Performance Analysis of Vapour Compression Refrigeration System using HC Refrigerant Mixtures for Water Chiller

Abstract

The use of HC refrigerant mixtures has been a topic of current research in view of the concerns related to global warming and Ozone depletion problems caused by CFCs and HFCs.. The HC mixture as an alternate refrigerant has been reported to be a promising one in addressing the global warming and Ozone depletion problems. In the present work an experimental set-up is built up to test Vapour Compression Refrigeration (VCR) system with different refrigerants. The aim of this work is to investigate the performance analysis of Vapor Compression Refrigeration system with alternate refrigerants such as Hydrocarbon (HC) refrigerants mixture and compare with Hydro Fluoro Carbon (HFC) refrigerant (R134a) under the similar operating conditions. The alternate refrigerant mixture is selected in the combination of Propane (R290) and Iso-butane (R600a). The refrigeration system variables considered for the investigation of performance are evaporating temperature, condensing temperature and power consumption. The HC refrigerant mixture is observed to give superior performance compared to HFC refrigerant in terms of global warming.