Two-phase pressure drop and condensation heat transfer of R32/R1234ze(E) non-azeotropic mixtures inside a single microchannel

Much attention has been paid in the recent years to the possible use of fluorinated propene isomers for the substitution of high global warming potential refrigerants. Among the fluorinated propene isomers, R1234ze(E) may be a substitute of R134a for refrigeration applications. R1234ze(E) has a global warming potential lower than 1 (considering a period time of 100years), and it is receiving some attention also as a component of low global warming potential mixtures. In this article, a mixture of R1234ze(E) and R32 has been investigated at two different mass compositions (23/77% and 46/54% by mass) with regard to the performance at the condenser. The local heat transfer coefficients during condensation in a single microchannel with 0.96mm diameter are measured and analyzed. The frictional two-phase pressure drop in the same channel is also investigated. The present tests are carried out on the experimental apparatus available at the Two-Phase Heat Transfer Lab of the University of Padova. The new experimental data are compared to those of pure R1234ze(E) and R32. This allows the heat transfer penalization due to the mass transfer resistance occurring during condensation of these zeotropic mixtures to be analyzed and suitable predicting models to be assessed. The knowledge of heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop allows evaluation of the overall performance of these mixtures when used in condensers.