Numerical analysis of an air condenser working with the refrigerant fluid R407C

Aim of the paper is a numerical-experimental analysis for an air condenser working with the non azeotropic mixture R407C in steady-state conditions. A homogeneous model for the condensing refrigerant is considered to forecast the performances of the condenser; this model is capable of predicting the distributions of the refrigerant temperature, the velocity, the void fraction, the tube wall temperature and the air temperature along the test condenser. Obviously in the refrigerant de-superheating phase the numerical analysis becomes very simple. A comparison with the measurements on an air condenser mounted in an air channel linked to a vapour compression plant is discussed. The results show that the simplified model provides a reasonable estimation of the steady-state response and that this model is useful to design purposes.