Performance Evaluation of Air-Cooled Condenser Coil

In this investigation, an analytical study was carried out on the 15 models of air-cooled chillers that were operated using R134a refrigerant with capacities ranging from 0 to 246.18 kW. An innovative idea was introduced to redesign the air-cooled condenser with the concept of void fraction measuring technique inside the coils of the condenser. An equation has been formulated to predict the approximate void fraction along the length of the single circuit coil of the standard condensing tube of 8160 mm, after which for the remaining length of the single circuit coil, the best-suited diameter tube was examined using the Nusselt number correlation corresponding to the heat transfer coefficient calculated. Results showed that the new length calculated using void fraction was saving on an average 23.66728% of the original tube length, variation in the original performance of the single circuit coil and analytically calculated performance of the single circuit coil was around ±22.6%, and the heat transfer coefficient calculated using correlations and UNILAB coils software was ranging in ±40.1839. Hence, it was seen that a reduction in the dimensions of the condenser’s coil with the same performance can be implemented for the air-cooled condenser.