This content is not included in
your SAE MOBILUS subscription, or you are not logged in.
Water Condensate Retention and “Wet” Fin Performance in Automotive Evaporators
Technical Paper
2001-01-1252
ISSN: 0148-7191, e-ISSN: 2688-3627
Annotation ability available
Sector:
Event:
SAE 2001 World Congress
Language:
English
Abstract
Water condensate retained inside an automotive evaporator has remained as one of the primary sources of unpleasant “odors”, which in turn can drive up the warranty cost for automotive manufacturers. The “wet” evaporator fin can also underperform due to the presence of condensate blocking the air passage. Moreover, condensate retention can be a potential factor of freezing up evaporators. Thus, an evaporator fin must be designed such that it can shed and drain water condensate as well as provide an excellent heat transfer capability.
While the importance of water retention is well known, there seems lacking of a comprehensive way to evaluate the water retention characteristics of a particular product. In this work, attempts were made to answer four questions: (1) What is the mechanism that controls water condensate retention characteristics in an automotive evaporator? (2) Can different water retention evaluation methods reveal the same characteristics? (3) How and to what extent can an evaporator fin underperform due to water retention? and (4) Can we design a “better” fin to alleviate the problem? Clearly, any conclusive solutions to these challenges can lead to an efficient and more compact evaporator design, which will then be the key of cutting cost while delivering superior product performance.
Recommended Content
Authors
Topic
Citation
Zhang, C., Hu, H., Jacobi, A., and Kaiser, J., "Water Condensate Retention and “Wet” Fin Performance in Automotive Evaporators," SAE Technical Paper 2001-01-1252, 2001, https://doi.org/10.4271/2001-01-1252.Also In
SAE 2001 Transactions Journal of Passenger Cars - Mechanical Systems
Number: V110-6; Published: 2002-09-15
Number: V110-6; Published: 2002-09-15
References
- Wang, C.C. et al. 1994 “Experimental Heat Transfer Characteristics of Automotive Evaporators” ASHRAE Transactions 100 2 575 582
- Osada, H. et al. 1999 “Experimental Analysis for Enhancing Automotive Evaporator Fin Performance” Proc of the Intl Conf on Compact Heat Exchanger and Enhancement Technology for the Process Industries Shah R.K. 439 445
- McLaughlin, W.J. et al “Condensate Drainage and Retention in Louver Fin Automotive Evaporators” Proc of the SAE Intl Cong, 2000-01-0575
- Wang, D.M. et al “Numerical Modeling of Heat Transfer and Water Shedding in Automotive Evaporator Louvered Fins Proc of 2000 ASME Winter Annual Meetings 366 4 257 262
- Korte, C.M. et al “Condensate Retention and Shedding Effects on Air-Side Heat Exchanger Performance of Plain-and-tube Heat Exchangers: Retention and Modeling” J. of Heat Transfer 12
- Drew, D.A. 1983 “Mathematical Modeling of Two-Phase Flows,” Ann. Rev. Fluid Mech. 251 411 442