Performance evaluation of refrigerant mixtures in heat pumps. Final report

Technical Report · Mon Mar 01 00:00:00 UTC 1993

OSTI ID:10168052

Pannock, J; Didion, D A ^[1]

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1. National Inst. of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD (United States)

EPRI has investigated a new approach using computer simulations to locate replacement fluids for heat pumps. These computer simulations showed that two zeotropic refrigerant mixtures performed superior to R22 refrigerant with respect to the coefficient of performance and volumetric capacity for certain composition ranges when counterflow heat exchangers are used. The project team used a computer simulation to investigate the performance of 15 binary refrigerant mixtures in heat pump applications over their full composition range. The mixtures consisted of the methane and ethane derivatives R23, R32, R125, R134a, R143a, and R152a. The team then used the most promising zeotropic refrigerant mixtures as replacement fluids for R22 in a specially designed test heat pump. The simulation results showed that for the binary mixtures of R32/R134a and R32/R152a, the volumetric capacity as well as the coefficient of performance can exceed the results obtained with R22 refrigerant if counterflow heat exchange is used. The experimental results confirmed the simulation results, with coefficients of performance that were 0--24% higher and the same refrigerating or heating capacity obtained using R22. The overall conductance for the heat exchangers using the refrigerant mixtures exceeded that of R22 by 0--12% for the R32/R134a mixture and 0--22% for the R32/R152a mixture.

• Research Organization: Electric Power Research Inst., Palo Alto, CA (United States); National Inst. of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: Electric Power Research Inst., Palo Alto, CA (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: NONE
• OSTI ID: 10168052
• Report Number(s): EPRI-TR-102167; ON: UN93015875
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
320302
320303
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
540120
CHEMICALS MONITORING AND TRANSPORT
CHLOROFLUOROCARBONS
COEFFICIENT OF PERFORMANCE
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
EQUIPMENT AND PROCESSES
EVALUATION
FLAMMABILITY
HEAT PUMPS
MATERIAL SUBSTITUTION
MATERIALS
MIXTURES
OZONE LAYER
PERFORMANCE
REFRIGERANTS