Performance Analysis of an Indoor Heat Exchanger with R-410A for GHP Application

The objectives of this paper are to study the effects of thermal and geometric conditions on the performance of indoor heat exchangers with R-410A for Gas Engine Driven Heat Pump (GHP) application and to find the optimum design conditions of indoor heat exchangers by parametric analysis for the key parameters. The key parameters are number of tube row, number of tube pipe, fin pitch and transverse tube pitch. In the air side, moisture out of the humid air condenses on the fin surface while the refrigerant (R-410A) boils inside the smooth tube. Therefore this study uses Log Mean Enthalpy Difference (LMHD) method to analyze the heat transfer from the humid air to the refrigerant. This study determines the heat exchanger size, air side/refrigerant side pressure drop and overall heat transfer coefficient. Optimum design conditions for the key parameters are also determined by the parametric analysis. The results show that number of rows and pipes, fin pitch have significant effect on the heat exchanger size. It is also found that the tube length of the louver fin is 17~30% shorter than that of the plate fin.