Comparative Performance Analysis of R134a and R290/R600a Refrigerants in a Vapor Compression Refrigeration

Abstract

Vapor compression technology is used in the majority of space cooling and food refrigeration applications. Refrigerated ships and marine branches, such as merchant, naval, fishing or cruise-shipping are used to transport perishables. This system is running in several situations on R134a, a HFC refrigerant having excellent thermodynamic and thermo-physical properties, but an adverse environmental impact, considering its global warming potential. This paper deals with a theoretical performance study of a vapor compression refrigeration system working with the pure refrigerant R134a and a mixture, R290/R600a (50% / 50%), considering the effect of the main factors that affect the coefficient of performance: interior tube diameters, working pressures and inlet water temperatures. Are highlighted cases in which the performance when using the mixture is higher than the one when using R134a.