Construction of a test facility to measure and visualize refrigerant maldistribution in multiport evaporator headers

The main goal of this work is to construct a test facility to visualize and measure the two-phase refrigerant flow through a multiport header of a flat multiport tube (FMT) heat exchanger and to investigate maldistribution Using a transparent test section, a better understanding of the flow behavior will be obtained. The test facility should also measure the mass and vapor quality distribution in the multiport header, using a combination of energy balances and physical measurements.; Most previous two-phase flow distribution studies investigated plate or serpentine exchangers. FMT heat exchangers have different geometries, and need to be studied independently. It is the objective of this work to provide essential design information for FMT evaporators by constructing an experimental setup which measures the effects of geometry, operating conditions, and fluid properties on both the distribution of liquid refrigerant and pressure drop across FMT heat exchangers. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)...