Energy and Exergy Analysis of Vapor Compression Refrigeration System with Low-GWP Refrigerants

In this paper, a first- and second-law analysis of vapor compression refrigeration is presented to estimate and propose the replacement of R134 with working fluids having less global warming potential (GWP) and less exergy destruction and irreversibilities. Six different refrigerants were studied, namely, R717, R1234yf, R290, R134a, R600a, and R152a. A thermodynamic model was designed on Engineering Equation Solver (EES) software, and performance parameters were calculated. The model was deployed on all six refrigerants, while the used output parameters of performance were cooling capacity, coefficient of performance, discharge temperature, total exergy destruction, relative exergy destruction rates of different components, second-law efficiency, and efficiency defect of each component. The performance parameters were estimated at different speeds of the compressor (1000, 2000, and 3000 rpm) and fixed condenser and evaporator temperatures of 50 °C and 5 °C, respectively. The isentropic efficiency of the compressor was the same as the volumetric efficiency, and it was taken as 75%, 65%, and 55% at the compressor speeds of 1000 rpm, 2000 rpm, and 3000 rpm, respectively. A comparison of the performance parameters was presented by importing the results in MATLAB. It was found that the compressor had the highest exergy destruction compared to the other components. It was found that R152 was the refrigerant with zero ozone depletion potential (ODP) and a GWP value of 140 with less exergy destruction and irreversibilities. Moreover, it was easy to use R152a with good thermodynamic characteristics. It is estimated that R152a is a suitable replacement for R134a, as it can be used with few modifications.