)s, heat flux 5.5-19 kW/m(2) and saturation temperature 51-68 degrees C. Results reveal that frictional pressure drop increases with an increment of mass flux, vapor quality and decreases with the increase of saturation temperature. The effect of heat flux on frictional pressure drop was negligible. Grooved tube shows the lowest pressure drop and surprisingly highest heat transfer coefficient. The frictional pressure drop data was compared with famous correlations. Zhang and Webb predicted 86% of the data with in +/- 30%. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.