Mahmood, Raid Ahmed and Buttsworth, David and Malpress, Ray (2019) Computational and Experimental Investigation of the Vertical Flash Tank Separator Part 1: Effect of Parameters on Separation Efficiency. International Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration, 27 (1):1950005. pp. 1950005-1. ISSN 2010-1325
Abstract
The flash tank separator is one of the most important components that can be used to improve the performance of a refrigeration cycle by separating the liquid from the gas–liquid two-phase flow and providing the evaporator with only liquid refrigerant. This technique increases the effective area and enhances the heat transfer coefficient in the evaporator. To optimize the size of the vertical flash tank separator for obtaining high separation efficiency, the effect of the size of the vertical flash tank separator needs to be considered. This paper investigates the effect of the size on the liquid separation efficiency of the vertical flash tank separator. This paper also assesses the usefulness of Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) in flash tank design, and this is achieved through experiments and simulations on a range of relevant configurations using water as the working fluid. The results revealed that the size has a significant effect on the liquid separation efficiency, as the highest value was achieved by the largest size (VFT-V5). The CFD simulations give a good agreement with the experiments; all the simulations underestimated the liquid separation efficiency by approximately 0.02 over the range of conditions tested.
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| Item Type: | Article (Commonwealth Reporting Category C) |
|---|---|
| Refereed: | Yes |
| Item Status: | Live Archive |
| Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: | Current - Faculty of Health, Engineering and Sciences - School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering (1 July 2013 -) |
| Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: | Current - Faculty of Health, Engineering and Sciences - School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering (1 July 2013 -) |
| Date Deposited: | 10 Sep 2020 03:29 |
| Last Modified: | 11 Sep 2020 03:10 |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Two-phase flow; CFD simulation; liquid separation efficiency; vertical flash tank; separator design |
| Fields of Research (2008): | 09 Engineering > 0913 Mechanical Engineering > 091399 Mechanical Engineering not elsewhere classified 09 Engineering > 0913 Mechanical Engineering > 091307 Numerical Modelling and Mechanical Characterisation |
| Identification Number or DOI: | 10.1142/S2010132519500056 |
| URI: | http://eprints.usq.edu.au/id/eprint/39441 |
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