The refrigerant charge reduction in HVAC\R systems is an important issue because it falls within environmental policies regarding refrigerants contributions to the greenhouse effect. A way to move toward charge reduction is to increase the compactness of heat exchangers, which means more complex designs of the evaporators. Nevertheless, while a large amount of studies have has been published on the thermal and hydraulic analysis of flow boiling of refrigerants in horizontal tubes, very little attention has been given to flow boiling in geometries different from straight tubes. This PhD thesis aims at studying the flow boiling characteristics of third generation (HFC) and fourth generation fluids such as HFO-1234yf in geometries which modify the fluid dynamics and two-phase flow with respect to horizontal straight tubes. To achieve this goal, an experimental test facility was specifically designed and built to conduct refrigerant evaporation experiments. This test facility allowed to perform flow regimes visualizations and pressure drop measurements in singularities (such as sudden contractions and return bends). First, two-phase flow regimes visualizations have been carried out using HFO-1234yf, R-134a and R-410A either in straight tubes or in singularities. A qualitative analysis of the flow behavior and also several comparisons to flow pattern prediction methods from the literature were conducted. The second objective of this work was to characterize the flow disturbances caused by singularities such as sudden contractions and return bends, and to study their effects on the hydrodynamic performance (e.g. pressure drop) of refrigerants.Lastly, pressure drop databases for third and fourth generation refrigerants are presented.

La réduction de charge de fluides frigorigènes dans les systèmes de production de froid est un enjeu important s'inscrivant dans les politiques environnementales sur la contribution de ces fluides à l'effet de serre. Une des voies menant à la réduction de charge est l'augmentation de la compacité des échangeurs de chaleur, conduisant inévitablement à la conception d'évaporateurs plus complexes. Néanmoins, si de nombreuses études ont été publiées sur l'analyse thermo-hydraulique de l'ébullition convective de frigorigènes dans les tubes horizontaux, très peu ont été menées sur des écoulements diphasiques dans des géométries non conventionnelles. Cette thèse vise à étudier les caractéristiques des écoulements diphasiques avec changement de phase des frigorigènes de troisième (HFC) et de quatrième génération tels que le HFO-1234yf dans des singularités (coudes de retour, contractions). Ainsi, un banc d'essais expérimental a été spécifiquement conçu et construit pour mener des expériences sur l'ebullition convective. Ce banc d'essais a permis de visualiser les régimes d'écoulement et de mesurer les chutes de pression dans les singularités. Des visualisations de régimes d'écoulement ont été réalisées pour les frigorigènes HFO-1234yf, R-134a et R-410A dans des tubes droits et dans des singularités. Les résultats ont été confrontés avec diverses méthodes de prédiction de la litérature. Les perturbations sur l'écoulement causées par ces singularités et leurs effets sur le comportement hydrodynamique des fluides frigorigènes ont également été etudiés. Une serie d'éxperience a été menée pour déterminer le longueur de perturbation en amont et en aval des singularités. Finalement, les valeurs expérimentales des chutes de pression ont été confrontées à différentes corrélations de la littérature. Des nouvelles méthodes de prédiction de la chute de pression pour des écoulements diphasiques dans des singularités sont présentées. / The refrigerant charge reduction in HVAC\R systems is an important issue because it falls within environmental policies regarding refrigerants contributions to the greenhouse effect. A way to move toward charge reduction is to increase the compactness of heat exchangers, which means more complex designs of the evaporators. Nevertheless, while a large amount of studies have has been published on the thermal and hydraulic analysis of flow boiling of refrigerants in horizontal tubes, very little attention has been given to flow boiling in geometries different from straight tubes. This PhD thesis aims at studying the flow boiling characteristics of third generation (HFC) and fourth generation fluids such as HFO-1234yf in geometries which modify the fluid dynamics and two-phase flow with respect to horizontal straight tubes. To achieve this goal, an experimental test facility was specifically designed and built to conduct refrigerant evaporation experiments. This test facility allowed to perform flow regimes visualizations and pressure drop measurements in singularities (such as sudden contractions and return bends). First, two-phase flow regimes visualizations have been carried out using HFO-1234yf, R-134a and R-410A either in straight tubes or in singularities. A qualitative analysis of the flow behavior and also several comparisons to flow pattern prediction methods from the literature were conducted. The second objective of this work was to characterize the flow disturbances caused by singularities such as sudden contractions and return bends, and to study their effects on the hydrodynamic performance (e.g. pressure drop) of refrigerants.Lastly, pressure drop databases for third and fourth generation refrigerants are presented.