Abstract: In order to reduce the production cost of air conditioners, an investigation on the replacement of the copper tube evaporators with aluminum counterparts was carried out based on integrated experimental comparisons of their physical properties, pressure resistance, corrosion resistance and cost. Through the experiment, first of all, the difference of heat exchange efficiency between copper tube evaporator and aluminum tube evaporator of the same specification was within 1%. Secondly, the wall thickness of the aluminum tube should be greater than 0.5 mm under the requirement of pressure resistance. Thirdly, the use of aluminum tube evaporator in strong acid and alkali environments should be avoided. Finally, taking a window air conditioner exported to North America as an example, the cost of aluminum tubes can be reduced by 30% compared to copper tubes. Meanwhile, the side plate material, flow path and pipeline of aluminum tube evaporator were analyzed. It showed that the material with the same properties as aluminum should be used instead of iron, so as to prevent the electrochemical reaction of aluminum and iron. At the same time, due to the characteristics of the melting point of the aluminum tube and the need to meet the requirements of pressure resistance, it was recommended to use two rows of aluminum tube evaporator, one in and one out for the flow path, and the pipe diameter was preferably ϕ7 and above.

Key words: Copper tube evaporator, Aluminum tube evaporator, Air conditioner