Two-phase heat transfer and pressure losses of a high pressure refrigerant condensing in a single circular minichannel

Abstract

A 0.96 mm circular minichannel is used to measure both two-phase pressure losses and heat transfer during condensation of the high pressure refrigerant R32. The rest runs have been performed during condensation at around 40°C saturation temperature, corresponding to 24.8 bar saturation pressure. The pressure drop tests have been performed in adiabatic flow conditions, to only measure the pressure losses due to friction. The experimental data are compared against predicting models both for condensation heat transfer and two-phase flow pressure drop inside minichannels.