UNIVERSITY OF TABUK

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT Lab Manual
Practical Experiment Instructions Sheet

Calculation of the thermal exchange surface of the Air /

Exp. Title EXP. NO. 3
water heat exchanger and air condenser .
Refrigeration and Air
Semester- Fall (2021) Page No.
Conditioning Lab.

Student Name:

Student ID:

Introduction
In the refrigeration cycle the thermal exchange occurs at the evaporator and at the condenser. In the provided
bench, evaporator and condenser consist of a coil of copper tube immersed in a cylindrical tank provided
with two shut off valves permitting the connection to an eternal dissipation circuit charged with water (the
condenser) or a mixture of water and antifreeze (the evaporator).

Objectives
• Calculation of the thermal exchange surface of the evaporator and the condenser.

Apparatus
Graphical representation and the main components of the installation are shown in Fig. (1). Also, some
details for evaporator and condenser is given in same figure.

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 Fig. (1) Graphical representation and the main components of the installation

Theory
In the provided bench, air heat exchanger and condenser consist of a pack of copper tubes with aluminum
fins; the pack highly increases the exchange surface. In the air heat exchanger, the cold water flows inside
the tubes while the air flows outside and it cools absorbing the evaporation heat. In the condenser, the hot
refrigerant flows inside the tubes while the air flows outside and it heats exhausting the condensation heat.,
as shown in Fig. (2).

Figure (2) More details about Air / water heat exchanger and air condenser

Procedures
Air heat exchanger thermal exchange surface
The total heat exchange surface of the air heat exchanger is 1,189 m².

Calculate the condenser exchange surface area

If:

Use same procedures for calculation of Air heat exchanger thermal exchange surface, calculate the surface
of the condenser