Experimental analysis of the performance characteristic of an eco-friendly HC600a as a retrofitting refrigerant in a thermal system

Abstract

The negative influence of refrigerants on the climate and the immediate environment in terms of their higher global warming potential (GWP) and ozone depletion potential (ODP) has prompted this study. Currently, natural refrigerants are the preferred alternative refrigerants and hydrocarbon is numbered among these natural refrigerants with zero ODP and negligible GWP. In order to improve and enhance the performance of the refrigeration system, the performance characteristics of the system were investigated experimentally using eco-friendly refrigerant HC600a as alternative to HFC134a. In addition, comparisons were made using refrigerant mass charge of 46 g of isobutane (HC600a) and 70 g of conventional refrigerant (HFC134a). Thermodynamic parametric analysis was conducted using electric power consumption, coefficient of performance (COP), cooling load and pull-down time (PDT) for the used mass charges. REFPROP software was applied to capture the thermodynamic properties of the vapour compression system (VCS). The results showed that the COP increased by 32.2 % when using 46g charge of hydrocarbon refrigerant with energy reduction of 4.5 %. Furthermore, the vapour compression system while using 46 g of isobutane (HC600a) attained an evaporating temperature of -21 oC in 60 minutes while 70 g of HFC134a attained the same temperature in 2 hours 15 minutes, which makes HC600a alternative refrigerant to run in the traditional refrigerator.