R-410A Air Conditioning System With Microchannel Condenser

This paper presents experimental results from a prototype of a microchannel heat exchanger used in a residential air-conditioning system as an air-cooled condenser. The main objectives were to analyze effects of the microchannel condenser on system performance. The commercially available system that utilizes a condenser with a round tube and plate fins was experimentally evaluated first, then the original condenser was replaced with a microchannel heat exchanger of almost identical external volume, face area, and fin pitch. The performance of the systems and condensers were compared. Condenser performance was quantified in terms of the overall heat-transfer coefficient values for different experimental conditions. The cooling capacity of the system and the coefficient of performance were compared under the same conditions (air-flow rates, temperatures, and humidities). The cooling capacity as well as the coefficient of performance for the system with a microchannel condenser was improved under each of the conditions. The charge of system using microchannel condenser was 9% less than that of the system using round-tube condenser. The airside velocity and pressure difference distributions of both condensers are also shown.