Energy efficiency of a household air conditioner using new HFC refrigerants.

An advanced simulation model of a household air conditioner, split system, was developed. The compressor was characterised by its isentropic efficiency and the finned coils, condenser and evaporator, were modelled by an elementary finite volume technique. The aim of the paper is comparing the performance of R22 with that of some possible HFC substitutes (R407C, R134a, R32, R410A, R404A). In general, refrigerants with high amount of exergy losses during throttling take greater advantage from this practice. At last, some considerations are proposed on the different behaviour of the refrigerants with respect to the isentropic efficiency of the compression and the related COP of the cycle.