Computational Simulation of Two Phase Flow in a Refrigerant Distributor

In order to keep pressure drops at lower levels and to maintain uniform refrigerant distribution, flow behavior of refrigerants in the distributors at the entrance of evaporators should be elucidated. The aim of this study is to obtain a validated computational simulation of two-phase flow distribution in conventional and new designs refrigerant distributor. The results of the computational simulations of the distributor are validated against the experimental results. The influence of the flow distribution on the evaporator performance has been considered. Distribution of mass flow rate in the distributor channels and pressure drop are numerically calculated and then compared to the data obtained from the experimental facility. As a result, the difference between numerical and experimental study of the pressure drop is less than 2%.