Pressure drop of HFE7000 and HFE7100 during flow condensation in minichannels

• Pressure drop in flow condensation of perspective electronic fluids is scrutinised.
• Typical empirical correlations for pressure drop calculations are examined.
• Pressure drop is best described by the modified model of Müller-Steinhagen and Heck.

Attention is focused on the issues of flow resistance and pressure drop of perspective refrigeration fluids during condensation in the two-phase flow in minichannels. The case of the flow through a cylindrical single channel of 2.3 mm inner diameter was carefully analyzed. Pressure drop tests have been performed in diabatic flow conditions. The effect of heat flux, mass flux, vapour quality and saturation temperature on the two-phase pressure drop have been scrutinised. In the course of investigations, the new fluids, namely HFE 7100 and HFE 7000, have been tested. Calibration of the measurement system for the case of single phase flow and comparison of the results with the Blasius friction correlation show the accuracy of ±15%. Additionally, the data were compared with some well established correlations for two-phase flow exhibiting that the correlation due to Fronk and Garimella (2010) and the in-house model are found in best agreement with the experimental data.