Comparison and development of new correlation for adiabatic two-phase pressure drop of refrigerant flowing inside a multiport minichannel with and without fins

This study examines the experimental adiabatic two-phase frictional pressure drop of R134a in rectangular multiport minichannel with and without fins having 20 channels with hydraulic diameters of 0.64 mm and 0.81 mm, respectively. The pressure drop measurements were done under mass flux range of 50-200 kg m−2 s−1, saturation temperature range of 20-35 °C, and inlet vapor quality range of 0.1-0.9. The effects of mass flux, saturation temperature, inlet vapor quality and channel geometry on frictional pressure drop were investigated. The results discovered that the mass flux, inlet vapor quality, saturation temperature and channel geometry play an important role in increasing or decreasing the frictional pressure drop. The present experimental data were compared with eleven existing well known frictional pressure drop correlation available in the open literature. In addition, a new two-phase frictional pressure drop correlation is proposed considering the effects of inertia, viscous force, fluid properties, channel geometry and surface tension and also validated the correlation with the available data.