Numerical Optimization of Gas Cooler Geometry in Transcritical Refrigeration Cycles

Authors : Ahmet Furkan URKUT, Efe Oğuzhan KARCI, Mehmed Rafet ÖZDEMİR

Pages : 100-115

Doi:10.7240/jeps.1224430

View : 14 | Download : 8

Publication Date : 2023-03-30

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :Traditional halocarbon – based refrigerants tend to considerably increase global warming and ozone depletion factors. Therefore, CO2 is fast becoming a key instrument as a natural refrigerant which was widely applied and attracted the consideration of the research community. The gas cooler is an important component in the CO2 transcritical refrigeration system and plays a key role in the performance due to the determination of operating pressure consequently power consumption. In this research, the performance characteristics of a CO2 gas cooler having wavy fin geometry, which is currently used in industries such as air conditioning, automotive and aviation, was determined experimentally in a calorimetric test room. The experimental results was used as benchmark data to validate the three – dimensional numerical model. Laminar model and realizable k - ɛ turbulent model were employed for analyses. Moreover, the second order upwind scheme was considered to discretize momentum and energy equations. Accordingly, a multi-objective optimization process has been performed employing Response Surface Method insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(RSM); to determine the optimum wavy fin geometry in CO2 transcritical refrigeration system. Four geometrical parameters namely longitudinal pitch, half transverse pitch, tube outer diameter, and fin pitch of the gas cooler were optimized. According to results, the new optimized CO2 gas cooler exhibited lesser pressure drop and higher heat transfer capacity in comparison with the tested gas cooler geometry used in the industry. It was found that the overall heat transfer coefficient enhancement is between 5.4 – 12.2 % while pressure drop decreases about 175.08 – 188.58 % for three different inlet velocities.
Keywords : doğal soğutucular, ısı transferi katsayısı, gaz soğutucu, optimizasyon, dalgalı kanatçık, natural refrigerants, heat transfer coefficient, gas cooler, optimization, wavy fin