Theoretical Computation of Performance of Sustainable Energy Efficient R22 Alternatives for Residential Air Conditioners

Abstract The present paper focuses on theoretical investigation of various new R22 alternatives. In this study R407C and four new R22 alternative refrigerant mixtures composed of R1270, R290, RE170, R134a and R32 at different compositions are considered. All the four new refrigerants possess zero ODP and low GWP compared to R22.The chief objective of the present work is to compute the thermodynamic performance of a standard vapour compression refrigeration cycle with R22 and its alternative refrigerants. A MATLAB code is developed to compute the thermodynamic performance of all the considered refrigerants. Thermodynamic analysis of all the refrigerants are evaluated at the condensing and evaporating temperatures of 54.4°C and 7.2°C respectively. The results showed that COP for the refrigerant mixture R134a/R1270/RE170 (55/37.5/7.5 by mass percentage) is 5.35% higher among the R22, R407C and four studied refrigerants. The compressor discharge temperature for R134a/R1270/RE170 (55/37.5/7.5 by mass percentage) is 11.9°C lower when compared to R22 and hence this mixture indicates the durability of the compressor life. The energy spent by the compressor per ton of refrigeration for the mixture R134a/R1270/RE170 (55/37.5/7.5 by mass percentage) is 5.12% lower among R22, R407C and four investigated refrigerants. The GWP of R134a/ R1270/ RE170 (55/37.5/7.5 by mass percentage) is 716 which is low compared to GWP of R22 (1760). Therefore R134a/R1270/RE170 (55/37.5/7.5 by mass percentage) is a sustainable energy efficient refrigerant to replace R22 used in residential air conditioners from the stand point of COP, compressor discharge temperature, energy savings, GWP and ODP. And also in this study thermodynamic performance of refrigerants are computed at various evaporating temperatures by keeping condenser temperature as constant.