Refrigerant distribution in an evaporator having a horizontal header and horizontal mini-channel tubes

In this study, we investigated the R-1234yf distribution from a header into mini-channel tubes located in a horizontal plane, which may be of importance for cooling of an electric vehicle battery. Especially, the focus was concentrated on the effect of number of branch tubes on the two-phase distribution. The tests were conducted for the mass flux from 49 to 147 kg/m²s and inlet quality from 0.2 to 0.8. The effect of heat exchanger inclination was also investigated. The results showed that the flow distribution worsened as the number of branch tube increased. Between the normal and the parallel inlet configuration, the normal inlet yielded a better distribution, probably due to the smaller number of branch tubes. The flow distribution was mainly governed by the balance of relating forces-momentum and gravitational. Thus, a poor distribution was obtained for a tilted case, where the momentum and the gravitational forces were assisting. The data showed that a vapor quality was always beneficial to the distribution. However, the effect of mass flux was case-dependent. For the horizontal case, the mass flux pushed the flow downstream, and worsened the distribution. For the tilted case, the mass flux assisted or opposed the gravity, yielding a better distribution.