Mechanical Engineering Department

Babasaheb Ambedkar Technology University,

Lonere, Dist Raigad
Details of proposed Project at IInd Year M. Tech (T&F)

Referred Literatures

M.K. Mittal, Ravi Kumar, Akhilesh Gupta

An experimental study of the flow of R-407C in an adiabatic helical capillary tube

Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Indian Institute of

Technology, Roorkee 247667, Uttarakhand, India, international journal of
refrigeration 33 ( 2 0 1 0 ) 8 4 0 – 8 4 7

This paper presents an experimental investigation of coiling effect on the flow of R-

407C in an adiabatic helical capillary tube. It has been observed that the coiling of
capillary tube significantly influences the mass flow rate of R-407C through the
adiabatic helical capillary tube. For straight capillary tube it has been observed that
the mass flow rates in coiled capillary tube are 5–10 percent less than those in a
straight one. The data obtained from the experiments was analyzed and non-
dimensional correlations for the prediction of mass flow rate of R-407C in straight
and helical capillary tube have been developed. The proposed correlations predict
experimental data in an error band of + 10 percent.

Sukkarin Chingulpitak, Somchai Wongwises

Effects of coil diameter and pitch on the flow characteristics of alternative
refrigerants flowing through adiabatic helical capillary tubes
The joint Graduate School of Energy and Environment, King Mongkut's University of
Technology Thonburi, Bangmod, Bangkok 10140, Thailand, Fluid Mechanics,
Thermal Engineering and Multiphase Flow Research Lab. (FUTURE), Department of
Mechanical Engineering, King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi,
Bangmod, Bangkok 10140, Thailand

This paper presents the effects of various geometries of helical capillary tubes on
the flow characteristics of alternative refrigerants flowing through adiabatic helical
capillary tubes. The theoretical model is based on the conservation of mass, energy
and momentum of fluids in the capillary tube. The two-phase flow model developed
was based on a homogenous flow assumption. The model was validated by
comparing it with the experimental data of Zhou and Zhang for R-22, particularly
various pairs of refrigerants. It was found conventional refrigerants had lower
capillary lengths than alternative refrigerants. For all pairs, the numerical results
showed that the traditional refrigerants consistently gave lower pressure drops for
both single-phase and two-phase flows, which resulted in longer tube lengths. The
results show that coil diameter variation (less than 300 mm) for helical capillary
tube geometries affected the length of helical capillary tubes. However, pitch
variation (more than 300 mm) had no significant effect on the length of helical
capillary tubes. This adiabatic helical capillary tube model can be used to integrate
system models working with alternative refrigerants for design and optimization.

Zhou Guobinga, Zhang Yufengb

a Department of Building Science, School of Architecture, Tsinghua University,
Beijing 100084, China
b School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin
300072, China
Numerical and experimental investigations on the performance of coiled adiabatic
capillary tubes
Applied Thermal Engineering 26 (2006) 1106–1114
Paper presents the performance of coiled adiabatic capillary tubes both numerically
and experimentally by comparison with the straight capillaries. With the developed
model including meta-stable both liquid and two-phase regions, three methods are
discussed to calculate friction factors for coiled capillary tubes. Mass flow rate
through the capillary is measured with different tube geometries and under various
operating conditions. Compared with the present experimental data and that in
literature gives the best prediction with the average deviation of ±5%. The test
results show that mass flow rate in a capillary tube increases with increase of coiled
diameter (D), but changes little beyond D = 300 mm. And the mass flow rate with
coiled diameter of 40 mm is approximately 10% less than that of straight capillary
tube.

Project Objective

Modeling for Prediction of Mass Flow Rate for Coiled Capillary Tube of Domestic
Refrigerator (R600a/R290 50:50) using Artificial Neural Network

Very few works are reported in the literature survey for modeling using refrigerant
R600a/R290 for domestic refrigerator (hence working substance is selected as
R600a/R290). Several mathematical models are available in literatures for straight
and coiled capillary tube for prediction of mass flow rate with an error of 5 to 10 %.
Since ANN is proved to be very good tool for predictions and optimization, hence
modeling with artificial neural network is selected.

Same work can be expanded for modeling with ANFIS (Artificial Neural Fuzzy
Interference System)

Test Procedure

Will try to follow American National Standard ANSI/AHAM HRF-1-2004,

Household Refrigerators/Household Freezers
Applies to household refrigerators, refrigerator-freezers, freezers and wine chillers
This standard covers definitions, methods for computing volumes and shelf areas,
methods for determining volumes of special features, performance test procedures,
and durability test procedures, methods for determining energy consumption and
energy factor, and safety recommendations

OR

Indian Standard IS 1476 : Part 1 : 2000

Performance of Household Refrigerating Appliance - Refrigerators with or Without

Low Temperature Compartment - Part 1 : Energy Consumption and Performance
Experimental Setup Required

1. 165 lit Refrigerator

2. Copper Coiled Capillary Tube

3. Energy Meter

4. Thermocouples and Temperature Indicator

5. Pressure Gauges

6. Surface Roughness Tester

7. Data Logger

8. Flow Meter for mass flow rate measurement

Project Sponsored By

AIM-Enviro Pvt. Ltd., Nasik (MS)

Project Supervisor at Industry

Dr. M. M. Kulkarni (Proprietor)

Mr. S. D. Parkhi (Energy Consultant & Chief Consultant Organization – Shree

Consultants Nasik)