Experimental Assessment of Comparative R290vs. R449a Refrigerants by Using 3e (Energy, Exergy and Environment) Analysis: A Supermarket Application

Abstract

Efficiency is becoming an increasingly important issue in cooling systems. It is important to use micro channel heat exchangers in order to increase the cooling system efficiency. In this study, performance analysis of refrigerants used in supermarkets was tested experimentally. Thermodynamic analyses of the refrigerants were examined. The compatibility of R290 and R449A refrigerants with the environment has been experimentally observed. Energy, exergy, and environmental analyses were performed using R290 and R449a refrigerants based on the test results for 24 hours using double inlet and double outlet evaporator. Accordingly, in the experiments using R290, the exergy efficiency and COP value are 43.52 % and 2.09, respectively. In experiments using R449A, these values were found to be 22.28 % and 1.59. Exergy efficiency was increased by 48.81 % in experiments using propane. In addition, an increase of 24.12% was observed in the Coefficient of Performance (COP) value. Considering the environmental analysis results, the amount of CO2 emitted by the R290 refrigerant to the atmosphere during the test period was 3.14 kg/h and R449A was calculated as 3.97 kg/h. It was seen in this study that the R290 refrigerant emits 26.22 % less CO2 to the atmosphere.