Rheological Properties of TiO2/POE Nanolubricant for Automotive Air-Conditioning System

The enhancement of nanolubricant rheological properties can improve the performance of automotive air-conditioning systems. The rheological properties of the TiO2/POE nanolubricant were investigated in this study at 0.01 to 0.1% volume concentrations and temperatures ranging from 0 to 100°C. TiO2 nanoparticles were dispersed in the base lubricant of Polyol-ester (POE RL68H) lubricant in two steps. The dynamic viscosity was measured with an Anton-Paar Rotational Rheometer. According to the findings, the TiO2/POE nanolubricant behaved as Newtonian fluids at all volume concentrations and temperatures. The dynamic viscosity increment of nanolubricants up to 1.75% only occurred for 0.1% volume concentration and temperature of 90 to 100°C. Meanwhile, when compared to POE lubricant, nanolubricants with volume concentrations of 0.01 and 0.05% showed a decrement trend in dynamic viscosity of up to 1.8%. Finally, the TiO2/POE nanolubricant improved the rheological properties of the POE lubricant for use in automotive air-conditioning systems.

Performance of flow distribution in a microchannel parallel flow gas cooler with stepped protrusion depth header

Microchannel parallel flow gas cooler is commonly used in transcritical carbon dioxide automotive air conditioning system. To investigate the influence of the flat tube protrusion depth on fluid distribution, a numerical calculation model of microchannel parallel flow gas cooler with D-shaped header is established. With the object of even flow distribution, a novel stepped protrusion depth header is proposed. The effects of new header on the flow distribution of gas cooler were studied by numerical simulation. The results show that the flow distribution performance of gas cooler can be improved by changing the flat tube protrusion depth. Changing the protrusion depth of three groups of flat tubes simultaneously can achieve a better flow distribution performance of gas cooler than changing the protrusion depth of only one or two groups of flat tubes. When compared with the protrusion depth of all flat tubes is 0, the novel stepped protrusion depth header reduces the total flow distribution nonuniformity of gas cooler by 34–51%. The research in this paper provides a method for improving the flow distribution performance of gas coolers.