Performance study on the evaporation and pressure drop of low‐temperature refrigerant blends in porous media

Abstract

AbstractAn experimental investigation on the performance of different low‐temperature refrigerant blends is presented in this work. Five different low‐temperature refrigerant blends are put on display to replace the R22 refrigerant, which has a high ozone depletion potential. These five blends are R404A, R407C, R410A, R417A, and R422A. Different performance studies have been performed on these alternative refrigerants to replace R22. A comparative experimental performance study is performed during the evaporation of these refrigerant blends in porous media. A porous metallic heat transfer medium is used with different porosities (40%, 43%, and 45%) in the evaporator during the test experiments. The evaporator superheat and the condenser subcool are maintained constant throughout the experiments at 8°C (±0.5°C) and 6°C (±0.5°C), respectively. The condensing temperature is kept constant at 38.5°C, and the mean evaporating temperatures were selected to be from −33 to −18°C. The effect of the above‐mentioned given operating conditions on the compressor discharge temperature, evaporation pressure drop, evaporation capacity, and coefficient of performance of these five low‐temperature refrigerant blends has been analyzed for different porosities. This experimental study showed that the refrigerant R422A can give a similar or greater performance to R22 and R404A with a global warming effect and zero ozone depleting potential.