Literature review of condensation and evaporation of R290

Nowadays, an increasing attention in environmental issues including the global warming effect and ozone layer depletion has been attracted. R22 is urged to be ruled out until 2020 and 2030 for developed and developing countries. R290 (propane) has been regarded as a promising alternative refrigerant for the air-conditionings. However, R290 has different thermo-physical properties than conventional refrigerants and it would influence the application in tubes such as shear forces, gravity and surface tension. The condensation and evaporation behavior of R290 would have a great effect in designing suitable heat exchanger for R290. In recent years, researchers have made great efforts in studying different working fluids behaviors and multiple semi-empirical correlations have been established to predict the heat transfer and pressure drop while the study about R290 behavior is very limited. According to the past experiences in condensation and evaporation studies, the semi-empirical models may be not very accurate in the working conditions outside the range where they are established. This paper presents a detailed review of research work done on the condensation and evaporation of R290. This paper is a starting point for future R290 studies and R290 applications in air conditioning systems.