Engineering thermodynamics

Flow Characteristics of a Refrigerant-Oil Mixture in a Vapor Compression Heat Pump Heat Exchanger for Space Applications

  • MA Rui ,
  • YE Yilin ,
  • MA Xudong ,
  • WU Yuting ,
  • YAN Suying ,
  • WANG Feng
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  • 1. College of Energy and Power Engineering, Inner Mongolia University of Technology, Hohhot 010051, China
    2. Key Laboratory of Wind and Solar Energy Utilization Mechanism and Optimization in Inner Mongolia, Inner Mongolia University of Technology, Hohhot 010051, China
    3. Key Laboratory of Enhanced Heat Transfer and Energy Conservation, Ministry of Education, Beijing 100124, China

Online published: 2023-11-30

Supported by

This study is financially supported by the National Nature Science Foundation of China (No. 51906116), Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Science and Technology Plan Project (No. 2021GG0253), Nature Science Foundation of Inner Mongolia (No. 2019BS05007) and Nature Science Foundation of School (No. BS201918).

Copyright

Science Press, Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, CAS and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2022

Abstract

The vapor compression heat pump is considered as the best option for aerospace thermal control system. The heat exchanger in vapor compression heat pump is a component that is greatly influenced by the cosmic environment. Lubricating oil enters heat pump system with a refrigerant under microgravity, and the entrance of the lubricant increases the complexity of the flow. In this work, FLUENT software was used to study the flow and lubricant deposition of a two-phase mixture of lubricant POE RL 68H and refrigerant R134a in a heat exchanger without the consideration of phase-change heat transfer. The functional relationships between the oil film thickness and the proportion of lubricating oil, the gravitational acceleration, the inlet flow velocity, and the placement directions of the two phases of oil in the heat exchanger were established. The results demonstrate that with the increase of the gravitational acceleration and the lubricating oil content, the thickness of the oil film will exhibit an S-type change in line with the Boltzmann function, and the amount of lubricating oil deposition will increase. With the increase of the flow velocity, the thickness of the oil film will exhibit an exponential decline.

Cite this article

MA Rui , YE Yilin , MA Xudong , WU Yuting , YAN Suying , WANG Feng . Flow Characteristics of a Refrigerant-Oil Mixture in a Vapor Compression Heat Pump Heat Exchanger for Space Applications[J]. Journal of Thermal Science, 2022 , 31(2) : 407 -416 . DOI: 10.1007/s11630-022-1580-2

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