COOLING PERFORMANCE OF ALTERNATIVE REFRIGERANT R429A IN DOMESTIC WATER PURIFIERS

摘要

In this study, cooling performance of R429A is examined both numerically and experimentally in an effort to replace HFC 134a used in the refrigeration system of domestic water purifiers. Even though HFC 134a is used predominantly in such a system these days, it needs to be phased out in near future in Europe and most of the developed countries due to its high global warming potential. To solve this problem, cycle simulation and experimental measurements are carried out with a new refrigerant mixture of R152a/E170/600a (10/60/30) using actual domestic water purifiers. This mixture is numbered and listed as R429A by ASHRAE recently. Test results show that the system performance with R429A is greatly influenced by the amount of charge due to the small internal volume of the refrigeration system of the domestic water purifiers. With the optimum amount of charge of 21 grams, about 50% of HFC 134a, the energy consumption of R429A is 28.9% lower than that of HFC134a. The compressor discharge temperature of R429A is 13.4℃ lower than that of HFC 134a at the optimum charge. Overall, R429A, a new long term environmentally safe refrigerant, is a good alternative for HFC 134a requiring little change in the refrigeration system of the domestic water purifiers.