Characterisation of heat transfer and pressure drop in condensation processes within mini-channel tubes with last generation of refrigerant fluids

Heat exchanger developments are driven by energetic efficiency increase and emissionreduction. To reach the standards new system are required based on mini-channels.;Mini-channels can be described as tubes with one or more ports extruded in aluminiumwith hydraulic diameter are in the range of 0.2 to 3 mm. Its use in refrigeration systemsfor some years ago is a reality thanks to the human ability to made micro-scale systems.Some heat exchanger enterprises have some models developed specially for their use inautomotive sector, cooling sector, and industrial refrigeration without having a deepknowledge of how these reduced geometries affect the most important parameters suchas pressure drop and the heat transfer coefficient.;To respond to this objective, an exhaustive literature review of the last two decades hasbeen performed to determinate the state of the research. Between all the publications,several models have been selected to check the predicting capacities of them becausemost of them were developed for single port mini-channel tubes. Experimentalmeasurements of heat transfer coefficient and frictional pressure drop were recorded inan experimental installation built on purpose at the Technical University of Cartagena.Multiple variables are recorded in this installation in order to calculate local heattransfer coefficient in two-phase condensing flow within mini-channels.;Both pressure drop and heat transfer coefficient experimental measurements arecompared to the previously mentioned models. Most of them capture the trend correctlybut others fail predicting experimental data. These differences can be explained by theexperimental parameters considered during the models development. In some cases themodels found in the literature were developed specific conditions, consequently theirpredicting capacities are restricted.;As main contributions, this thesis provides new modelling tools for mini-channelscondensing pressure drop and heat transfer coefficient calculation. A comparison of arecently developed refrigerant is also given in this thesis.