• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.12 no.9
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• pp.791-801
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• 2000

An experimental study was conducted to analyze the effects of oil on refrigerant flow through adiabatic capillary tubes, and to develop a model for mass flow rates of refrigerant/oil mixture at various capillary tubes and flow conditions. Mass flow rates and the profiles of the pressures and temperatures along the capillary tubes was obtained with the oil concentration of R-22/SUNISO 4GS oil mixture at various test conditions. The flow trends as a function of geometry and flow conditions for pure refrigerant and refrigerant/oil mixture were similar in adiabatic capillary tubes. Mass flow rate of the refrigerant/oil mixture was less than that of pure refrigerant at the same test conditions.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.12 no.8
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• pp.717-724
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• 2000

It is important to investigate characteristics of flow of refrigerant/oil mixture circulating in a refrigeration system. Therefore the oil concentration in refrigerant/oil mixture should be measured exactly by the adequate measuring instrument. In this paper, the oil concentration was measured by density monitoring system(DMS) in the liquid-line of a inverter-driven heat pump. Experimental result follows ; the main factor that have an effect on oil concentration refrigerant/oil mixture circulating in a refrigeration system is the momentum and kinematic viscosity of refrigerant/oil mixture compressed by scroll compressor.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.14 no.8
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• pp.617-625
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• 2002

In this study, effects of refrigerant and oil charges on the performance of a refrigeration system simulating an automobile air conditioner have been experimentally investigated using R134a and PAG oil. Measurements were taken in a breadboard type refrigeration test unit with a compressor used for a commercial automobile air-conditioner under a set of condition imposed upon normally to automobile air conditioners. Both the COP and capacity decreased rapidly as the oil charge increased because of the decrease in vapor pressure of the circulating refrigerant/oil mixture. The excess oil left in the evaporator also caused heat transfer degradation resulting in a decrease in capacity and in turn COP. It was found that there is an optimum refrigerant charge at which the COP becomes the maximum. Below this optimum charge, both the capacity and COP increased as the refrigerant charge increased and above the optimum charge, both of them remained almost constant. Hence, the COP seems to be the most important factor in determining the optimum refrigerant charge. When the system was undercharged, the refrigerant at the condenser exit lost subcooling and showed a sign of poor miscibility.

• Journal of Power System Engineering
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.41-46
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• 2011

Refrigerant oil reduces friction between piston and cylinder of compressor and is normally hard to mix or dissolve in refrigerant. Oil separator deprives refrigerating oil from mixed solution of refrigerant and refrigerant oil. Sometimes much machine oil is carried into an evaporator and is applied to surface of the evaporator, and then disturbs heat transfer through it. Well-made oil separator helps refrigerating system stable and evaporator sustain full capacity. In this paper, new oil separate with different way to structure is suggested and tested. As result the new separates is 13% higher at 0C with 10% mixture and 6% higher at 0C with 20% mixture.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2001

This paper deals with refrigerant-oil mixtures in a dehumidifying cycle. Two different oils such as Alkylbenzene(AB) and Polyol-esters(POE) lubricants are used for R134a to investigate the effect of miscibility on oil returnability. It was found that R134a/AB mixture had more unstable interface between oil and refrigerant than R134a/POE mixture. However, overall flow patterns of both refrigerant-oil mixtures were almost same. The minimum height of oil measured in the compressor was as high as twice of the least permissible height of oil in the compressor required to insure its reliability. Thus, it is considered that immiscible oil, i. e., AB for R134a can be used without causing oil returnability problem.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.150-157
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• 2004

Carbon dioxide ($CO_2$, R-744) has become a very popular issue in application to refrigeration and air conditioning systems as a natural refrigerant. An experimental study has been carried out to investigate miscibility and the vapor pressure of refrigerant R-744 in the presence of lubricant oil. This is of particular interest in the selection of the lubricant oil for the compressor of a refrigeration system or an air conditioning system using the refrigerant R-744. The experimental set-up consists of the equilibrium cell, measuring devices, the vacuum pump, the constant temperature bath and relevant connecting pipes made of stainless steel. Five lubricant oils, such as mineral oil (Naphthenic), AB (Alkyl Benzene) oil, PAO (Poly Alpha Olefin) oil, PAG (Poly Alkylene Glycol) oil and POE (Polyol Ester) oil are considered in the present study. Test runs were conducted with the oil concentration range from 5 to 50 wt％, and the temperature range from -10 to 1$0^{\circ}C$ with 2$^{\circ}C$ intervals. The miscibility results are visualized and correlated with the vapor pressure for the individual test components.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.206-214
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• 2019

This study investigates alternative refrigerants and refrigerant oils as well as the tendency of protecting the global environment in view of automobile air-conditioning systems. Since decades, the R12 refrigerant is not used in automobile air-conditioners because of the ozone depletion potential (ODP) problem, and for the last 20 years, the ODP-free R134a refrigerant is leading the new automotive air-conditioning market. However, owing to its high global warming potential (GWP), the R134a refrigerant use in automobile air-conditioning system is also prohibited by law, and alternative refrigerants with a low GWP need to be proposed. Therefore, recently, the application of R1234yf, R152a, or other alternative refrigerants has started worldwide. By contrast, natural refrigerant R744 was introduced in the market several years ago by VDA (Verband Der Automobilindustrie), which is a German association in the automotive industry. This study also deals with refrigerant oils. For a long time, polyalkylene glycol (PAG) oil has been traditionally used with automobile air-conditioners, and polyolester (POE) oil is suitable for HEV, PHEV, and EV air-conditioning systems, where it is used by the electrically driven compressor owing to its excellent electrical insulation properties. Finally, PAG is an excellent lubricant for all the R134a, R152a, R1234yf, and R744 refrigerants, and has the advantage that it can be applied rapidly to alternative refrigerant air-conditioning systems.

• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.537-546
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• 2000

The heat transfer characteristics of refrigerant-oil mixture for horizontal in-tube evaporator have been investigated experimentally. A smooth copper tube and a micro-fin tube with nominal 9.5 mm outer diameter and 1500 mm length were tested. For the pure refrigerant flow, the dependence of the axial heat transfer coefficient on quality was weak in the smooth tube, but in the micro-fin tube, the coefficients were 3 to 10 times greater as quality increases. Oil addition to pure refrigerant in the smooth tube altered the flow pattern dramatically at low mass fluxes, with a resultant enhancement of the wetting area by vigorous foaming. The heat transfer coefficients of the mixture for low and medium qualities were increased at low mass fluxes. In the micro-fin tube, however, the addition of oil deteriorates the local heat transfer performance for most of the quality range, except for low quality. The micro-fin tube consequently loses its advantage of high heat transfer performance for an oil fraction of 5%. Results are presented as plots of local heat transfer coefficient versus quality.

• Proceedings of the SAREK Conference
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.1067-1072
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• 2009

In vapor compression systems which use refrigerant as a working fluid, the oil is commonly used for compressor lubrication. Since the presence of lubrication oil can change the characteristics properties of refrigerant, the oil affects the heat transfer performance of heat exchanger to a large extent. In this paper, we focus on the effect of PVE oil experimentally on heat transfer performance of the fin-tube heat exchangers which use R410A as a refrigerant. To evaluate the heat transfer performance, the refrigerant to air type test facility chamber has been used. Fin-tube heat exchanger with grooved has been tested while according to the oil mass fraction variation from nearly zero to 1.7 wt%. It was found that the low level of oil mass fraction has an obvious effect on heat transfer performance, while the high level seems no significant influence. The influence of the oil mass fraction to heat transfer performance, however, is different between evaporation and condensation.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.139-146
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• 2020

Global warming has led to an increase in demand of eco-friendly vehicles, such as electric cars, for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and especially, regulating carbon dioxide generation. In addition, electric vehicles are equipped with an electric drive-type hermetic scroll compressor and a refrigerant, which exhibit current and future trends of using environmentally friendly refrigerants, including R-1234yf. In this study, polyol ester-based refrigeration oils are prepared via condensation esterification of polyol and fatty acids. The oils can be combined with R-1234yf refrigerant for applications in air conditioning and cooling systems of electric vehicles. The structure of synthetic polyol esters is confirmed via ¹H-NMR and FT-IR spectrum analysis, and the composition of the polyol ester is analyzed via gas chromatogram analysis. Furthermore, kinematic viscosity, viscosity index, total acid value, pour point, and color are analyzed as fundamental physical properties of the synthetic polyol esters. The compatibility and chemical stability of the synthetic polyol ester combined with the R-1234yf refrigerant are obtained via high temperature and high pressure oil-resistant refrigerant tests. The changes in the oil color and catalyst activity are observed before and after the experiment to determine whether it is suitable as a refrigerator oil.