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Performance of Heat Pumps Charged with R170/R290 Mixture  

Park, Ki-Jung (Graduate School, Inha University)
Lee, Cheol-Hee (Graduate School, Inha University)
Jung, Dong-Soo (Department of Mechanical Engineering, Inha University)
Publication Information
Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering / v.20, no.9, 2008 , pp. 590-598 More about this Journal
Abstract
In this study, performance of R170/R290 mixtures is measured on a heat pump bench tester in an attempt to substitute R22. The bench tester is equipped with a commercial hermetic rotary compressor providing a nominal capacity of 3.5kW. All tests are conducted under the summer cooling and winter heating conditions of $7/45^{\circ}C$ and $-7/41^{\circ}C$ in the evaporator and condenser respectively. During the tests, the composition of R170 is varied from 0 to 10% with an interval of 2%. Test results show that the coefficient of performance (COP) and capacity of R290 are up to 15.4% higher and 7.5% lower than those of R22 for both conditions respectively. For R170/R290 mixture, the COP decreases and the capacity increases with an increase in the amount of R170. The mixture of 4%R170/96%R290 shows the similar capacity and COP as those of R22. For the mixture, the compressor discharge temperature is $16{\sim}30^{\circ}C$ lower than that of R22. There is no problem with mineral oil since the mixture is mainly composed of hydrocarbons. The amount of charge is reduced up to 58% as compared to R22. Overall, R170/R290 mixture is a good long term 'drop-in' candidate to replace R22 in residential air-conditioners and heat pumps.
Keywords
Alternative refrigerant; COP; Capacity; R290; R170; Refrigerant mixture; Heat pump;
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