The use of synthetic refrigerants with a non-negligible Global Warming Potential or, on the contrary, of natural but flammable or toxic natural fluids calls for the charge minimization of the refrigerating and air conditioning equipment. The refrigerant charge minimization as well as the use of eco-friendly fluids can therefore be considered two of the most important targets for these applications to cope with the new environmental challenges. Traditional microfin tubes are also widely used in air and water heat exchangers for heat pump and refrigerating applications during condensation or evaporation. The possible downsizing of microfin tubes can lead to more efficient and compact heat exchangers and thus to a reduction of the refrigerant charge of the systems. Furthermore, over the last several years, much research and development effort has been focused on potential refrigerants possessing low GWPs. Among the fluorinated propene isomers which have normal boiling point temperature data published in the public domain, several have low GWP and normal boiling temperatures relatively close to R134a; among them, R1234yf has as a normal boiling temperature approximately 3.4°C lower than that of R134a, with a GWP=4. This paper presents the R1234yf flow boiling heat transfer and pressure drop measurements inside a small microfin tube with internal diameter at the fin tip of 3.4 mm. This study is carried out in an experimental facility built at the Dipartimento di Ingegneria Industriale of the University of Padova especially designed to study both single and two phase heat transfer processes. The microfin tube is brazed inside a copper plate and electrically heated from the bottom. Several T-type thermocouples are inserted in the wall to measure the temperature distribution during the phase change process. In particular, the experimental measurements were carried out at constant saturation temperature of 30 °C, by varying the refrigerant mass velocity between 190 kg m-2 s-1 and 940 kg m-2 s-1, the vapour quality from 0.2 to 0.99, at three different heat fluxes: 10, 25, and 50 kW m-2. The experimental results are presented in terms of two-phase heat transfer coefficient, onset dryout vapour quality, and frictional pressure drop as a function of the operative test conditions
