TY - JOUR
TI - Air-side performance of a micro-channel heat exchanger in wet surface conditions
AU - Srisomba Raviwat
AU - Asirvatham Lazarus Godson
AU - Mahian Omid
AU - Dalkılıç Ahmet Selim
AU - Awad Mohamed M
AU - Wongwises Somchai
JN - Thermal Science
PY - 2017
VL - 21
IS - 1
SP - 375
EP - 385
PT - Article
AB - The effects of operating conditions on the air-side heat transfer, and  pressure drop of a micro-channel heat exchanger under wet surface conditions  were studied experimentally. The test section was an aluminum micro-channel  heat exchanger, consisting of a multi-louvered fin and multi-port  mini-channels. Experiments were conducted to study the effects of inlet  relative humidity, air frontal velocity, air inlet temperature, and  refrigerant temperature on air-side performance. The experimental data were  analyzed using the mean enthalpy difference method. The test run was  performed at relative air humidities ranging between 45% and 80%; air inlet  temperature ranges of 27, 30, and 33°C; refrigerant-saturated temperatures  ranging from 18 to 22°C; and Reynolds numbers between 128 and 166. The  results show that the inlet relative humidity, air inlet temperature, and the  refrigerant temperature had significant effects on heat transfer performance  and air-side pressure drop. The heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop  for the micro-channel heat exchanger under wet surface conditions are  proposed in terms of the Colburn j factor and Fanning f factor.