Study on structure optimization and distribution characteristics of centrifugal refrigerant distributor for air conditioner

The refrigerant distributor helps resolve non-uniform flow distribution issues in multi-path evaporators. Using the CFD method, this paper investigates the distribution mechanism of R410A in a centrifugal distributor under air-conditioning conditions and explores the impact of structural factors on its distribution performance. The Taguchi method is employed to identify the optimal combination of structural parameters and optimization direction for achieving distribution uniformity. Furthermore, the flow distribution characteristics of the optimized distributor are investigated under different conditions. The results show that, under the working conditions of an inlet mass flow rate of 50 kg & sdot;h- 1 and an inlet quality of 0.1, the non-uniformity of the mass flow rate in the outlet branches of the optimized distributor is only 1.07 %, which represents a decrease of 7.64 % compared to the original distributor. Additionally, the non-uniformity of the outlet branch quality also decreased by 9.41 %. These findings indicate that the optimized distributor exhibits superior distribution performance. Nonetheless, the degradation of the optimized centrifugal distributor's uniform distribution performance with increasing refrigerant inlet mass flow rate and quality suggests that it is more suitable for low mass flow rate and quality conditions.