Open Access

ARTICLE

EXERGY ANALYSIS OF A REFRIGERATION SYSTEM WITH A MINICHANNEL CONDENSER USING R134A REFRIGERANT

Vijay W. Bhatkar^a,*, Anirban Sur^b,*, Anindita Roy^b

a Associate Professor, Marathwada Mitra Mandal’s College of Engineering, Pune-411052, Maharashtra, India
b Associate Professor, Symbiosis Institute of Technology, Symbiosis International (Deemed) University, Pune-412115, Maharashtra, India
* Corresponding author. Email: vijaybhatkar2009@gmail.com (VWB), anirban.sur@sitpune.edu.in (AS)

Frontiers in Heat and Mass Transfer 2022, 19, 1-7. https://doi.org/10.5098/hmt.19.15

Abstract

Versatile vapor compression refrigeration system is designed, developed and fabricated such that desired condensing and evaporating temperatures can be obtained by providing different electronic controls for superheating, subcooling, fan speed, air heaters and water heatersto use alternative refrigerants to R134a such as R1234ze, R152a, R600a, R290 and R290/R600a (50/50%) with conventional and minichannel condenser. All the refrigerant are tested for condensing temperature ranging from 40 °C to 55 °C while evaporating temperature changes from -10 °C to 15 °C for both condensers. The total exergy loss for main system components such as compressor, condenser, expansion valve and evaporator are calculated. It is found that condenser represented maximum exergy loss in all refrigerants for conventional and minichannel condenser. The total exergy loss is more for conventional condenser than minichannel condenser for all refrigerants while R1234ze represented minimum exergy loss. Exergy efficiency for minichannel condenser is more than conventional condenser for R1234ze over other refrigerants at all condensing and evaporating temperatures. The condensation temperature reduced by 3 °C with the minichannel condenser over conventional condenser resulted into increase in coefficient of performance (COP) by 10% to 15% for different evaporating temperatures. Thus, it is concluded that R1234ze is direct drop-in substitute to R134a as compared to R152a, R600a, R290 and R290/R600a (50/50%) considering exergy loss, exergy efficiency and COP with minichannel condenser over conventional condenser.

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