Performance analysis of a solar-driven domestic refrigerator working with eco-friendly refrigerants in continuous power outage areas

Abstract

ABSTRACT Environmental impacts of refrigerants and global renewable energy transition policies necessitated research on small-scale solar domestic refrigerators (SDRs) and their working fluids in order to address energy efficiency, flammability limits, and acceptable global warming potential. This study analyses the performance of an SDR operating with R290/R600a blend (CARE30), R1234yf, R1234yf/R134a blend (90:10), and CARE30/R1234yf/R134a blend (60:30:10) as R134a substitutes. In addition, a full year of daily meteorological data was analyzed to determine how solar intensity and air temperature affected performance metrics such as the solar co-efficient of performance (COP), PV array size, and compressor power for the selected refrigerants. The entire system was modeled using MATLAB, SAM-2022, and REFPROP-10.0 software. The experimental COP was used to validate the simulation. The seasonal ranges for the average solar COP and system COP were found to be 0.28 to 2.60 and 0.53 to 0.90, respectively. The PV energy generation and actual energy demand were 57.9–78.6 and 35.36–53.09 kWh/month, respectively, ensuring that the system can operate solely on solar energy. The weather data of the place, PV technologies, capacities of widely used SDRs, excess energy utilization, and economic parameters can be looked at for the successful implementation of the system.