Refrigerants in refrigeration system

Refrigerants in refrigeration system

Introduction

People have been taking advantage or benefit of typical refrigeration for many years. Caves, springs, snow and ice, holes dug in the ground, and evaporative have always become helpful in order to cool drinks and food (www.reefercargocare.com). However, there are some limitations for typical refrigeration. Its accessibility and availability depends on weather conditions and location. Natural refrigeration has never been sufficient to chill enormous quantities for prolonged periods of time (www.reefercargocare.com).

The discussion about what represents the 'right choice' of the refrigerants in the refrigeration systems for industrial or commercial refrigeration applications has increased in current years. Effect of HFC emissions is the main concern which occurs in centralized systems (www.emersonclimate.com). Substantial reductions in HFC emissions are surely possible, but these reductions increase the costs.

Today in Europe, the most commonly and frequently used refrigerant is R404A (www.emersonclimate.com). This refrigerant has no toxicity, and its (ODP) Ozone Depletion Layer is zero, but it has a high (GWP) global warming potential. In order to use alternative systems that provide reasonable Global Warming Potential can considerably reduce the influence of such emissions that are damaging and harmful for environment (www.emersonclimate.com).

Diminishing the influence of climate change via accurate use of energy, serving to lessen the carbon footprints are main environmental goals. This research is designed to assist customers in order to meet these goals and objectives (www.emersonclimate.com). Research focuses on the refrigeration system technology and architecture which creates impact on the environment, operating costs and capital investment. It is essential to inspect 4 refrigerant criteria specifically (www.emersonclimate.com). Any refrigeration system must have the following features:

Should conform to the latest codes of practice and should have safety properties

Should have low GWP and have zero Ozone Depletion

Long term accessibility and availability should be offered at affordable capital cost

Should provide better or comparable performance as R404A-technology in order to keep low energy consumption (www.emersonclimate.com)

Discussion

Types of refrigerants

All refrigerant experience in the air conditioning industry has limited to pure i.e. single-component refrigerants. Manufacturers remained unsuccessful in developing the replacement of single-component refrigerants (Anonymous, 2008). These replacements must be equipped with desirable characteristics for extensively used refrigerants. These characteristics include chemical stability, environmental acceptability, Compatibility of material, Adherence to nontoxic and nonflammable guidelines, Refrigeration-cycle performance and boiling point (Anonymous, 2008).

Transitional refrigerants (HCFCs)

R-22 has been used effectively in air conditioning systems. R-22 is an HCFC which is recently being phased out in accordance with the Montreal ...