Analysis of the performance of air blast freezer by using hydrofluorocarbon and hydrocarbon refrigerants

Abstract

The air blast freezer has been used as a freezing method in the fish processing units before being frozen for a long time in cold storage. For this reason, the use of hydrocarbon refrigerants that are more environmental friendly has become a demand and a central issue in the future. This paper presents a performance analysis of using R290 and R600a as a drop-in replacement to R404A and R507A. The system performance analysis is based on the evaporation temperature variation using CYCLE_D-HX software with the condensation temperature maintained constant. The important quantities analyzed are mass flow rate, pressure ratio, temperature discharge, heat released, power consumption, coefficient of performance and refrigeration efficiency. The results show that at minimum evaporation temperature, system performance using R290 and R600a is on average ±14% higher compared to R404A and R507A. R290 has characteristics that are closer to R404A and R507A so it is more suitable to replace the two refrigerants compared to R600a. However, this is a performance analysis that can lead to higher performance than normal conditions.