Original Article PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF REFRIGERATION SYSTEM USING VARIOUS ALTERNATIVE REFRIGERANTS

The motivation for the present work is the need for efficient and environmentally friendly refrigerants in air-conditioning applications. This study provides a perspective for comparison of refrigerant R-22 with R-404a, R-507a &R-410a. The preset work examines the performance of R-22 and its possible replacements in an air-cooled air conditioner. The study focuses on the effect of evaporator and condenser pressures and sub-cooling temperature on system capacity and coefficient of performance (COP). The refrigerants considered are R-22, R-404a, R-R507a AND R-410a. Relative merits of these fluids are evaluated using NIST‟s REFPROP 6.0 Version which is certified by ASHRAE . The examined refrigerants exhibit varying degradations in performance at elevated pressures compared to their performance at a typical operating regime. The usage of the refrigerant HFC-410a was found to be the best in terms of the coefficients of performance (COP), refrigerant charge rates and Ozone Depleting Potential (ODP).