Liquid density prediction of five different classes of refrigerant systems (HCFCs, HFCs, HFEs, PFAs and PFAAs) using the artificial neural network-group contribution method

Abstract

In this work, the densities of 48 refrigerant systems from 5 different categories including hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), hydrofluoroethers (HFEs), perfluoroalkanes (PFAs), and perfluoroalkylalkanes (PFAAs) have been studied using a combined method that includes an artificial neural network (ANN) and a simple group contribution method (GCM). A total of 3825 data points of liquid density at several temperatures and pressures have been used to train, validate and test the model. This study shows that the ANN-GCM model represents an excellent alternative to estimate the density of different refrigerant systems with a good accuracy. The average absolute deviations for train, validation, and test sets are 0.18, 0.26, and 0.28, respectively. A comparison between our results and those obtained from some previous methods shows that as well as generality, this model can predict the density of different refrigerants in a better accord with experimental data up to high temperature, high pressure (HTHP) conditions.