international journal of refrigeration 33 (2010) 148–157

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Vapour condensation of R22 retrofit substitutes R417A, R422A

and R422D on CuNi turbo C tubes

José Fernández-Seara*, Francisco J. Uhı́a, Rubén Diz, J. Alberto Dopazo

Área de Máquinas y Motores Térmicos, E.T.S. de Ingenieros Industriales, University of Vigo, Campus Lagoas-Marcosende No 9, 36310 Vigo,
Spain

article info abstract

Article history: Heat transfer coefficients (HTCs) for outer condensation of R22 and vapours of its retrofit
Received 12 November 2008 substitutes R417A, R422A and R422D on 90/10 CuNi Turbo C tubes were experimentally
Received in revised form measured. The tubes have 19.05 mm nominal outside diameter, 40 fins per inch (1575 fpm)
1 September 2009 on the outer surface and a smooth inner surface. The effective condensing length per tube
Accepted 5 September 2009 was 1895 mm. Experimental data are reported at vapour saturation temperature of 40  C
Available online 15 September 2009 and wall subcoolings from around 1.5 to 8  C. A rapid increase of the HTCs for low wall
subcoolings attributable to the presence of the hydrocarbon in the mixtures was found. For
Keywords: wall subcoolings greater than around 3  C, the condensation HTCs slightly increase with
Heat exchanger raising the wall subcooling and they are for vapours of R417A, R422A and R422D lower by
Condenser 65–76%, 24–31% and 60–67% than the HTCs for R22, respectively. Comparisons of the
Condensation condensation performance amongst the different refrigerants and experimental
Shell enhancement factors for the condensation of R22 on 90/10 CuNi Turbo C tubes are reported
Experiment in the paper.
Heat transfer ª 2009 Elsevier Ltd and IIR. All rights reserved.
R22
R417A
R422A
R422D

Condensation de vapeur des frigorigènes R417A, R422A et

R422D destinés à remplacer le R22 lors d’une rénovation, sur
des tubes de type turbo C en CuNi
Mots clés : échangeur de chaleur ; condenseur ; condensation ; calandre - expérimentation ; transfert de chaleur ; R22 ; R417A ;
R422A ; R422D

* Corresponding author. Tel.: þ34 986 812605; fax: þ34 986 811995.
E-mail address: jseara@uvigo.es (J. Fernández-Seara).
0140-7007/$ – see front matter ª 2009 Elsevier Ltd and IIR. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.ijrefrig.2009.09.006
 international journal of refrigeration 33 (2010) 148–157 149

Nomenclature Subscripts
2 c condensate
A area (m )
cw cooling water
Cn condensation number
cwi cooling water inlet
Cp specific heat capacity (J kg1 K1)
cwo cooling water outlet
f friction factor
exp experimental
h heat transfer coefficient (W m2 K1)
i inner
m mass flow (kg s1)
LMTD logarithmic mean temperature difference
Nu Nusselt number
l liquid
Pr Prandtl number
o outer
q heat flow (W)
ov overall
R thermal resistance (K W1)
ow outer wall
Re Reynolds number
sat saturation
T temperature (K)
sub wall subcooling
DT temperature difference (K)
tw tube wall
Symbols v vapour
l latent heat (J kg1)

1. Introduction a suitable substitute. Later, binary (R410A, R507) and ternary

The air conditioning and refrigeration industry is undergoing
significant changes as it continues to replace the ozone
depleting substances (ODSs) commonly used as refrigerants.
According to the Montreal Protocol and its subsequent
amendments and regional regulations, CFCs (chlorofluoro-
carbons) are banned since 1996 and the phase-out deadlines
for HCFCs (hydrochlorofluorocarbons) are approaching (2015).
Consequently, new fluids with zero ozone depleting potential
(ODP), such as HFCs (hydrofluorocarbons) and natural refrig-
erants are being tested as substitutes for the ODSs.
HCFC-22 has been widely used as working fluid in air
conditioning and in medium and low-temperature applica-
tions within the commercial and industrial refrigeration.
Nowadays, the replacement of HCFC-22 in existing and new
systems without significant changes in equipment or lubri-
cants constitutes a crucial challenge for the refrigeration
industry.
HFCs are synthetic fluids entirely harmless to the ozone
layer since they do not contain chlorine. These fluids are the
most used substitutes for CFCs and HCFCs. Initially, pure
HFCs, such as R134a, R125, R32 or R143a, were tested.
However, none of these pure substances match the thermo-
dynamic and security properties of HCFC-22 in becoming
(R407C, R404A) mixtures of pure HFCs were considered. Yet
again, none of these HFC-blends alone is suitable to replace
R22 in its complete range of applications. R407C and R410A are
used as substitutes in air conditioning and medium temper-
ature applications, while R404A and R507 are used in the low-
temperature applications. However, these HFCs blends
present the negative aspect of not being compatible with
mineral oils (MO) or alkylbencene oils (AB). This resulted in
the development of alternative polyol ester (POE) oils, but
these have the disadvantage of being both more sensitive to
moisture and more expensive than the traditional oils.
Recently, three ternary mixtures (R417A, R422A and
R422D) comprising two pure HFCs (R134a and R125) and
a low proportion of a hydrocarbon (butane or isobutene)
have been investigated as long-term substitutes for R22.
Table 1 shows the specific composition and relevant data of
R417A, R422A and R422D. The low content of hydrocarbon
(3.4% wt) keeps these blends within a low level of flamma-
bility and makes them compatible with MO and AB. They are
also compatible with new lubricants (POEs). Therefore, in
most cases, no change of lubricant type during retrofit is
required and R22 can be replaced in existing equipment
without significant modifications. Consequently, these
blends provide an easier retrofit for R22 than R407C, R410A,

Table 1 – Refrigerants data.

R22 R417A R422A R422D

Composition (% wt) CHClF2 50% R134a 11.5% R134a 31.5% R134a

46.6% R125 85.1% R125 65.1% R125
3.4% R600 3.4% R600a 3.4% R600a
ODP 0.05 0 0 0
WGP (100 years ITH) 1700 1950 2530 2230
Bubble point temperature, 100 kPa ( C) 40.8 39.3 46.8 43.5
Critical temperature ( C) 96.1 87.1 71.7 79.6
Saturated vapour pressure at 40  C (kPa) 1533.6 1349.6 1809.7 1555.0
GTD at 40  C vapour saturation pressure ( C) 0 2.91 1.12 2.46
150 international journal of refrigeration 33 (2010) 148–157
R404A or R507. On the other hand, these refrigerants have
a similar level of security to R22. They are classified as A1
refrigerants by ASHRAE.
R417A has been developed as a zero ozone depleting
potential (ODP) retrofit refrigerant for HCFC-22 in air condi-
tioning and medium and high temperature applications.
Aprea and Renno (2004) compare the performance of a refrig-
eration plant with R22 and R417A as working fluids.
R422A has been developed as a zero ODP replacement for
HCFC-22, CFC-502 and HCFC-containing blends compatible
with mineral oils in a wide variety of low and medium
temperature applications. R422D is also a zero ODP refrigerant
for replacing R22 in medium temperature and in stationary air
conditioning applications including direct expansion water
chillers. However, it is worthwhile pointing out that R417A,
R422A and R422D are zeotropic mixtures. It is known that the
condensation of a zeotropic mixture proceeds quite differ-
ently than that of a pure substance due to the existence of
simultaneous heat and mass transfer processes, which
depends greatly on its gliding temperature difference (GTD).
In recent decades, enhanced tubes are widely used in
manufacturing shell and tube condensers commonly used in
refrigeration plants. The superior heat transfer performance
of enhanced tubes allows a significant size reduction of the
condensers, which leads to a refrigerant charge reduction.
Turbo C tubes are three-dimensional integral low finned tubes
with saw-tooth fin geometries on the outside surface designed
for condensation of low surface tension refrigerants. Turbo C
tubes are made of copper or copper-nickel alloys. Seawater
cooled condensers require copper-nickel tubes to withstand
corrosion. The 90/10 copper-nickel alloy (C70600) is widely
used in refrigerant condensers since it is not affected by
corrosion even at high seawater velocities (up to 3.6 m/s).
90/10 CuNi Turbo C tubes are commercially available and they
are routinely used in shell and tube refrigerant condensers for
seawater services.
Specific literature reports heat transfer data for different
combinations of new enhanced tubes and new refrigerants, as
they become available. Studies are being carried out for the
condensation of new non-ODSs substitutes of CFCs and
HCFCs refrigerants. The condensation heat transfer of HFC-
134a, a replacement of CFC-12, on plain and different
enhanced tubes is reported in several papers, Jung et al. (1999),
Honda et al. (2002), Kumar et al. (2002a, 2002b, 2005), Gstoehl
and Thome (2006), Zhang et al. (2007), or Kang et al. (2007).
However, few studies deal with the condensation of new HFCs
zeotropic mixtures. Jung et al. (2003a,b) present measured
condensation HTCs of HCFC-22 and HFC-blends R410A and
R407C, on plain, low-fin and Turbo C tubes. The authors report
that the HTCs of R410A, almost an azeotrope, are slightly
lower than the HTCs of R22, however the HTCs of R407C,
a zeotrope mixture, result up to 50% lower than the HTCs of
R22. Gabrielii and Vamling (1997) investigate the change in the
overall heat transfer coefficient when replacing R22 with
R407C and R404A in a horizontal shell and tube condenser.
The authors found HTCs between 43% and 70% lower for
R407C and less than 15% for R404A, than for R22. Sajjan et al.
(2004) and Karlsson and Vamling (2004) analyzed experimen-
tally and theoretically the condensation of R407C on a bank of
smooth tubes taking into account the mass transfer resistance
in the vapour and liquid phase during the condensation. Later,
Karlsson and Vamling (2005) analyzed theoretically the
condensation of a binary zeotropic mixture on a bank of
smooth tubes, taking into account the mass transfer resis-
tance in the vapour and liquid phases. Recently, Fernández-
Seara et al. (2008) report on the experimental research and the
theoretical analysis carried out to study the condensation of
the ammonia-water mixture (a mixture with a very large
glide) on a horizontal smooth tube. We found experimentally
a drastic reduction in the condensation HTCs compared to the
hypothetical values if the Nusselt theory would be applied.
There are limited experimental data concerning the heat
transfer performance of R417A, R422A and R422D. HTCs for
evaporation of R417A flowing inside tubes are reported by
Boissieux et al. (2000a), Aprea et al. (2008) and Zhang et al.
(2008). Boissieux et al. (2000b) provides experimental heat
transfer coefficients for the condensation of R417A in a hori-
zontal smooth tube. However, to the best of our knowledge,
there are not available data on the condensation heat transfer
of these new HCFs blends on Turbo C tubes. These experi-
mental data are important to evaluate the condensers
performance when retrofitting R22 from existing systems and
as a guideline for the condenser design of new appliances.
Consequently, the main purpose of this investigation was to
evaluate the vapour condensation of R22 retrofit refrigerants,
R417A, R422A and R422D, on widespread enhanced tubes such
as 90/10 CuNi Turbo C tubes. In the paper, the experimental
setup and procedure are described, the reduction data process
detailed, and the results presented and discussed.
2. Experimental facility
The layout of the experimental facility is shown in Fig. 1. The
facility is composed of a condensation test section
(condenser), an electric-heated evaporator and a cooling
water loop. The condenser and the evaporator consist of
a 6 mm thick horizontal cylindrical body and blind flanges
made of stainless steel (AISI-316L). The condenser has an
external diameter of 168.3 mm and a total inner length of
1895 mm. The evaporator has an external diameter of 200 mm
and a total inner length of 1530 mm.
The refrigerant vapour is generated by heating the pool of
the refrigerant liquid by means of three immersed electric
resistances, of 4 kW each, placed into stainless steel (AISI-
316L) horizontal tubes. An electric power regulator allows the
control of the heating power delivered by the electric
resistances.
The generated vapour is conducted through a vapour line
from the evaporator to the upper part of the condenser, where
the tubes to be tested are placed. The vapour is split into four
streams and goes into the condenser at four different points in
order to guarantee an appropriate distribution at the
condenser top (see Fig. 1). The vapour main line and the
distributors are made of stainless steel (AISI-316L) with 40/43
and 30/33 mm inner/outer diameters, respectively. The
vapour condenses on the tested tubes. The condensate
returns to the lower part of the evaporator by gravity, through
the condensate line 10/12 mm inner/outer diameters. Both the
condenser and the evaporator are equipped with six light
 international journal of refrigeration 33 (2010) 148–157 151

Reservoir Cooling water loop line

FM2 tank
Pump
Lamps Cooling
tower
water

T04 T03 T02 T01

Plate
T18 T17
heat
T08 T07 Condenser T06 Tested T05 exchanger
tubes
Slight glasses
Vapour line

T12 T11 T10 T09

~ 230 Vac
~
Power
T16 T15 Evaporator T14 Electric T13 controller
heaters

Condensate line
FM1

T Temperature sensor P Pressure transducer FM Flow meter

Fig. 1 – Layout of the experimental facility.

glasses each for lighting up and the visual observation of the heat exchanger by means of water from a cooling tower. A
condensation and boiling processes. The experimental setup recirculation loop from the pump outlet to the reservoir tank
was carefully insulated to avoid any heat transfer to the is used to control the water flow rate through the tested tubes
ambient. (see Fig. 1). The cooling water temperature at the test section is
The tested tubes are internally cooled by circulating water controlled by adjusting the water flow rate from the cooling
through them. A centrifugal pump forces the cooling water tower through the plate heat exchanger using a thermostatic
from a reservoir tank through a plate heat exchanger and the control valve.
tested tubes in a closed loop, as shown in Fig. 1. The cooling The experimental setup was equipped with a data acqui-
water is heated into the tested tubes and cooled in the plate sition system based on a 16-bits data acquisition card and
a PC. The features of the measuring devices are shown in
Table 2. The vapour temperature in the condenser is
measured by means of eight sensors (sensors T01–T08 in Fig. 1).
Table 2 – Measuring devices. The vapour and liquid temperature in the evaporator are
measured by using eight sensors, T09 to T12 for the vapour and
Device Type Measuring Accuracy
T13 to T16 for the liquid, according to Fig. 1. The temperature
range
sensors are distributed uniformly along the length of the
Temperature RTD Pt100 A 0/100  C 0.15  0.002$ condenser and the evaporator. These sensors are A Pt100
sensors T C
inserted in 100 mm long and 3 mm diameter stainless steel
Pressure Danfoss MBS-5150 0/2600 kPa 0.5%
pockets. The pressure in the condenser is measured by using
sensors
Volumetric Electromagnetic 0/3500 m3/h 0.25% a pressure transducer (see Table 2). The temperature, density
flow meter flow meter and mass flow rate of the condensate returned to the evapo-
Danfos MAG3100/ rator are measured by means of a Coriolis flow-meter (FM1 in
MAG6000 Fig. 1, see Table 2). Two temperature sensors are used to
Mass flow and Coriolis mass 0/200 kg/h 0.25% measure the cooling water bulk temperature at the inlet and
density meter flow meter 600/1200 kg/m3 2 kg/m3
outlet of the tested tubes (temperature sensors T17 and T18,
Micro Motion
respectively). These temperature sensors are also A Pt100
F-0.25/2700R
inserted into 50 mm long and 3 mm diameter stainless steel
152 international journal of refrigeration 33 (2010) 148–157

temperature and mean cooling water temperature, the

Table 3 – Dimensions of tested tubes.
experimental data were recorded.
Outside diameter (mm) 19.05 Experiments were carried out for inlet vapour tempera-
Finned section outside diameter (mm) 18.90
tures of about 40  C and cooling water temperatures ranging
Root diameter (mm) 16.94
Nominal inside diameter (mm) 15.19
from 20  C up to 2  C bellow the condensing temperature at
Nominal wall (mm) 0.889 temperature intervals of 1  C, which provided wall subcool-
Minimum wall thickness under fins (mm) 0.787 ings from about 1.5  C up to 8  C depending on the condensing
Inside surface area (m2/m) 0.048 fluid.
Nominal outside surface area (m2/m) 0.060
Outside surface area (m2/m) 0.208
3.2. Data reduction

The condensing side HTCs were obtained from the data

pockets. The water flow rate through the tested tubes is
measured in the experimental facility. It is worth pointing out
measured by means of an electromagnetic flow-meter (FM2 in
that the vapour going into the condenser comes from the pool
Fig. 1, see Table 2). The calibration test of the data acquisition
boiling evaporator and, consequently, the vapour concentra-
system shows that the average uncertainty in temperature
tion differs slightly from the concentration of the original
measurement is within 0.05  C in the operating range.
mixture. The concentration of the vapour that goes into the
Standard Turbo C tubes made of 90/10 CuNi alloy (C70600)
condenser test section is determined from the pressure and
with 19.05 mm nominal outside diameter were tested. The
the vapour temperature measured at the condenser inlet,
tubes have 40 fins per inch (1575 fpm) on the outer surface
assuming saturation conditions. The inlet vapour concentra-
without lands and a smooth inner surface. The effective
tions are given and discussed in the results section. The
condensing length per tube was 1895 mm.
refrigerants and water properties were obtained using the
The geometrical specifications provided by the manufac-
REFPROP Database (Lemmon et al., 2008). A detailed uncer-
turer are given in Table 3. Tubes with smooth inside surface
tainty analysis was carried out and the results are given
were selected due to it allows an accurate determination of
hereafter where convenient. The uncertainty calculation
the inner convection heat transfer coefficient through well-
procedure was based on the application of the general
established correlations, which reduces the uncertainty
uncertainty propagation expression, according to the ISO
associated to the determination of the outside condensation
Guide (1995) to the calculated magnitudes.
HTCs.
The heat transfer rate was determined from energy balances
One to three tubes were used in each experiment. The
on the cooling water and on the condensing refrigerant. The
tubes were placed in a row at the middle of the condenser as
cooling water energy balance provides Eq. (1). The energy
shown in Fig. 1. Both extremes of each tube protrude from the
balance on the condensation process accounts for the latent
tube sheets. The tubes were externally connected in series in
heat and the condensate sensible heat, according to Eq. (2).
such a way that the cooling water circulated through them
one after the other. Before each experiment, special attention qcw ¼ mcw $Cpcw $ðTcwo  Tcwi Þ (1)
was paid to guarantee an effective removal of any non-
condensable (i.e. air) from the condenser and evaporator
qc ¼ mc $l þ mc $Cpc $ðTl;sat  Tc Þ (2)
sections.
The overall thermal resistance (Rov) was obtained from Eq. (3),
where the logarithmic mean temperature difference (LMTD)
was determined as function of the vapour temperature (Tv,sat),
3. Experimental procedure and data
according to Eq. (4).
reduction
DTLMTD
3.1. Experimental procedure Rov ¼ (3)
q

Experiments were conducted by varying the mean cooling ðTv;sat  Tcwi Þ  ðTv;sat  Tcwo Þ
DTLMTD ¼ T  (4)
water temperature in the tubes while keeping constant the v;sat  Tcwi
ln
vapour inlet temperature in the condenser test section and Tv;sat  Tcwo
the cooling water flow rate inside the tubes. The vapour
temperature in the condenser was fixed by regulating the heat In this work, the fouling resistances were neglected since the
flow supplied by the electric heaters in the evaporator by tubes were cleaned before each experiment. Then, the overall
means of the electric power regulator. The cooling water flow thermal resistance was expressed as the sum of the partial
rate was kept as high as possible (water velocity around thermal resistances corresponding to the inner convection,
4.85 m/s and Reynolds numbers between 90,000 and 108,000) the conduction through the tube wall and the outer convec-
in order to increase the inner HTCs and to reduce the cooling tion, according to Eq. (5).
water temperature variation. The mean cooling water
temperature in the tubes was controlled by regulating the 1 1
Rov ¼ þ Rtw þ (5)
Ai $hi Ao $ho
external water flow rate through the plate heat exchanger
using a thermostatic control valve (see Fig. 1). Once the system In Eq. (5), the tube resistance Rtw account for the wall thick-
was stabilized with the desired saturation vapour ness under the fins. The thermal resistance of the fins was
 international journal of refrigeration 33 (2010) 148–157 153

included in the overall outside convection coefficients (ho).

The outer area of the enhanced tube (Ao) was based on the
outside nominal diameter, i.e. the nominal diameter
measured at the top of the fins height.
The water side convection coefficient (hi) was calculated
from Petukhov and Popov (1963) correlation (Eq. (6)), where the
friction factor was obtained according to Eq. (7), which was
proposed by the same author for plain tubes. The friction
factors were also determined experimentally in a 6 m tube.
The experimental results agree with those provided by Eq. (7)
within 0.5%. In Eqs. (6) and (7), the water properties were
considered at the bulk temperature.

ðf =8Þ$Recw $Prcw
Nu ¼   (6)
1=2 2=3
1:07 þ 12:7$ðf =8Þ $ Prcw  1

2
f ¼ ð0:79$lnðRecw Þ  1:68Þ (7)

Eq. (5) allowed the determination of the overall condensation

HTC (ho), according to Eq. (8). The overall condensation HTC Fig. 2 – Comparison of measured condensation numbers
was referred to the nominal outside area, as pointed out for R22 on 90/10 CuNi Turbo C tubes at vapour saturation
above. temperatures of 40 and 50 8C and those predicted by Kumar
  et al. (2002a,b) correlation.
1 1
¼ Ao $ Rov   Rtw (8)
ho Ai $hi

Finally, the mean temperature of the nominal outer surface experimental data but could not be used for validation of the
was obtained from Eq. (9), and, consequently, the wall sub- mixtures data since it does not account for the mass transfer
cooling (DTsub ¼ Tv,sat  Tow) was determined. process that takes place in a zeotropic mixture condensation.
Fig. 2 shows the comparison between the condensation
q numbers for R22 on 90/10 CuNi Turbo C tubes at vapour
Tow ¼ Tv;sat  (9)
Aow $ho saturation temperatures of 40 and 50  C measured in the
experimental facility and the condensation numbers obtained
4. Results and discussion from the correlation developed by Kumar et al. (2002a,b).
Results in Fig. 2 show that the Kumar et al. (2002a,b) model
4.1. Experimental data validation well predict the experimental data for R22, which supports the
reliability of the experimental facility.
We did not find experimental data for the outer condensation
on 90/10 CuNi Turbo C tubes either for R22 or for the mixtures
R417A, R422A and R422D in the literature. Some papers (Cheng 8000
et al., 1996; Jung et al., 2003a,b) report experimental HTCs for R22 R417A
+10%
condensation of R22 on different types of copper 2-D and 3-D 7000 R422A R422D
low-fin tubes. However, Zhang et al. (2007) compared the
condensation of R12 and R134a on different types of copper 6000
and cupronickel tubes. The authors demonstrated that the -10%
thermal conductivity of the tubes has a significant influence 5000
on the overall condensation HTCs over smooth and low-fin
qc (W)

integral tubes. Therefore, experimental data involving copper 4000

tubes are not suitable for validation of our experimental
measurements. 3000
However, Kumar et al. (2002a,b) developed an empirical
correlation to predict the overall condensation HTCs over 2000
circular and spine integral-fin tubes. The authors report that
this correlation predicts their own experimental data and 1000
experimental data of another thirteen investigators for the
condensation of water and several refrigerants, including R22, 0
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000
in a range of 35%. This correlation accounts for the effects of qcw (W)
gravity and surface tension on the condensate flow as well as
for the specific geometry of the outer tube surface and does Fig. 3 – Comparison of the heat transfer rates determined
not require any information regarding the wall subcooling. from the experimental data through the energy balances
Therefore, this correlation was useful to validate the R22 on the cooling water and on the condensation process.
154 international journal of refrigeration 33 (2010) 148–157
Fig. 3 compares the heat transfer rates obtained from the
experimental data and the energy balances on the condensate
(Eq. (1)) and the cooling water (Eq. (2)). These results show that
most of the experimental data remain within an error band of
10%. Results of the uncertainty analysis are also included in
Fig. 3. These results revealed that the uncertainties in the
determination of the heat transfer rate from the energy
balance on the cooling water were higher than from the
energy balance on the condensing process due to the high
water mass flow rates used in the experiments, which led to
low inlet–outlet water temperature differences. The mean
typical uncertainties in the calculation of the heat transfer
rate from the energy balances on the cooling water and on the
condensation process were 8.8% and 4.5%, respectively.
Taking into account these results, the heat transfer rates
considered in the calculation procedure were those obtained
from Eq. (2).
4.2. Experimental heat transfer coefficients
The vapours condensed in the test section come from a pool
boiling evaporator (see Section 2). Therefore, the concentration
of the vapours generated from the mixtures R417A, R422A and
R422D differ slightly from their concentrations given in Table
1. The vapour concentrations at the inlet of the condenser test
section determined from the experimental measurements as
indicated in Section 3.2 were 0.573-R125/0.395-R134a/0.032-
Butane for R417A, 0.886-R125/0.083-R134a/0.031-Isobutane for
R422A and 0.730-R125/0.236-R134a/0.034-Isobutane for R422D.
However, the results will closely characterize the thermal
behaviour of R417A, R422A and R422D during condensation
since the concentration differences are small.
Fig. 4 shows the experimental results and the measure-
ment typical uncertainty bands of the overall condensation
HTCs for R22 and for the vapours generated from R417A,
R422A and R422D on 90/10 CuNi Turbo C tubes as function of
the wall subcooling. Fig. 5 shows the experimental results of
the condensation number for R22 and for the vapours gener-
ated from R417A, R422A and R422D as function of the
condensate Reynolds number. Results shown in Figs. 4 and 5
14000
R22
12000 R422A
10000
ho (W· m-2· ºC-1)
8000
6000
4000
2000
0 which creates a gradient for its diffusion against the mass
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
ΔTsub (ºC)
Fig. 4 – Experimental overall condensation HTCs for R22
and for the vapours generated from R417A, R422A and
R422D at vapour saturation temperatures of 40 8C on 90/10
CuNi Turbo C tubes as function of the wall subcooling.
2
1,5
R22
Cn
1
R417A
R422A
0,5
R422D
0
0 100 200 300 400 500
Rec
Fig. 5 – Experimental condensation number for R22 and for
the vapours generated from R417A, R422A and R422D at
vapour saturation temperatures of 40 8C on 90/10, CuNi
Turbo C tubes as function of the condensate Reynolds
number.
clearly confirm that the condensation of the mixtures
proceeds different from the condensation of R22. Moreover,
these experimental results also reflect that the mixtures
composition has a strong influence on the condensation
HTCs. These results show that the HTCs of R22 decrease with
increasing on the wall subcooling and the condensate Rey-
nolds number; meanwhile the HTCs for the mixtures increase
by increasing the wall subcooling and the condensate Rey-
nolds number. Moreover, the condensation HTCs for R22 are
higher than the HTCs for the mixtures. Among the mixtures,
the HTCs for the vapours of R422A are higher than the HTCs
for the vapours of R422D and these are higher than the HTCs
for the vapours of R417A.
Results in Fig. 4 also show that the HTCs for R417A, R422A
and R422D vapours undergo a rapid increase for low wall
subcoolings (up to 3  C); meanwhile the HTCs slightly increase
for wall subcoolings greater than around 3  C. For wall sub-
coolings greater than 3  C, the overall condensation HTCs for
R422A, R422D and R417A are lower by 24–31%, 60–67%, and 65–
76%, than the HTCs for R22, respectively. Taking into account
the experimental data shown in Fig. 4 for wall subcoolings
higher than 3  C, the mean HTCs for R422A, R422D and R417A
R417A are 7443.0, 3675.4, 3185.4 W/m2 K, respectively.
R422D
Results in Figs. 4 and 5 are due to mass transfer processes,
which mainly take place in a vapour diffusion layer formed
between the liquid film and the vapour bulk, as explained by
Colburn and Drew (1937) theory. According to this theory, the
less volatile component begins to condensate before and its
concentration (vapour pressure) decreases from the bulk
vapour towards the liquid-vapour interface. Consequently,
the concentration (vapour pressure) of the more volatile
component decreases from the interface to the bulk vapour,
8 9 10 condensing flux from the bulk vapour to the interface. On the
other hand, the vapour diffusion layer causes a decrease in the
vapour–liquid interface temperature, which reduces the
temperature driving force for heat transfer across the
condensate film and, consequently, also the overall conden-
sation HTCs. Then, the condensation process is affected, not
 international journal of refrigeration 33 (2010) 148–157 155

only by the thermal resistance due to the condensate film, but 8

also by the mass transfer process in the vapour diffusion 7 Tc=40 ºC Tc=50 ºC
layer. Several researchers report theoretical and experimental
6
work dealing with the condensation of two-component zeo-
tropic mixtures (Honda et al., 1999; Belghazi et al., 2001, 2002, 5

2003; Jung et al., 2003a,b; Karlsson and Vamling, 2004, 2005; 4

EF
Fernández-Seara et al., 2008). These works reveal that the 3
vapour diffusion layer usually becomes the controlling
2
thermal resistance in the condensation process of zeotropic
mixtures. The principles of the film theory can be extended to 1

multi-component mixtures. Jung et al. (2003a,b) claim this 0

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
theory to explain the condensation of R407C on Turbo C tubes.
ΔTsub (ºC)
Taking into account the Colburn and Drew theory, the
rapid increase of the condensation HTCs found experimen- Fig. 6 – Experimental enhancement factors for the
tally at low wall subcoolings can be attributed to the presence condensation of R22 on 90/10 CuNi Turbo C tubes at vapour
of the hydrocarbon (butane or isobutane). The hydrocarbon is saturation temperatures of 40 8C and 50 8C as function of
the less volatile component (see data in Table 1) that the wall subcooling.
condenses first, at the lower wall subcoolings. The presence of
the hydrocarbon would create a gradient for diffusion of the
more volatile components (R134a and R125) from the interface
to the bulk vapour. This diffusion would reduce the overall Jung et al. (2003a,b) report values of the EF for condensation
mass transfer flux from the bulk vapour to the interface, and of R22 on copper Turbo C tubes of around 8. Zhang et al. (2007)
consequently the overall condensation HTCs. report EF between 7 and 8 for condensation of R22 on copper
For high wall subcoolings all hydrocarbon would condense integral low – finned tubes and an EF reduction to around 3.4
since their concentrations are small (around 3.4% wt) and for condensation on similar tubes made of copper-nickel
their boiling points high. Then, the mass transfer resistance in alloy. These results emphasize the significant influence of the
the diffusion layer would be due only to the concentration tube material on the overall condensation HTCs and should be
(vapour pressure) gradient of R125 from the interface to the taken into account when designing and sizing refrigerant
bulk vapour, which would increase the overall condensation condensers with low thermal conductivity tubes, such as
HTCs, as found experimentally. For wall subcoolings between Cu-Ni, steel or stainless steel tubes. The EF for the mixtures
around 3  C and 8  C, the mixtures behave as two-component are not presented since the condensation HTCs on a smooth
ones, increasing slightly the HTCs with the raising of the wall tube are unknown and the Nusselt theory must not be applied
subcooling. The higher the concentration of R134a in the to condensation of mixtures. Therefore, the results could infer
mixtures the lower the condensation HTCs, as can be seen in misleading conclusions.
Figs. 4 and 5.
On the other hand, the thermal resistance due to the 4.4. Comparison of condensation performance amongst
vapour diffusion layer is related to the mixture GTD. Table 1 the different refrigerants
reports the values of the vapour saturation pressure at 40  C
for each refrigerant and the mixtures GTD corresponding to In order to compare the outer condensation performance
those pressures. These data reflect that the GTD of R422A amongst R22 and its retrofit substitutes under operating
(1.12  C) is lower than the GTD of R422D (2.46  C) and this is
lower than the GTD of R417A (2.91  C). This is in accordance
with the results found experimentally and reported in Figs. 4 5000 100
R22 R417A R422A R422D
and 5, which indicate that the condensation HTCs for R422A 4500 R417A/R22 R422A/R22 R422D/R22 90

are higher than the HTCs for R422D and these are higher than 4000 80

the HTCs for R417A. 3500 70

(q/L)/(q/L)R22
q/ L (W / m )

3000 60
4.3. Enhancement factors 2500 50
2000 40
The enhancement factor (EF) is a parameter commonly used 1500 30
to evaluate the condensation performance of enhanced tubes. 1000 20
It is defined as the ratio of the overall condensation HTCs of 500 10
the enhanced tube over that of a smooth tube at the same wall 0 0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
subcooling. The condensation HTCs on a smooth tube for R22
LMTD (ºC)
can be predicted by the Nusselt equation (Jung et al., 2003a,b).
Fig. 6 shows the experimental enhancement factors for the Fig. 7 – Heat transfer rate per unit length of tube for
outer condensation of R22 on 90/10 CuNi Turbo C tubes. The condensation of R22 and the vapours of R417A, R422A and
experimental EFs in Fig. 6 range from 3.4 to 5.3 and 4.4 to 5.6 R422D on 91/10 CuNi Turbo C tubes and the ratios of the
for saturation vapour temperatures of 40  C and 50  C, heat transfer rate per unit length for each mixture to the
respectively. heat transfer rate for R22 as function of the LMTD.
156 international journal of refrigeration 33 (2010) 148–157
100
R22 R417A R422A
90
80
Ro/Rov (%)
70
60
50
40
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
LMTD (ºC)
Fig. 8 – Ratio of the thermal resistance due to the outer
condensation process (Ro) to thermal resistance for the
overall heat transfer process (Rov) for R22 and the vapours
of R417A, 422A and 422D as function of the LMTD.
conditions similar to those found in cooling water condensers,
a wide range of experimental data concerning the overall heat
transfer process were analyzed. The differences found depend
only on the refrigerant properties, since the condensing
surface and the experimental conditions are similar for all the
tested fluids. The comparison amongst the different refriger-
ants was carried out by comparing the heat transfer rate per
unit length of tube (q/L) and the ratio of the thermal resistance
due to the condensing process to thermal resistance for the
overall heat transfer process (Ro/Rov).
Fig. 7 shows q/L as function of the LMTD, defined according
to Eq. (4), for R22 and the vapours of R417A, R422A and R422D.
In Fig. 7, is also presented the ratio of the q/L for each mixture
to the q/L for R22. Results in Fig. 7 show that the increase of q/L
with LMTD is higher for R22 and R422A than for R422D and
R417A. The q/L for R422A is lower than the q/L for R22 and its
ratio increases from 45% to 80% by raising the LMTD from 3 to
5  C, while remaining nearly constant for a LMTD greater than
5  C. Increasing part of the q/L by raising the LMTD corre-
sponds to the low values of the wall subcoolings where the
condensation HTCs undergo a rapid increase according to
Fig. 4. The q/L for R417A and R422D are between 26–50% and
46–56% lower than the q/L for R22, respectively, as can be seen
in Fig. 7. These results should be taken into account when
trying to replace R22 by some of these new retrofit substitutes
(mainly R417A and 422D). Special attention should be paid to
the condenser performance due to the available condensing
area could not be enough for the complete condensation of the
new refrigerants.
Fig. 8 shows the ratio of the outer condensation thermal
resistance to the thermal resistance of the overall heat
transfer process. These results indicate that the outer
condensation controls the overall heat transfer process, since
the water-side HTCs are high (between 19,000 and 21,000 W/
m2 K) and remain nearly constant because the water flow rate
was kept constant with a water velocity around 4.85 m/s
(Reynolds numbers between 90,000 and 108,000). The R417A
provides the highest condensation thermal resistance with
a ratio to the overall thermal resistance between 88% and 76%.
The R422D also provides a high condensation thermal
resistance with a ratio to the overall thermal resistance
R422D between 84% and 73%. The results for R422A allow the
distinction of two different circumstances, with LMTD up to
5  C the thermal resistances ratio decreases steeply from 78%
to 60%, meanwhile, for a LMTD greater than 5  C this ratio
remains nearly constant around 60%. These results, together
with those shown in Fig. 7, show that the performance of the
condensation process for R422A depends significantly on the
LMTD, since the condensation HTCs increase sharply for low
wall subcoolings, as can be seen in Fig. 4.
11 12
5. Conclusions
Experimental research was carried out to investigate the outer
condensation of R22 and vapours of its retrofit substitutes
R417A, R422A and R422D on 90/10 CuNi Turbo C tubes.
Experiments were carried out at saturation vapour tempera-
tures of 40  C and wall subcoolings from 1.5 to 8  C. Based
upon the experimental results, the following conclusions
were drawn.
1. The empirical correlation developed by Kumar et al.
(2002a,b) predicts the experimental data for condensation
of R22 at vapour saturation temperatures of 40  C and 50  C
within 35%, which is the range reported by the authors for
their own experimental data and experimental data of
another thirteen investigators for condensation over
circular and spine integral-fin tubes.
2. The experimental results confirm that the condensation of
the mixtures proceeds differently from the condensation of
R22 and the overall condensation HTCs depend signifi-
cantly on the mixture composition. The HTCs of R22
decrease with the increasing of the wall subcooling and the
condensate Reynolds number; meanwhile the HTCs for the
mixtures increase by increasing the wall subcooling and
the condensate Reynolds number. The condensation HTCs
for R22 are higher than the HTCs for the mixtures. Amongst
the mixtures, the HTCs for the vapours of R422A are higher
than the HTCs for the vapours of R422D and these are
higher than the HTCs for the vapours of R417A.
3. The experimental HTCs for R417A, R422A and R422D
vapours undergo a rapid increase for low wall subcoolings
(up to around 3  C); while the HTCs slightly increase for wall
subcoolings greater than around 3  C. For wall subcoolings
greater than 3  C, the overall condensation HTCs for R422A,
R422D and R417A are lower by 24–31%, 60–67%, and 65–76%,
respectively, than the HTCs for R22.
4. Enhancement factors between 3.4–5.3 and 4.4–5.6 for the
outer condensation of R22 on 90/10 CuNi Turbo C tubes at
saturation vapour temperatures of 40  C and 50  C,
respectively, were determined from the experimental data.
These results agree with data reported in the literature and
emphasize the significant influence of the tube material on
the overall condensation HTCs.
5. The comparison amongst the refrigerants shows that the q/
L for R422A is lower than the q/L for R22 and its ratio
increases from 45% to 80% by raising the LMTD from 3 to
5  C, while remaining nearly constant for a LMTD greater
 international journal of refrigeration 33 (2010) 148–157
than 5  C. The q/L for R417A and R422D are between 26–50%
and 46–56% lower than the q/L for R22, respectively.
Acknowledgement
The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support
from the ‘‘Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia’’ (Project
ENE2006-07322/CON).
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