Investigation into the fractionation of refrigerant blends. Final technical report, March 1994--December 1995
As a means of complying with current and impending national and international environmental regulations restricting the use and disposal of conventional CFC and HCFC refrigerants which contribute to the global ozone depletion effects, the HVAC industry is vigorously evaluating and testing BFC refrigerant blends. While analyses and system performance tools have shown that BFC refrigerant blends offer certain performance, capacity and operational advantages, there are significant possible service and operational issues that are raised by the use of blends. Many of these issues occur due to the fractionation of the blends. Therefore, the objective of this program is to conduct analyses and experimental tests aimed at understanding these issues, develop approaches or techniques to predict these effects and convey to the industry safe and reliable approaches. As a result, analytical models, verified by laboratory data, have been developed that predict the fractionation effects of HFC refrigerant blends when (1) exposed to selected POE lubricants, (2) during the system charging process from large liquid containers, and (3) during system startup, operation and shutdown within various system components (where two-phase refrigerant exists), and during selected system and component leakage scenarios. Model predictions and experimental results are presented for HFC refrigerant blends containing HFC-32, HFC-134a, and HFC-125 and the data are generalized for various operating conditions and scenarios.
- Research Organization:
- Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Technology Inst., Inc., Arlington, VA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- FG02-91CE23810
- OSTI ID:
- 491413
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/CE/23810-75; ON: DE97006797; TRN: 97:004187
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: Jan 1996
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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