The use of hydrocarbon mixtures as refrigerants in domestic refrigerators

This paper reports on an experimental study carried out for evaluating the performance parameters of a domestic refrigerator when four ratios of propane, butane and isobutane are used as possible alternative replacements to the traditional R-12 refrigerant. The proposed alternative refrigerants have...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied thermal engineering 1999, Vol.19 (11), p.1181-1189
Main Authors: Hammad, M.A, Alsaad, M.A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Applied sciences
Butane
Composition effects
Compressors
Cooling
Cost effectiveness
Domestic appliances
Domestic refrigerators
Energy
Energy. Thermal use of fuels
Environmental protection
Evaporators
Exact sciences and technology
Hydrocarbon mixtures
Propane
Refrigerants
Refrigerating engineering
Refrigerating engineering. Cryogenics. Food conservation
Refrigerators
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Summary:This paper reports on an experimental study carried out for evaluating the performance parameters of a domestic refrigerator when four ratios of propane, butane and isobutane are used as possible alternative replacements to the traditional R-12 refrigerant. The proposed alternative refrigerants have the advantage of being locally available, cheap and of an environmentally friendly nature. An unmodified R-12 domestic refrigerator was charged and tested with each of the four hydrocarbon mixtures that consist of 100% propane, 75% propane–19.1% butane–5.9% isobutane, 50% propane–38.3% butane–11.7% isobutane and 25% propane–57.5% butane–17.5% isobutane. The parameters investigated are the evaporator capacity, the compressor power, the coefficient of performance ( COP) and the cooling rate characteristics. The present work shows that the hydrocarbon mixture with 50% propane–38.3% butane–11.7% isobutane is the most suitable alternative refrigerant with the best performance among all other hydrocarbon mixtures investigated. When this hydrocarbon mixture was used the evaporator temperature reached −16°C with COP of 3.7 at condenser temperature of 27°C as compared to COP=3.6 for the traditional R-12 refrigerant at the same temperatures. The refrigerator worked satisfactorily with the proposed alternative refrigerant without the need for any modification or adjustment.
ISSN:1359-4311
DOI:10.1016/S1359-4311(98)00116-1