Performance investigation and exergy analysis of VCRS operated using R600A refrigerant and nanoadditive compressor oil

Karthick Munuswamy, Senthilkumar Karuppiah, Varatharaja Kanthan
2019 Thermal Science  
Compression of vaporized refrigerant is the essential process of the refrigeration cycle which is performed by using a compressor. The amount of power consumed by a refrigeration system is governed by the work input given to its compressor, which also determines the COP of the system. By reducing the work input given to the compressor, the power consumption of refrigerator is reduced along with the improvement in its COP. Now a days, nanoparticles have emerged as the new generation additives in
more » ... various working fluids because of their remarkable ability to improve the heat transfer, tribological and other thermo-physical properties of the base fluid. In such a vein, we propose a compressor oil based nanofluid prepared by dispersing nanoparticles into the conventional compressor oil. In the present study, four samples of nanoadditive compressor oil were prepared by dispersing the nanoparticles like Al 2 O 3 , TiO 2 and ZnO into the conventional mineral oil as a lubricant. The tribological properties of this four samples were studied, out of which one sample gave a better lubrication and heat transfer properties which are considered as one of the key parameters for reducing work input to the compressor, this can result in reduced power consumption, with enhancement of COP. These results are analysed experimentally by carrying out performance and exergy analysis in a Vapour Compression Refrigeration System (VCRS), using R600a as a refrigerant. The experimental results show that, there is an improvement of COP by 14.61% and exergy efficiency by 7.51%. Also, the efficiency defect in the major components of VCRS has been reduced effectively.
doi:10.2298/tsci180527024m fatcat:imijxbqerzgzdgfckgjpofrwre