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Phase separation circuiting have been proved in the past to effectively improve the performance of mobile air conditioning (MAC) condensers. In the vertical second header of the condenser, liquid separates from vapor mainly due to gravity, leaving vapor-rich flow with higher heat transfer coefficient to go into the upper passes. The condenser effectiveness is improved in this way. However, separation is usually not perfect, expressed through the separation efficiency (ηl and ηv). This paper presents the numerical study of phase separation phenomena in the second header. The Euler-Euler method of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is used. Simulations are conducted for two-phase refrigerant R-134a for MAC application. Inlet mass flow rate is simulated at values of 16 g∙s-1, 20 g∙s-1, and 30 g∙s-1 for 21 inlet microchannel tubes, which is the same 1st-pass tube number as of a real separation condenser. Corresponding mass fluxes are 166 kg∙m-2∙s-1, 207 kg∙m-2∙s-1, and 311 kg∙m-2∙s-1.

Although refrigerant maldistribution among parallel microchannel tubes is mainly caused by phase separation of vapor and liquid in the header, it is also affected by pressure drop in the header. This study experimentally investigates the pressure drop of single-phase and two-phase R134a flow in the vertical header of a multi-pass microchannel heat exchanger. R134a is circulated into the transparent header through multi-parallel microchannel tubes in the bottom pass and exits through multi-parallel microchannel tubes in the top pass representing the flow in the heat pump mode of a reversible system. The pressure drop in the vertical header causes the top tube has lower mass flow rate than the lower tubes for both single-phase and two-phase flow. The overall pressure drop in the header includes four components: acceleration, gravitation, friction, and minor pressure drop due to microchannel tube protrusion.

This paper demonstrates that the implementation of Flash Gas Bypass method can improve the performance of conventional direct expansion R134a mobile air-conditioning system with a microchannel evaporator. This method uses flash gas tank after expansion valve to separate and bypass flash refrigerant vapor around the evaporator, and feed the evaporator with only liquid refrigerant. Pressure drop is reduced and refrigerant distribution is significantly improved, resulting in higher evaporator effectiveness and evaporation pressure. Both lower pressure drop and lifted evaporation pressure allows the compressor to work with lower pressure ratio, saving required compressor work. An experimental comparison of the direct expansion system shows that Flash Gas Bypass method increases the cooling capacity and COP at the same time by up to 16% and 11%, respectively.

Automotive air conditioning systems are subject to constantly changing operation conditions and steady state simulations are not sufficient to describe the actual performance. The refrigerant mass migration during transient events such as clutch-cycling or start-up has a direct impact on the transient performance. It is therefore necessary to develop simulation tools which can accurately predict the migration of the refrigerant mass. To this end a dynamic model of an automotive air conditioning system is presented in this paper using a switched modeling framework. Model validation against experimental results demonstrates that the developed modeling approach is able to describe the transient behaviors of the system, and also predict the refrigerant mass migration among system components during compressor shut-down and start-up (stop-start) cycling operations.

The paper presents an experimental analysis of the performance of a prototype air conditioning system based on transcritical operation with R744 as the refrigerant. A comparative analysis of the performance of three systems is also presented: two R744 (with back pressure and manual expansion valves) and R134a with a fixed area orifice tube. Results show that there is an optimal setting of the back pressure valve in cycling conditions that maximizes COP for the R744 system. That is very important because the system operates most of the time in cycling mode, where there is excessive capacity, and the objective is to maximize COP. Furthermore, it is shown that those values follow the same relation as developed for non-cycling operation.

The US Army uses a light tactical High-Mobility Multi-Purpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV) which, due to the amount of armor added, requires air conditioning to keep its occupants comfortable. The current system uses R134a in a dual evaporator, remote-mounted condenser, engine-driven compressor system. This vehicle has been adapted to use an environmentally friendly refrigerant (carbon dioxide) to provide performance, efficiency, comfort and logistical benefits to the Army. The unusual thermal heat management issues and the fact that the vehicle is required to operate under extreme ambient conditions have made the project extremely challenging. This paper is a continuation of work presented at the SAE Alternate Refrigerants Symposium held in Phoenix last June [1].

This paper presents a dynamic model of a transcritical air-conditioning system, specifically suited for multivariable controller design. The physically-based model retains sufficient detail to accurately predict system dynamic response while also being simple enough to be of value in determining appropriate control strategies. The control focus would be quasi-steady transitions between operating states by modulating flow rates of both air and refrigerant to meet changing constraints on capacity, efficiency, noise, etc. The model structure is highly modular, accommodating various system configurations and component types. The modeling results are programmed as a library of components for use in Simulink, a graphical programming package.