Performances of a split-type air conditioner employing a condenser with liquid–vapor separation baffles

In this paper, a kind of heat exchanger with liquid–vapor separation baffles used as condenser was proposed for enhancing its thermal performance. Two HCFC22 air-conditioning units using the new heat exchanger and the traditional fin-and-tube heat exchanger respectively were constructed. The optimal system refrigerant charge amount and capillary tube length for both systems were experimentally investigated. The results showed that the enhanced condenser unit could supply the equivalent cooling capacity and energy efficiency ratio (EER) as those of the baseline one at the standard cooling condition when it had only 63.1% condenser heat transfer area and 80.3% charge amount of the baseline unit. Compared with the baseline unit, the cooling capacity and EER of the new unit were reduced more significantly at undercharge conditions, but their degradations were limited at overcharged conditions. Discharge and suction pressure, mass flow rate, subcooling and superheating degree were also investigated and discussed.

► We propose an enhanced condenser with liquid–vapor separation baffles.
► The LSC unit can supply equivalent capacity and EER as the baseline unit.
► The capacity and EER of the LSC unit are reduced rapidly at undercharge conditions.
► The capacity and EER of the LSC unit keep a little degradation as it overcharged.
► The other parameters were discussed under varying charge and capillary tube length.