Mass flow characteristics and correlations of R454C flow through an electrical expansion valve in a heat pump split system

The use of electronic expansion valves (EEVs) in heat pump systems has seen a rapid increase in recent years due to their advantages such as fast response, accurate control, and ability to improve seasonal performance. Modeling of the refrigerant flow characteristics through EEVs is needed during design for optimizing system performance and operation. Previous studies have not led to any generalized correlations for EEVs that accurately predict performance for different refrigerants. When working with a new refrigerant and/or EEV, it is necessary to perform mass flow measurements for the EEV over a wide range of operating conditions that are then used to develop and validate a refrigerant and EEV specific correlation. R454C, a low-GWP refrigerant mixture, is gaining attention as a potential replacement for R404A and R410A systems. However, there is currently no available EEV experimental data or correlation specifically for R454C in the literature. The objective of this paper is to present experimental results and characterization of R454C flowing through an EEV in a heat pump split system across a wide range of operational conditions. The impacts of valve opening, subcooling degree and inlet pressure on mass flow rate though the EEV were investigated. Two semi-empirical correlations were developed that map the experimental data based on the Buckingham pi theorem and a polynomial function. Both mapping methods predicted mass flow rate for test data within 10%. The Buckingham pi correlation was slightly more accurate. Both correlations were developed to enable mass flow rate predictions for R454C passing through EEVs with different valve sizes. Finally, a relationship between refrigerant molar mass and mass flow coefficient was observed that could be useful in developing a general EEV correlation that can be applied for different refrigerants. However, further investigation is needed to validate this relationship.