International Journal of Refrigeration 22 (1999) 604±614

www.elsevier.com/locate/ijrefrig

Capillary tube selection for HCFC22 alternatives

Dongsoo Jung*,1, Chunkun Park, Byungjin Park
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Inha University, Inchon, Korea, 402-751

Received 17 July 1998; received in revised form 7 June 1999; accepted 7 June 1999

Abstract
In this paper, pressure drop through a capillary tube is modeled in an attempt to predict the size of capillary tubes
used in residential air conditioners and also to provide simple correlating equations for practicing engineers. Stoecker's
basic model was modi®ed with the consideration of various e€ects due to subcooling, area contraction, di€erent
equations for viscosity and friction factor, and ®nally mixture e€ect. McAdams' equation for the two-phase viscosity
and Stoecker's equation for the friction factor yielded the best results among various equations. With these equations,
the modi®ed model yielded the performance data that are comparable to those in the ASHRAE handbook. After the
model was validated with experimental data for CFC12, HFC134a, HCFC22, and R407C, performance data were
generated for HCFC22 and its alternatives, HFC134a, R407C, and R410A under the following conditions: condensing
temperature; 40, 45, 50, 55 C, subcooling; 0, 2.5, 5 C, capillary tube diameter; 1.2±2.4 mm, mass ¯ow rate; 5±50 g/s.
These data showed that the capillary tube length varies uniformly with the changes in condensing temperature and
subcooling. Finally, a regression analysis was performed to determine the dependence of mass ¯ow rate on the length
and diameter of a capillary tube, condensing temperature, and subcooling. Thus determined simple practical equations
yielded a mean deviation of 2.4% for 1488 data obtained for two pure and two mixed refrigerants examined in this
study. # 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd and IIR. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Air conditioner; Refrigerating circuit; Capillary tube; R12; R134a; R407C; R410A; R22

SeÂlection de capillaires pour les frigorigeÁnes de remplacement

du HCFC22
ResumeÂ
Les auteurs ont e€ectue la modeÂlisation de la perte de pression suite au passage aÁ travers un capillaire ; l'objectif de cette
eÂtude est de preÂvoir la taille optimale de capillaires utiliseÂs dans les conditionneurs d'air domestiques et de fournir des
eÂquations de correÂlations simples pour les professionnels. Une version modi®eÂe du modeÁle de Stoecker a eÂte utiliseÂe a®n de
tenir compte des e€ets du sous-refroidissement, de la contraction de la super®cie, des diverses eÂquations exprimant les
facteurs de viscosite et de frottement et en®n les e€ets des meÂlanges. Parmi toutes les eÂquations utiliseÂes, l'eÂquation de
McAdams pour la viscosite biphasique et l'eÂquation de Stoecker pour le facteur de frottement ont donne les meilleurs
reÂsultats. GraÃce aÁ ces eÂquations, le modeÁle modi®e a fourni des donneÂes sur les performances comparables aÁ celles publieÂes
dans le manuel de l'ASHRAE. ApreÁs validation du modeÁle en fonction des donneÂes expeÂrimentales obtenues avec le
CFC12, le HFC134a, le HCFC22 et le R407C, les donneÂes de performance ont eÂte obtenues pour le HCFC22 et ses fri-
gorigeÁnes de remplacement, HFC134a, R407C et R410A, dans les conditions suivantes : tempeÂrature de condensation de
40, 45, 50 ou 55 C ; sous-refroidissement 0, 2,5 ou 5 C ; diameÁtre du capillaire 1,2 aÁ 2,4 mm ; deÂbit massique 5 aÁ 50 g/s.
1
Professor, Associate member of IIR
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +82-32-860-7320; fax: +82-32-868-1716.
E-mail address: dsjung@inha.ac.kr (D. Jung)

0140-7007/99/$20.00 # 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd and IIR. All rights reserved.
PII: S0140-7007(99)00027-4
 D. Jung et al. / International Journal of Refrigeration 22 (1999) 604±614 605

Ces donneÂes indiquent que la longueur du capillaire varie de facon uniforme selon les variations de tempeÂrature de con-
densation et de sous-refroidissement. En®n, une analyse de reÂgression a eÂte e€ectueÂe a®n de deÂterminer la relation entre le
deÂbit massique et la longueur et le diameÁtre du capillaire, la tempeÂrature de condensation et le sous-refroidissement. Une
deÂviation de 2,4% a eÂte obtenue pour les eÂquations pratiques baseÂes sur 1488 donneÂes obtenues pour les deux frigorigeÁnes
purs et les deux meÂlanges de frigorigeÁnes eÂtudieÂs. # 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd and IIR. All rights reserved.
Mots cleÂs: Conditionneur d'air; Circuit frigori®que; Capillaire; R12; R134a; R407C; R410A; R22

Nomenclature Subscript
a area
A cross sectional area of a capillary tube (m2) bub bubble point
C constant or coecient c contraction
D inner diameter of a capillary tube (m) cal calculated value by regression equation
DSC subcooling ( C) dew dew point
f friction factor f saturated liquid
G mass ¯ux (kg sÿ1 mÿ2) g saturated vapor
h enthalpy (kJ kgÿ1 or J kgÿ1) model calculated value by the model
L length of a capillary tube (m) sub subcooled
Mach Mach number 2 two-phase
:
m refrigerant mass ¯ow rate (kg sÿ1 or g sÿ1)
P, p pressure (kPa or Pa) Greek letters
Re Reynolds number
incremental
T, t temperature ( C)  viscosity (Pa s)
 speci®c volume (m3 kgÿ1)  density (kg mÿ3)
V velocity (m sÿ1)  area ratio
x quality

1. Introduction large size air-conditioners/heat pumps charged with new

HCFC22 has been used predominantly as the work-
ing ¯uid in residential air conditioners due to its excellent
properties and compatibility with various materials.
HCFC22 contains hydrogen and chlorine atoms and its
ozone depletion potential is 0.05. Since HCFC22 has the
ozone depleting chlorine, it is to be phased out even-
tually according to the Montreal Protocol amendments
adopted by the participating countries [1]. To comply
with the international regulations for the global envir-
onmental protection, major equipment manufacturers in
US, Japan, and Europe have formed ``R22 Alternative
Refrigerant Evaluation program'' (R22 AREP) to test
various HCFC22 alternatives including some refrigerant
mixtures [2]. Due to various e€orts done over the past
few years, at present some of the promising alternatives
for HCFC22 such as HFC134a, R407C (23%R32/
25%R125/52%HFC134a) and R410A (50%R32/
50%R125) are screened out.
A typical residential air conditioner consists of a
compressor, evaporator, condenser and expansion device
and capillary tubes have been extensively used as the
expansion device for the past few decades. Even though
now electronic expansion valves and/or short tube ori®ces
are considered as future expansion devices for somewhat
refrigerants in US, capillary tubes are still considered
for the new equipment in many Asian countries since
their units are usually smaller than those in US and the
use of capillary tubes is still adequate for their applications.
For the past few decades, much work has been done
with capillary tubes [3±9] and so far, the diagrams found
in the ASHRAE handbook [5] have been recommended
primarily for the sizing of capillary tubes for various
applications associated with common refrigerants includ-
ing HCFC22. These diagrams, however, are meant to be
used mainly for the refrigerants of previous generation and
hence there is a need to provide capillary tube selection
data for HCFC22 alternatives including refrigerant
mixtures. The objectives of this paper are to perform a
capillary tube analysis for HCFC22 and its alternatives,
namely HFC134a, R407C and R410A and to provide
simple practical equations for the design/test engineers,
which are derived by a regression analysis correlating some
variables a€ecting the performance of capillary tubes.
2. Capillary tube modeling
In order to understand the phenomenon occurring
inside a capillary tube correctly and to develop a reliable
606 D. Jung et al. / International Journal of Refrigeration 22 (1999) 604±614

model consequently, previous models need to be studied In Eq. (4), velocity V, speci®c volume v, and friction
®rst. For this purpose, one of the most popular methods factor f change as the refrigerant ¯ows from point 1 to
developed by Stoecker [6] will be reviewed ®rst and his point 2. Using the mass conservation equation, the fric-
simple model will be extended to account for the various tion term in Eq. (4) can be simpli®ed as:
e€ects including the e€ect of mixture. :

L V 2
L V m
L V
f ˆf ˆf G …7†
2.1. Stoecker's basic model D 2 D 2A D 2

Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a typical capil- In the following calculations, the velocity V in Eq. (7)
lary tube used for the analysis. is always assumed to be the mean velocity between point
For steady state, mass conservation equation is writ- 1 and point 2.
ten as follows: V1 ‡ V2
Vm ˆ …8†
: V1 A V2 A 2
mˆ ˆ …1†
1 2
In Eq. (7), the only unknown variable is the friction
or factor f. Stoecker observed that the refrigerant ¯ow
through a capillary tube is turbulent and hence the
:
m V1 V2 Reynolds number for this ¯ow can be obtained from the
ˆGˆ ˆ …2†
A 1 2 Moody diagram. So he modi®ed the Blasius' friction
factor and called it McAdams' equation [6].
For steady state adiabatic situation with no change in
potential energy, the energy conservation equation is 0:33 0:33
fˆ ˆ …9†
written as follows: Re0:25 …VD=†0:25

V 21 V2 In order to calculate the two-phase viscosity, Stoecker

1000h1 ‡ ˆ 1000h2 ‡ 2 …3†
2 2 used the same formula used for calculating the two-
phase properties.
where the enthalpy h is in J/kg.
On the other hand, the momentum equation is written  ˆ f …1 ÿ x† ‡ g x …10†
as follows:
 
:
L V2 The average friction factor for the incremental length,
m…V2 ÿ V1 † ˆ …p1 ÿ p2 † ÿ f A …4†
L, is determined by the following equation:
D 2
f1 ‡ f2
The left hand side of Eq. (4) is due to acceleration fm ˆ …11†
2
while the right hand side is due to the force di€erence
caused by pressure di€erence and friction. Using the above equations, the incremental length,
When the refrigerant ¯ows continuously, the enthalpy
L, is calculated as the refrigerant ¯ows through a
remains constant with pressure decreased. And even- capillary tube. Since the saturation temperature, quality,
tually the refrigerant becomes two-phase and the quality and mass ¯ow rate are known at point 1,
L can be
increases with the length. The enthalpy and volume of determined with a given saturation temperature at point
the ¯uid in two-phase region is determined by the fol- 2 as follows:
lowing equation:
1. t1 , p1 , hf 1 , hg1 , vf 1 , vg1 are determined and p2 , hf 2 ,
h ˆ hf …1 ÿ x† ‡ hg x …5† hg2 , vf 2 , vg2 are calculated for t2 .
2. When point 1 is in two-phase region, h1 , v1 , f1 are
 ˆ f …1 ÿ x† ‡ g x …6† determined using Eqs. (5), (6) etc.
Now the only unknown variable is the quality at
point 2 and this is determined by the continuity and
energy equations as follows:
22 V2
1000h2 ‡ G2 ˆ 1000h1 ‡ 1 …12†
2 2

…f 2 ‡ fg2 x2 †2 V2
1000hf 2 ‡ 1000hfg2 x2 ‡ G2 ˆ 1000h2 ‡ 1
Fig. 1. Schematic of a capillary tube. 2 2
Fig. 1. ScheÂma d'un capillaire. …13†
 D. Jung et al. / International Journal of Refrigeration 22 (1999) 604±614 607

Table 1
Variables calculated by Stoecker's modela
Tableau 1
Variables calculeÂes utilisant le modeÁle de Stoecker

Position T ( C) P (kPa) x h (kJ/kg) V (m/s) Mach2
L L

1 40.0 1535.6 0.000 93.73 4.51 0.2615 0.0000 0.0000

2 39.0 1498.5 0.008 93.72 5.04 0.2691 0.2346 0.2346
3 38.0 1462.0 0.015 93.72 5.60 0.2769 0.2050 0.4396
4 37.0 1426.2 0.023 93.72 6.17 0.2850 0.1804 0.6199
5 36.0 1391.1 0.030 93.71 6.78 0.2934 0.1597 0.7796
6±33 ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ±
34 7.0 621.9 0.199 92.92 40.46 0.6951 0.0080 2.1655
35 6.0 602.9 0.204 92.83 42.46 0.7164 0.0070 2.1726
36 5.0 584.4 0.208 92.74 44.55 0.7384 0.0061 2.1787
37 4.0 566.3 0.213 92.64 46.73 0.7609 0.0053 2.1840
38 3.0 548.7 0.217 92.53 48.99 0.7841 0.0045 2.1885
39±44 ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ±
45 ÿ4.0 436.4 0.245 91.45 67.57 0.9643 0.0004 2.2023
46 ÿ5.0 421.9 0.249 91.24 70.66 0.9925 0.0000 2.2023
47 ÿ6.0 407.8 0.253 91.01 73.87 1.0213 ÿ0.0004 2.2019
a
Conditions: refrigerant, HCFC22; condensing temp., 40 C; subcooling, 0 C; diameter of the capillary tube, 1.63 mm; refrigerant
mass ¯ow rate, 10 g/s.

Eq. (13) is a simple quadratic equation for x2 . After 2.03 m suggested by the ASHRAE handbook. Thus
x2 is determined from Eq. (13), h2 , v2 and V2 can also be determined mass ¯ow rate was 10.38 g/s, which is only
determined using x2 and consequently Re2 , f2 , fm can be 3.8% o€ from the actual value. From these calculations,
determined. And then, Eqs. (7) and (8) can be put into it can be said that Stoecker's method is quite useful
Eq. (4) and ®nally
L can be determined. despite its simplicity.
To check the validity of the method presented above, From the results in Table 1, one can easily see that
calculation was done for the case where HCFC22 below ÿ5 C the calculated incremental length,
L, is
expands through a 1.63 mm id capillary tube at 10.0 g/s negative. Of course, this phenomenon can not occur in
from 40 C saturated liquid to ÿ5 C. Thermodynamic reality and is due to the fact that the ¯ow is choked.
and transport properties needed for the calculation were Once the ¯ow is choked, the mass ¯ow rate does not
obtained from Morrison and McLinden [10] and Jung
and Radermacher [11]. Table 1 lists the incremental
length and other variables calculated for the tempera-
ture drop of 1 C. The total length needed for the
refrigerant to expand from 40 to 5 C is calculated to be
2.18 m which is only 7.3% longer than the value
obtained from the ASHRAE handbook [5].
At this point, one thing needs to be pointed out.
When the accuracy of the model is discussed, mass ¯ow
rates should be considered for comparison rather than
tube lengths. The reason for this can be explained with
the temperature pro®le obtained in the above analysis.
Fig. 2 shows the calculated pressures and temperatures
along the tube. As seen in Fig. 2, more than 50% of the
total pressure drop occurs in the last 20% of the tube.
Especially, in this portion of the tube pressure drops
abruptly even with a small increase in length. Therefore,
the calculated tube length is a€ected too much by the
refrigerant state and should not be considered a relevant Fig. 2. Variation of saturation temperature and pressure
criterion to check the validity of the model. through a capillary tube.
Hence, a reverse calculation was made to determine Fig. 2. Variation de la tempeÂrature de saturation et de la pression
the mass ¯ow rate which yields the required length of aÁ travers un tube capillaire.
608 D. Jung et al. / International Journal of Refrigeration 22 (1999) 604±614

change even though the pressure drops further. There- Fig. 3 shows the quality and two-phase Mach number
fore, when the ¯ow is choked, the two-phase velocity as a function of a tube length. In the last portion of the
becomes the sound velocity. Goldstein [3] determined tube, quality increases rapidly and Mach number
the two-phase Mach number using the results of Wallis reaches 1.0 with a sharp increase in velocity and at this
[12] as follows: point the ¯ow becomes choked. From this fact, it can be
     1=2 said that the two-phase Mach number is a good indi-
dg df dx cator to determine whether the ¯ow is choked or not.
Mach2 ˆ ÿG2 x ‡ …1 ÿ x† ‡ fg 
dp dp dp h
…14† 2.2. Friction factor and viscosity equations

where From the above analysis, one can easily notice that
the friction factor is the most important variable in the
 ÿ1
G2 fg …f ‡ xfg † capillary tube analysis. Actually, many researchers have
ˆ 1‡
hfg carried out capillary tube modeling and used empirical
or semi empirical values of the friction factor to best
represent experimental data. Table 2 summarizes the
widely used and cited friction factors. On the other
hand, Table 3 lists two popular methods for the two-
phase viscosity. With the equations in Tables 2 and 3, 16
combinations are possible and calculations are made for
these combinations under the same condition in Table 1
in an attempt to ®nd the best combination.
Table 4 summarizes the results. In general, Duckler's
method for the two-phase viscosity yielded 45% longer

Table 3
Two-phase dynamic viscosities found in the literature
Tableau 3
ViscositeÂs dynamiques biphasiques dans la litteÂrature

Author Formula

1 McAdams et al. [6]a  ˆ ÿ…1 ÿ x†f ‡ xg

2 Duckler et al. [13]  ˆ f …1 ÿ x†f ‡ g x =
Fig. 3. Variation of quality and 2-phase Mach number through a
The ®rst equation is called McAdams' equation by
a capillary tube. Stoecker. But Collier called it Cicchitti et al.'s equation (Ref.
Fig. 3. Variation de la qualite et nombre de Mach biphasique [13], p. 44).
pour un capillaire.
Table 4
Table 2 Calculated capillary tube lengths using various equations for
Various equations for friction factor found in the literature viscosity and friction factor

Tableau 2 Tableau 4
Diverses eÂquations du facteur de frottement dans la litteÂrature Longueurs des capillaires calculeÂes aÁ l'aide de diverses eÂquations
des facteurs de viscosite et de frottement
Author Equation
Friction factor Viscosity
1 Stoecker et al. [6] f ˆ 0:33=Re0:25
2 Modi®ed Blasius [6] f ˆ 0:3=Re0:25 McAdams Duckler
3 Goldstein [3] f ˆ 0:02 et al. [6] (m) et al. [13] (m)
 
1:0 ÿ x0:25 Stoecker 2.204 2.632
4 Erth [14] f ˆ 3:1=Re0:5 Exp
2:4 Modi®ed Blasius 2.425 2.895
 
1:0 ÿ x0:25 Goldstein 2.466 2.466
5 Sami [15] f ˆ 3:1=‰Re…1 ÿ x†Š0:5 Exp Erth 2.758 4.040
2:4
6 Pate et al. [9] f ˆ 3:49=Re0:47 Sami 2.849 4.136
7 Hopkins [16] f ˆ 0:217=Re0:2 Pate 2.225 3.144
8 User supplied f ˆ C1 =ReC2 Hopkins 1.953 2.248
function User supplied function 2.694 3.216
 D. Jung et al. / International Journal of Refrigeration 22 (1999) 604±614
length than that calculated by McAdams' method. With
McAdams' method employed, the calculated length
varied among di€erent friction factors. The best equa-
tions yielding the results similar to the measured ones in
the ASHRAE handbook are McAdam's equation for the
two-phase viscosity and Stoecker's and Hopkins' equa-
tions for the friction factor.
2.3. Modi®cation of Stoecker's model
Stoecker's model does not consider pressure drops
due to subcooling and area contraction, which normally
occur in capillary tubes. The pressure drop in the sub-
cooled section,
Psub , is determined by Eq. (7) while
that due to contraction is obtained by following equation.
"
2  #  
G2 1 1 f

Pc ˆ ÿ1 ‡ 1ÿ 2 1‡ …15†
2f Cc a g
Eq. (15) was developed by Collier [13] originally for
two-phase ¯ow but can also be applied for single phase
¯ow by setting the quality to zero.
2.4. Model veri®cation for pure refrigerants
In 1991, Wijaya [4] measured the capillary tube per-
formance using 0.787 mm id capillary tubes for R12 and
HFC134a. First of all, a comparison was made against
his data to check the validity of the present model. For
this, McAdams' equation was employed for the two-
phase viscosity while the equations by Stoecker, Gold-
stein, Moody diagram as well as a user de®ned function
were employed for the friction factor. For the user
de®ned function, constants C1 and C2 are set to 0.27
and 0.25, which were obtained from the comparison of
the experimental data measured by one refrigerator
manufacturer in Korea. Other equations for the friction
factor were not considered since they deviated too much
from the experimental data.
A comparison was made for 21 measured mass ¯ow
rate data. The mass ¯ow rates calculated by using the
friction factor suggested by Stoecker were 15.4% smaller
than the measured ones. The deviation increased with
an increase in subcooling. In fact, Wijaya also used
Stoecker's method and obtained similar results as the
present ones. When the friction factor obtained from the
Moody diagram was used, calculated data were a little
bit closer to the measured ones showing a 12.8% devia-
tion. On the other hand, the deviation was 13.5% when
the user de®ned function was used and Goldstein's
method assuming a constant friction factor yielded
13.9% deviation.
Based upon the comparison, it can be said that pre-
dicting the performance of small diameter capillary
tubes is more dicult than that for larger diameter
609
tubes and the deviation is typically in the range of 15%.
This is partly due to the experimental diculties asso-
ciated with small diameter tubes. For small diameter
tubes, the data from the ASHRAE handbook often
deviate much from the actual ones and hence experi-
ments should be performed more carefully.
To check the validity of the model further, HCFC22
data obtained with capillary tubes used in residential air
conditioners produced by one Korean manufacturer
were compared. For 28 data points, the model with
Stoecker's and McAdams' equations for the friction
factor and viscosity yielded the best results showing only
a 5% deviation. This validated the present model fur-
ther with considerable con®dence especially for large
diameter capillary tubes used in room air conditioners Ð
1.2 mm id or larger Ð on which henceforth discussions
will be focused.
2.5. Thermodynamic properties and viscosity
As seen in the above analysis, one of the factors
a€ecting the model performance is the viscosity of the
¯uid. In general, transport properties of refrigerants are
harder to be measured than thermodynamic properties.
Even though measured data are available, discrepancies
between the di€erent data sets are often large. There-
fore, a typical average deviation is 5±10% for the vis-
cosity. Since this study deals with also refrigerant
mixtures, their viscosities are to be known. However,
very few measured data are available in the literature for
the viscosities of newly developed refrigerant mixtures
such as R407C and R410A.
As refrigerant mixtures are used as alternatives for
CFCs and HCFCs, US National Institute of Standards
and Technology (NIST) has developed a computer routine
called REFPROP to calculate thermodynamic and trans-
port properties of both pure and mixed refrigerants [17].
Since REFPROP calculates both thermodynamic and
transport properties simultaneously, it was adopted in
the ®nal model for consistency.
In the ®nal analysis, a further simpli®cation was
incorporated into the model. The complexity of Eq. (13)
stems from the kinetic energy term in energy conserva-
tion Eq. (3). In fact, the kinetic energy change is typi-
cally less than 1% of the total energy change for most of
the cases encountered in room air conditioning appli-
cations. Hence neglecting the term would not make a
signi®cant di€erence. So, the kinetic energy term was
ignored and then the energy conservation equation
became as simple as
h1 ˆ h2 …16†
In order to justify this, the same capillary tube was
analyzed under the condition in Table 1. This time, the
calculated length became 2.13 m which was only 0.47%
610 D. Jung et al. / International Journal of Refrigeration 22 (1999) 604±614
di€erent from the previous value calculated with the
kinetic energy term considered. Also the quality at the
exit of the capillary tube did not change noticeably.
3. Results and discussion
With the consideration of various e€ects discussed above
and validation of the model with experimental data, the
performance of capillary tubes used in residential air
conditioners is predicted under the following conditions
and assumptions. And the results are presented in dia-
grams as well as in simple practical equations.
1. Stoecker's equation is used for the friction factor.
2. McAdams' equation is used for the two-phase
viscosity.
3. REFPROP is used for all thermodynamic and
transport properties.
4. Kinetic energy term is neglected in the energy
conservation equation.
5. Pressure drop due to area contraction at the
entrance of the tube is considered with an area
ratio of 0.2.
6. Flow is choked all the time at the exit of capillary
tubes.
7. Four condensation temperatures of 40, 45, 50,
55 C and three subcoolings of 0, 2.5, 5 C are
considered.
8. Inner diameters of capillary tubes vary from 1.2 to
2.4 mm with an increment of 0.2 mm.
9. Mass ¯ow rates of refrigerants are in the range of
5 to 50 g/s.
10. HCFC22, HFC134a, R407C and R410A are
considered.
3.1. Consideration of refrigerant mixtures
Before the results are presented, a certain point con-
cerning the condensation temperature needs to be men-
tioned. Even though external heat transfer ¯uid
temperatures are ®xed in the evaporator and condenser
of an air-conditioner, saturation pressures in those heat
exchangers vary among various refrigerants. Therefore,
it is customary that the performance data of a certain
refrigeration system are presented for the same satura-
tion temperatures of the evaporator and condenser. The
compressor performance curves are also presented in the
same format. Consequently, the performance data of
capillary tubes need to be presented in the same format
for consistency so that refrigeration engineers can utilize
the results more eciently.
Unlike pure ¯uids, however, the saturation tempera-
ture of a nonazeotropic refrigerant mixture (NARM)
increases during evaporation and decreases during con-
densation. Therefore, for a NARM simply stating that
condensation temperature is 40 C is not sucient. To
resolve this problem, ``R22 AREP'' [2] made a rule that
the average saturation temperature should be used for
NARMs. Therefore, the same rule was adopted for the
condensation temperature of NARMs in this study.
For the analysis of NARMs, the pressures corre-
sponding to the saturated liquid, pbub , and saturated
vapor, pdew , are determined for a given condensation
temperature and the mean value is assumed to be the
condensation pressure. HCFC22 and HFC134a do not
have this diculty since they are pure ¯uids. Since
R410A is a near azeotropic mixture with a gliding tem-
perature di€erence of less than 0.1 C, it does not have
that problem either. As for R407C, however, the gliding
temperature di€erence is roughly 7.0 C and hence the
condensation pressure is determined in the manner
described above.
In the above section, the present model was validated
by comparing the predicted data against measured ones
for HCFC22, HFC134a and CFC12. In order to check
the validity further, predicted data were compared to
the experimental data for R407C [18] and Fig. 4 shows
the comparison. As seen in Fig. 4, the model predicts
the experimental data quite well showing a mean devia-
tion of less than 10%. Since no experimental data were
found for R410A in the literature, the model could not
be tested for R410A.
3.2. E€ects of various factors
Since the reliability of the model is demonstrated by
the comparison with experimental data of four di€erent
Fig. 4. Comparison of the mass ¯ow rates calculated by the
model against measured data for R407C.
Fig. 4. Comparaison des deÂbits massiques calculeÂs utilisant le
modeÁle par rapport aux donneÂes mesureÂes pour le R407C.
 D. Jung et al. / International Journal of Refrigeration 22 (1999) 604±614
refrigerants including a NARM of R407C, e€ects of
some variables on capillary tube performance will be
examined in the following section.
Fig. 5 shows the mass ¯ow rates of HCFC22 as a
function of capillary tube length for tubes of various
inner diameters. As expected, the mass ¯ow rate
decreases with an increase in capillary tube length for
the same diameter tubes. For the same tube length, mass
¯ow rate increases as the inner diameter increases. This
is the same trend found in the ASHRAE handbook [5].
Fig. 5. Capillary tube performance data for HCFC-22.
Fig. 5. Performance des capillaires pour le HCFC22.
Fig. 6. E€ect of condensing temperature.
Fig. 6. E€et de la tempeÂrature de condensation.
611
Figs. 6 and 7 show the e€ects of condensation tem-
perature and subcooling on the capillary tube perfor-
mance. With an increase in subcooling the tube length
increases since the pressure drop in the subcooled
section needs to be increased accordingly. Of course, as
the condensation temperature increases, so does the
capillary tube length since the total pressure di€erence
between the condenser and evaporator increases. As shown
in Figs. 6 and 7, as either the subcooling or condensation
temperature increases, the required capillary tube length
Fig. 7. E€ect of subcooling.
Fig. 7. E€et du sous-refroidissement.
Fig. 8. Comparison of the mass ¯ow rates calculated by a cor-
relation equation against predicted data.
Fig. 8. Comparaison des deÂbits massiques calculeÂs aÁ l'aide d'une
eÂquation de correÂlation par rapport aux donneÂes preÂvues.
612 D. Jung et al. / International Journal of Refrigeration 22 (1999) 604±614

shifts horizontally to the right. For other ¯uids, the

same trend is observed.

3.3. Regression analysis for practical correlations

If the changes in diameter and length of capillary

tubes for various subcoolings and condensation tem-
peratures are to be illustrated in one diagram, it would
be too complicated for design engineers to utilize the
results well. To resolve this problem, it is necessary that
the performance of capillary tubes should be presented
in a correlating equation format.
As shown in Figs. 6 and 7, the e€ect of each variable
seems to be consistent for all refrigerants. Thus, mass
¯ow rates of the refrigerant through a capillary tube can
be correlated with an inner diameter (D) and length (L)
of a capillary tube, condensing temperature (T), and
subcooling (DSC). Various forms of equations were
tried and ®nally the best equation was turned out to be
Fig. 9. Capillary tube performance data for HFC134a.
as follows:
Fig. 9. Performance des capillaires pour le HFC134a.
:
m ˆ C1 DC2 LC3 T C4 10C5 DSC …17†

For each refrigerant, 372 data were generated under

various conditions and the relationship among the
various variables in Eq. (17) was determined by a mul-
tiple variable regression analysis. Table 5 lists the con-
stants in Eq. (17) for HCFC22, HFC134a, R407C,
R410A and also shows deviations of the predicted
values by Eq. (17) against the data from the model.
Fig. 8 illustrates the mass ¯ow rates calculated by the
model and by the regressed equation. From this we can
easily see that the correlating equations well represent
the data over the wide range of variables for all ¯uids
considered. For total of 1488 data, the average devia-
tion was 2.4%, which is in fact much smaller than the
one normally encountered when a person reads data
from a chart.
Finally, Figs. 9±11 show the calculated performance
data for HFC134a, R407C, R410A obtained under the
same condition for HCFC22. By comparing the data in Fig. 10. Capillary tube performance data for R407C.
these ®gures against those in Fig. 5 for HCFC22, design Fig. 10. Performance des capillaires pour le R407C.

Table 5
Constants for the correlating equation and derivatives for various refrigerantsa
Tableau 5
Constantes pour l'eÂquation de correÂlation et deÂviations pour divers frigorigeÁnes

C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 Average deviation (%)a Mean deviation (%)a

HCF22 0.249029 2.543633 ÿ0.42753 0.746108 0.013922 ÿ0.04 2.35

HFC134a 0.123237 2.498028 ÿ0.41259 0.840660 0.018751 ÿ0.11 3.45
R407C 0.246647 2.544032 ÿ0.41953 0.755385 0.013678 ÿ0.04 2.25
R410A 0.406125 2.589643 ÿ0.45475 0.696669 0.011865 ÿ0.02 1.45
: : 
a mcal ÿ mmodel
Average deviation= :  100…%†, Mean deviation=ABS (Avg. dev) (%).
mmodel
 D. Jung et al. / International Journal of Refrigeration 22 (1999) 604±614
Fig. 11. Capillary tube performance data for R410A.
Fig. 11. Performance des capillaires pour le R410A.
engineers can easily make a good guess whether capil-
lary tubes should be shortened or lengthened with a
change in refrigerant. Putting the calculated perfor-
mance data under various conditions in diagram would
not be practical and hence using Eq. (17) with the con-
stants in Table 5 would be most convenient and prac-
tical way in sizing capillary tubes for the refrigerants
covered in this study.
4. Conclusions
In this paper, the performance of capillary tubes used
in residential air conditioners is predicted for HCFC22
and its alternatives, HFC134a, R407C and R410A. The
model is checked against experimental data and is found
to be reliable. Based upon the results obtained with this
model, the following conclusions can be drawn.
1. Stoecker's method is proven to be quite useful
yielding the results comparable to the valued
found in the ASHRAE handbook.
2. For two-phase viscosity calculation, McAdams'
equation is better than Duckler's.
3. For capillary tubes of 1.2 mm or larger used in
residential air conditioners, Stoecker's equation
for the friction factor is the best among various
equations compared.
4. Kinetic energy term in energy conservation equa-
tion can be neglected without any signi®cant e€ect
on the ®nal results.
5. Pressure drop due to area contraction needs to be
considered in the model.
613
6. For each ¯uid, 372 data are obtained under vari-
ous conditions. All variables such as the mass
¯ow rate, subcooling, length and diameter of the
tube, condensation temperature are well corre-
lated by a simple correlating equation. For 1488
data, the mean deviation of the correlating equa-
tion as compared to the calculated results is only
2.36%.
Acknowledgement
This work was supported by Inha University and
Graduate school.
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