Impact of Ozone-Safe Refrigerants on Refrigeration Machinery Performance and Operation.
Impact of Ozone-Safe Refrigerants on Refrigeration
Machinery Performance and Operation.
(1122 K)
Didion, D. A.
Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers.
Transaction of naval Architects and Marine Engineering.
November 1994, 10/1-15 pp, 1994.
Keywords:
refrigerants; ozone; machinery; thermodynamic
performance; mixtures; safety; toxicity; flammability;
materials compatibility; alternatives
Abstract:
The current ozone depletion crisis has impacted the
refrigeration and air conditioning industry like no
other event in history. The limitations placed on the
development of machinery working fluids is causing major
design changes in new equipment and modifications to
existing equipment that will require owner/operators to
face many decisions in what was previously a rather
staid purchasing process. The elimination of chlorine
from the refrigerants has forced the adoption of ester
based lubricants in lieu of mineral oils. Molecular and
thermodynamic constraints have brought about the
expansion of the use of azeotropic refrigerant mixtures
and the introduction of azeotropic refrigerant mixtures,
with their variable composition problems. For the first
time in many years, flammable refrigerants are being
used, at least as minor components in mixtures. The
transition period of the next several decades is likely
to require the use of "drop-in" replacement fluids which
can cause a capacity and/or efficiency change in the
machine's performance. Furthermore, all the new
alternative refrigerants (i.e., replacements) may
themselves be unable to meet future environmental
restrictions if the global warming crisis proves to be a
political reality.
Building and Fire Research Laboratory
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Gaithersburg, MD 20899