BFRL ICON Influence of the Thermophysical Fluid Properties of the New Ozone-Safe Refrigerants on Performance.


pdf icon Influence of the Thermophysical Fluid Properties of the New Ozone-Safe Refrigerants on Performance. (1546 K)
Didion, D. A.

International Journal of Applied Thermodynamics, Vol. 2, No. 1, 19-35, March 1999.

Keywords:

refrigerants; ozone; azeotropic mixtures; thermophysical properties; two-phase flow; vapor compression cycle; zeotropic

Abstract:

The selection a working fluid as a refrigerant for the vapor compression cycle is discussed. For thermodynamic performance to be optimized particular attention must be paid to the fluid's critical point and molar heat capacity. To achieve a reasonable balance between volumetric capacity, which implies equipment size, and coefficient of performance, which is efficiency, it is necessary to select a fluid with a critical point such that the application's condenser will operate in a reduced temperature range of approximately 0.7 to 0.9. It is also necessary to select fluids within a rather limited range of molar heat capacity values. The specifics as to how these properties effect the cycle's performance are presented in detail. For a better matching of the working fluid to a given application, both azeotopic and zeotropic mixtures of fluids are used. The characteristics and performance advantages and disadvantages of these mixtures are discussed.



Building and Fire Research Laboratory
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Gaithersburg, MD 20899