Effect of the Number of Circuits on a Finned-Tube Heat Exchanger Performance and Its Improvement by a Reversely Variable Circuitry

Zhao, Rijing; Wang, Zengpeng; Sun, Yu; Wang, Fei; Huang, Dong

doi:10.3390/app12188960

Open AccessArticle

Effect of the Number of Circuits on a Finned-Tube Heat Exchanger Performance and Its Improvement by a Reversely Variable Circuitry

by

Rijing Zhao

^1,*,

Zengpeng Wang

¹,

Yu Sun

¹,

Fei Wang

^1,2 and

Dong Huang

¹

School of Energy and Power Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China

²

Qingdao Haier Air Conditioner General Corp., Ltd., Qingdao 266103, China

^*

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(18), 8960; https://doi.org/10.3390/app12188960

Submission received: 7 July 2022 / Revised: 23 August 2022 / Accepted: 1 September 2022 / Published: 6 September 2022

(This article belongs to the Section Applied Thermal Engineering)

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Abstract

The finned-tube heat exchanger (FTHX) works better with more circuits as an evaporator but fewer as a condenser in air-source heat pumps (ASHPs). In this article, a reversely variable circuitry is proposed to address this contradiction. The effects of the circuit number on the performance of an outdoor FTHX in an ASHP prototype was first studied numerically using the EVAP-COND 4.0 software. We showed that the evaporator capacity reached its peak with four circuits, but the condenser capacity decreased monotonously as the circuit number increased. A reversely variable circuitry was obtained by combining distributors and check valves, so that the FTHX exhibited four circuits in the evaporator mode but one and a half (two circuits merging into one) in the condenser mode, thus better matching the respective requirements of the two modes. Comparative tests showed that in the ASHP, the reversely variable FTHX had a 6.1% higher cooling capacity than the four-circuit reversely fixed exchanger and a 3.9% higher heating capacity than the 1.5-circuit reversely fixed one. Therefore, the novel design of the FTHX enhanced both the heating and the cooling performance of the ASHP.

Keywords: air-source heat pump; finned-tube heat exchanger; reversely variable circuitry; capacity

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MDPI and ACS Style

Zhao, R.; Wang, Z.; Sun, Y.; Wang, F.; Huang, D. Effect of the Number of Circuits on a Finned-Tube Heat Exchanger Performance and Its Improvement by a Reversely Variable Circuitry. Appl. Sci. 2022, 12, 8960. https://doi.org/10.3390/app12188960

AMA Style

Zhao R, Wang Z, Sun Y, Wang F, Huang D. Effect of the Number of Circuits on a Finned-Tube Heat Exchanger Performance and Its Improvement by a Reversely Variable Circuitry. Applied Sciences. 2022; 12(18):8960. https://doi.org/10.3390/app12188960

Chicago/Turabian Style

Zhao, Rijing, Zengpeng Wang, Yu Sun, Fei Wang, and Dong Huang. 2022. "Effect of the Number of Circuits on a Finned-Tube Heat Exchanger Performance and Its Improvement by a Reversely Variable Circuitry" Applied Sciences 12, no. 18: 8960. https://doi.org/10.3390/app12188960

APA Style

Zhao, R., Wang, Z., Sun, Y., Wang, F., & Huang, D. (2022). Effect of the Number of Circuits on a Finned-Tube Heat Exchanger Performance and Its Improvement by a Reversely Variable Circuitry. Applied Sciences, 12(18), 8960. https://doi.org/10.3390/app12188960

Note that from the first issue of 2016, this journal uses article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.

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Effect of the Number of Circuits on a Finned-Tube Heat Exchanger Performance and Its Improvement by a Reversely Variable Circuitry

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