Effects of R134a Saturation Temperature on a Shell and Tube Condenser with the Nanofluid Flow in the Tube Using the Thermal Efficiency and Effectiveness Concepts

Abstract

The work’s objective is to analyze the influence of the saturation temperature of the R134a refrigerant on the thermal performance of a shell and tube type condenser, with water and aluminum oxide (Al2O3) nanoparticles flowing into the tube. For analysis, the heat exchanger is subdivided into three regions: subcooled liquid, saturated steam, and superheated steam. The shell and tube heat exchanger assumed as the basis for the study has 36 tubes, with rows of 4 tubes in line and three passes into the tube in each region. The parameters used to analyze the performance are efficiency and effectiveness, through variations of quantities such as saturation temperature, the nanofluid’s mass flow rate, fraction in the nanoparticles’ volume, and the number of passes in the tube in each region of the heat exchanger. The obtained results demonstrate that the efficiency is relatively high in all the analyzed situations. In each saturation temperature, the effectiveness can be increased by introducing fractions of nanoparticles in the water or increasing the number of passes in the tube.