Experimental Investigation of the Use of Propane for Domestic Refrigerator with Lower Displacement Compressor

Abstract

The performance of R290 has been investigated experimentally to replace R12 in a domestic refrigerator with 3.16 cc displacement compressor. A210 litres refrigerator intended to operate with R12 is used in our study with a lower displacement compressor and longer capillary. The consumed energy, temperatures and pressures at salient points the refrigerator circuit and also temperatures at various compartments in the refrigerator are recorded. The experiments are conducted are no load performance test and ice making test with R290 as well as R12 at a surrounding temperature of 30℃. As per our results R290 is the most viable alternative to replace R12 from the view point of energy conservation without the necessity of changing lubricating oil and drier used with R12 but with a slightly lower capacity. The flammability nature can be ignored as the amount of refrigerant used is very low.