Abstract
Natural refrigerant propane has a saturated-liquid density that is only about half that of HFC refrigerants. Compared with traditional refrigerants, the absorption/desorption characteristics of propane with lubricants show great differences. Studies on the dynamic characteristics of refrigerant/lubricant mixtures have mainly focused on the absorption process, especially the absorption process of high-density refrigerants. The desorption of refrigerant from the mixture has been less studied. In this paper, an experimental apparatus was built to observe and measure the dynamic characteristics of refrigerant desorption. The effects of the refrigerant/lubricant combinations, the depressurization rate, the ambient temperature, and the initial concentration on the desorption process driven by depressurization were analyzed. The depressurization rate is the main factor influencing the desorption mass flow rate. As the pressure dropped, the refrigerant solubility decreased fast, causing the supersaturation degree to rise rapidly, which is the main driver of refrigerant desorption. Moreover, the correlation between the desorption mass flow rate and the supersaturation degree was obtained by the experimental results. The absolute deviations between the experimental and simulated concentrations were less than 2.5%.
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