HFC404A vaporisation inside a Brazed Plate Heat Exchanger (BPHE): Comparison with the possible long-term low GWP substitutes HC290 (Propane) and HC1270 (Propylene)

Highlights: • This paper investigates HFC404A vaporisation inside a BPHE. • HC290 and HC1270 exhibit heat transfer coefficients similar to HFC404A. • HC290 and HC1270 exhibit frictional pressure drops higher than HFC404A. • The experimental measurements are complemented with an IR thermography analysis. - Abstract: This paper presents the heat transfer coefficients and the pressure drops measured during HFC404A vaporisation inside a commercial BPHE and the comparison of this data with previous measurements carried out during HC290 (Propane) and HC1270 (Propylene) vaporisation inside the same BPHE and similar operating condition in order to assess the capability of HydroCarbon refrigerants as long-term low GWP substitutes for HFC404A in commercial and industrial refrigeration. Propane and Propylene exhibit boiling heat transfer coefficient very similar and frictional pressure drops higher than to those of HFC404A, therefore, taking into account also their good thermodynamic properties, they seems to be very promising as long-term low GWP substitutes for HFC404A. The HFC404A boiling heat transfer coefficients were also compared with a new model for refrigerant boiling inside BPHE (Longo et al., 2015): the mean absolute percentage deviation between calculated and experimental data is 6.0%. The heat transfer measurements were also complemented with an IR thermography analysis for a better understanding of refrigerant vaporisation heat transfer regime inside a BPHE.