^a POLO – Research Laboratories for Emerging Technologies in Cooling and Thermophysics, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianopolis – SC – 88040900, Brazil; Tel./Fax: + 55 48 3234 5166;

^b Centerfor AppliedThermodynamics, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Federal University of Parana, Curitiba – PR – 81531990, Brazil; Tel.: +55 41 3361 3239; Fax: +55 41 3361 3123;

A. Types of Condensers

A condenser is a heat transfer device in which refrigerant vapor discharged by the compressor is de-superheated and recondensed to generate liquid refrigerant that will be reused in the evaporator for producing a cooling effect. The process of refrigerant condensation rejects heat to the condensing medium, which is usually air or water, or a combination of both (Dossat, 1997). Due to this fact, the most common classification of condensing equipment is related to the condensing medium.

Air-cooled condensers (predominantly of the fin-tube type — see Section 289) are widely used in air-conditioning and commercial refrigeration applications. Like tube-fin evaporators, the refrigerant flows inside the tubes, whereas air flow is forced by a fan through the finned-tube array. Natural draft condensers, also called “static” condensers (Gosney, 1982) such as wire-and-tube and “skin” condensers, are also adopted in small capacity applications, such as household refrigerators and freezers.