Experimental Investigation on the Performance of Condenser for Charge Reduction of HC-290 in a Split Air-Conditioning System

Abstract

HC-290 is a promising alternative for HCFC-22, which is an ozone depleting substance under Montreal Protocol. However, HC-290 charge is to be reduced because of its flammability. The objective of this study was to reduce the charge quantity of HC-290 in a split air conditioner, which was originally designed for HCFC-22. The effect of charge reduction on the performance of the HC-290 split air-conditioning system was studied experimentally by varying condenser tube diameter, length of capillary tube, and condenser air face velocity. Initially, simulation study was conducted using ART simulation software. In accordance with the simulation results, a 5.25 kW split air conditioner was modified and experimentally tested with HC-290 in a psychrometric test facility under standard test conditions as per IS 1391 part 2. The condenser tube diameter was reduced from 12.7 mm to 6.35 mm, while the length of capillary tube was increased from 650 mm to 820 mm with enhanced condenser air face velocities. It was found that with 300 g of HC-290 charge, the performance parameters such as cooling capacity, power consumption, and coefficient of performance were better than the baseline test with HCFC-22 in all conditions tested.

Acknowledgments

The authors thankfully acknowledge the grant from DST-FIST and TEQIP projects for developing the experimental test facilities.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ayyamperumal Lalitha Saravanan

Ayyamperumal Lalitha Saravanan is currently working as an Associate Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, VSB College of Engineering Technical Campus, Coimbatore, India. He obtained his Doctorate and Master of Engineering in Refrigeration and Air Conditioning from Anna University, Chennai in 2018 and 2008, respectively. He worked as a Product Development Engineer in Visteon Automotive Systems India, Chennai, India from 2008 to 2009. For the past 10 years he has been working in the field of air conditioning systems.

Dhasan Mohan Lal

Dhasan Mohan Lal is a Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Anna University, Chennai, India. He has been working in the field of refrigeration and air conditioning for the past 25 years. He has published more than 75 research papers in international journals focusing on heat transfer characteristics of refrigerants, heat transfer in nanofluids, and performance assessment of refrigeration systems.

Chandrasekaran Selvam

Chandrasekaran Selvam is currently working as an Assistant Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, India. He obtained his Doctorate from Anna University, Chennai in the field of nanofluid heat transfer. His research interests include enhancement of heat transfer using nanofluids, refrigeration and air-conditioning, thermal energy storage, thermal management of thermoelectric cooler, and concentrated photovoltaics. He has a number of publications in various reputed international journals.