EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF HYDROCARBON R290 IN WATER COOLER REFRIGERATION SYSTEM

Year 2020, , 43 - 49, 06.01.2020

Chandrakishor Choudhari

https://doi.org/10.18186/thermal.671137

Abstract

Environment friendly hydrocarbon R290 is one of the options for the next generation refrigeration systems. In warm climatic countries, water cooler is the widely used refrigeration application and R22 is the predominantly used refrigerant in these refrigeration systems. In accordance with international agreements, use of refrigerant R22 is to be stopped on urgent basis because of its environmental concerns, ozone depletion and global warming. This paper presents an experimental study on the performance of laboratory water cooler charged with environment friendly refrigerant R290. A laboratory water cooler of nominal cooling capacity 1.5 kW is developed. Pull down tests and energy consumption tests at condensing temperatures of 38°C, 43°C, and 48°C is conducted as per Indian standard IS1425 (Part 1): 2001. Performance parameters such as pull-down time, pressure ratio, discharge gas temperature, average compressor energy consumption, energy consumption over a period of 24 hours, coefficient of performance and performance parameter of the water cooler refrigeration system are measured. Observed performance parameters also proved the compatibility of mineral oil with refrigerant R290. The overall performance of the developed water cooler suggests refrigerant R290 as a better long- term alternative refrigerant for water cooler applications.

Keywords

Hydrocarbon, R290, Flammable Refrigerant, Water Cooler

References

• [1]Calm JM. Emissions and environmental impacts from air-conditioning and refrigeration systems. International Journal of Refrigeration, 2002; 25(3): 293-305, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-7007(01)00067-6.
• [2]Calm JM, Hourahan GC. Refrigerant data summary. Eng Syst 2001; 18(11): 74 -888.
• [3]Lemmon EW, Huber ML, McLinden MO. NIST Standard Reference Database 23: Reference Fluid Thermodynamic and Transport Properties (REFPROP), Version 9.0. Phys Chem Prop, 2010.
• [4] Emerson Climate Technologies. Refrigerant choices for commercial refrigeration, 2010.
• [5] Purkayastha B, Bansal PK. An experimental study on HC290 and a commercial liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) mix as suitable replacements for HCFC22. International Journal of Refrigeration 1998; 21:3-17. doi: 10.1016/S0140-7007(97)00083-2.
• [6] Zhou G, Zhang Y. Performance of split type air conditioner matched with coiled adiabatic capillary tubes using HCFC22 and HC290. Applied Energy 2010; 87:1522-8, doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2009.10.005.
• [7] Devotta S, Padalkar AS, Sane NK. Performance assessment of HC290 as a drop in substitute to HCFC22 in a window air conditioner. International Journal of Refrigeration 2005; 28:594-604, doi:10.1016/j.ijrefrig.2004.09.013.
• [8] Yu CC, Teng TP. Retrofit assessment of refrigerator using hydrocarbon refrigerants. Applied Thermal Engineering 2014; 66(1):507-518, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2014.02.050.
• [9]Indian Standards B. IS 1475-1 (2001): Self-Contained Drinking Water Coolers, Part 1: Energy Consumption and Performance, 2001.
• [10] IEC60335-2-34 Household and similar electrical appliances, 2012.
• [11] Granryd E. Hydrocarbons as refrigerants - an overview. International Journal of Refrigeration, 2001; 24(1): 15-24 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-7007(00)00065-7.
• [12] Palm B. Hydrocarbons as refrigerants in small heat pump and refrigeration systems - A review. International Journal of Refrigeration, 2008; 31( 4) : 552-563, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijrefrig.2007.11.016.
• [13] M. M. Rahman H H. Y. Rahman K. Subramaniam. Hydrocarbon as Refrigerant for Domestic Air Conditioner: A Comparative Study between R22 and R290. Elixir Thermal Engineering 2012; 53: 11976-11979.
• [14] He MG, Song XZ, Liu H, Zhang Y. Application of natural refrigerant propane and propane/isobutane in large capacity chest freezer. Applied Thermal Engineering 2014;70:732–6. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appltherma leng.2014.05.097.
• [15] Park KJ, Seo T, Jung D. Performance of alternative refrigerants for residential air-conditioning applications. Applied Energy 2007; 84(10): 985-991, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2007.05.002.
• [16] Jwo CS, Ting CC, Wang WR. Efficiency analysis of home refrigerators by replacing hydrocarbon refrigerants. Measurement 2009; 42(5): 697-701, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.measurement.2008.11.006.
• [17] Jung D, Kim CB, Song K, Park B. Testing of propane/isobutane mixture in domestic refrigerators. International Journal of Refrigeration, 2000; 23(7): 517-527, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-7007(99)00084-5.
• [18] Bhatkar VW, Kriplani VM, Awari GK. Experimental performance of R134a and R152a using microchannel condenser. Journal of Thermal Engineering 2015;1:575–82. https://doi.org/10.18186/jte.55930.
• [19] Chopra K , Sahni V , Mishra R . Energy, Exergy and Sustainability Analysis of Two-stage Vapour Compression Refrigeration System. Journal of Thermal Engineering. 2015; 1(4): 445-440.