Performance analysis of a retrofitted refrigerator using eco-friendly refrigerant

Abstract

The use of refrigerants with a global warming potential (GWP) greater than 150 is banned in small and medium-sized refrigerators in accordance with the European F-Gas policy. Therefore, the suitability of retrofitting an existing refrigerator using a low GWP working fluid (R152a), as a replacement for the usual refrigerant (R134a) that is harmful to the environment, was investigated experimentally in this paper. In this study, close trend and similarities have been observed between the retrofit refrigerant (R152a) and the traditional refrigerant (R134a) in terms of their thermophysical properties. This has shown the compatibility of R152a with the components of the existing refrigerator. The two refrigerants met the pull-down time standard for the refrigerator, but the values of R152a were consistently lower than those of R134a. In addition, R152a consumed less energy with higher coefficient of performance and cooling capacity (12.2 and 14.6 %, respectively) than R134a. Due to the superior performance and the eco-friendly properties of R152a, it is recommended as a retrofit refrigerant for the existing small and medium-sized refrigerators.

Keywords

• eco-friendly refrigerant
• refrigerator
• f-gas policy
• low-gwp
• r152a
• retrofitting