An experimental study of the flow of R-134a inside an adiabatic spirally coiled capillary tube

This paper presents an experimental investigation for the flow of R-134a inside an adiabatic spirally coiled capillary tube. The effect of various geometric parameters like capillary tube diameter, length and coil pitch for different capillary tube inlet subcoolings on the mass flow rate of R-134a through the spiral capillary tube geometry has been investigated. It has been established that the coil pitch significantly influences the mass flow rate of R-134a through the adiabatic spiral capillary tube. The effect of providing pressure taps on the capillary tube surface has a negligible effect on the mass flow rate through the capillary tube. It has been concluded that the effect of coiling of capillary tube reduces the mass flow rate by 5-15% as compared to those of the straight capillary tube operating under similar conditions. The data obtained from the experiments are analyzed and a semi-empirical correlation has been developed. The proposed correlation predicts more than 91% of the mass flow rate which is in agreement with measured data in an error band of +/- 10%. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd and IIR. All rights reserved.