Lecture 4:

Refrigerants
Books:
Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Technology by William C.

Whitman, William M. Johnson, John A. Tomczyk, Eugene

Silberstein Unit 9
Refrigeration & Air-Conditioning by R. C. Arora Chapter 4
Refrigeration & Air-Conditioning by Stoecker and Jones
Chapter 15

Mechanical Engineering Dept. CEME NUST

Course Contents
S.No.

Description

1.

Introduction to Refrigeration and Review of Fundamentals

2.

Vapor Compression Cycle

3.

Multi-pressure Systems

4.

Air Cycle Refrigeration System

5.

Absorption Refrigeration Systems and Chillers

6.

Refrigerants

7.

Psychrometry

8.

Air Conditioning Systems

9.

Heating and Cooling Load Calculations

10.

Fluid Flow in Piping and Ducts

11.

Fans and Air Distribution

Mechanical Engineering Dept. CEME NUST

Refrigerants

Introduction
Classification

Chemical composition

Refrigerant Selection Criteria

Heat Exchange

Desirable thermo-physical properties

Environmental and Safety properties

Common Refrigerants

Mechanical Engineering Dept. CEME NUST

Refrigerants
Introduction

Refrigerant

is a substance, which acts as a cooling agent by absorbing heat

from another body or substance.

oIn case of vapor compression cycle, the refrigerant is the working fluid of
the cycle which alternately vaporizes and condenses as it absorbs and
gives off heat.

In practice, the choice is limited by factors such as

oSystem Design and Size
oInitial And Operating Costs
oSafety and Reliability
oServiceability etc.
Selection of suitable refrigerant has become one of the most important issues in
recent times due to Ozone Layer depletion and global warming concerns.
Mechanical Engineering Dept. CEME NUST

Classification of Refrigerants
Based on Heat Exchange

Primary Refrigerants are those fluids, which are used directly as working fluids
Secondary Refrigerants are those liquids, which are used for transporting thermal energy
from one location to other

Secondary

Refrigerants are usually liquids, and

are used to transfer heat from the substance
being cooled to a heat exchanger where the heat
is absorbed by a primary refrigerant

If the operating temperatures are above 0oC, then

Pure Water can also be used as secondary
refrigerant, e.g. in large Air Conditioning
Systems

Antifreezes or Brines are used when refrigeration

is required at sub-zero temperatures

Mechanical Engineering Dept. CEME NUST

Classification of Refrigerants
Based on Chemical Composition
Refrigerants
Pure
substances
Synthetic

CFC

Mixtures

Natural

HFC

Hydro
Carbons

Azeotropic

Zeotropic

Inorganic

HCFC

Mechanical Engineering Dept. CEME NUST

Refrigerants
Refrigerant Selection Criteria
Thermodynamic and Thermo-physical Properties
a) Suction Pressure: At a given evaporator temperature, the saturation pressure should
be above atmospheric for prevention of air or moisture ingress into
the system and ease of leak detection

b) Discharge Pressure: At a given condenser temperature, the discharge pressure should

be as small as possible to allow light-weight construction of
compressor, condenser

c) Pressure Ratio: Should be as small as possible for high volumetric efficiency and low
power consumption

d) Latent heat of vaporization: Should be as large as possible so that the required mass
flow rate per unit cooling capacity will be small

Mechanical Engineering Dept. CEME NUST

Refrigerants
Refrigerant Selection Criteria
Thermodynamic and Thermo-physical Properties
e) Isentropic index of compression: Should be as small as possible so that the
temperature rise during compression will be small

f) Liquid specific heat: Should be small so that degree of subcooling will be large leading
to smaller amount of flash gas at evaporator inlet

g) Vapor specific heat: Should be large so that the degree of superheating will be small
h) Thermal conductivity: Should be high for higher heat transfer coefficients for both
liquid as well as vapor phase

i) Viscosity: Viscosity should be small in both liquid and vapor phases for smaller frictional
pressure drops

Thermodynamic

properties are interrelated and mainly depend on normal boiling point,

critical temperature, molecular weight and structure

Mechanical Engineering Dept. CEME NUST

Refrigerants
Refrigerant Selection Criteria
Environmental and safety properties
a) Ozone Depletion Potential (ODP): ODP of refrigerants should be zero. Refrigerants
having non-zero ODP have either already been phased-out (e.g. R 11, R 12) or will be
phased-out in near-future(e.g. R22)

b) Global Warming Potential (GWP): Refrigerants should have as low a GWP value as
possible to minimize the problem of global warming

c) Total Equivalent Warming Index (TEWI): The factor TEWI considers both direct (due
to release into atmosphere) and indirect (through energy consumption) contributions of
refrigerants to global warming.

d) Toxicity: Ideally, refrigerants used in a refrigeration system should be non-toxic. All

fluids other than air can be called as toxic as they will cause suffocation when their
concentration is large enough.

e) Flammability: Refrigerants should preferably be non-flammable and non-explosive

Mechanical Engineering Dept. CEME NUST

Refrigerants
Inorganic Refrigerants

These refrigerants are inorganic in nature.

These are designated by number 7 followed by the molecular
weight of the refrigerant (rounded-off).

For Example:
Ammonia: Molecular weight is 17, the designation is R 717
Carbon dioxide: Molecular weight is 44, the designation is
R 744

Water: Molecular weight is 18, the designation is R 718

Mechanical Engineering Dept. CEME NUST

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Refrigerants
Hydro Carbons

Most refrigerants are made from two molecules, methane and ethane

Pure hydrocarbons were at one time considered good refrigerants, but because
of their flammability were not used after the 1930s in any large scale

Refrigerants have no fluorine or chlorine in their molecule; 0 ODP

Contribute to global warming
Mechanical Engineering Dept. CEME NUST

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Refrigerants
Designation of refrigerants
Fully saturated, halogenated compounds:

These

refrigerants are derivatives of alkanes (CnH2n+2) such as methane (CH4), ethane

(C2H6).
These refrigerants are designated by R XYZ, where:

o X+1 indicates the number of Carbon (C) atoms

o Y-1 indicates number of Hydrogen (H) atoms, and
o Z indicates number of Fluorine (F) atoms
o If there are only two digits after R then it means that X = 0.
Example: R 22

oX = 0 No. of Carbon atoms = 0+1 = 1 derivative of methane (CH4)

oY = 2 No. of Hydrogen atoms = 2-1 = 1
oZ = 2 No. of Fluorine atoms = 2
oThe balance = 4 no. of (H+F) atoms = 4-1-2 = 1 No. of Chlorine atoms = 1
The chemical formula of R 22 = CHClF2
Mechanical Engineering Dept. CEME NUST

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Refrigerants
Synthetic or Derivates of Hydro Carbons

Some of the hydrogen atoms are removed from either the

methane or ethane molecule and replaced with either
chlorine or fluorine

Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)
Hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs)
Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)

Mechanical Engineering Dept. CEME NUST

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Refrigerants
Synthetic or Derivates of Hydro Carbons
CFC Refrigerants

CFCs

contain chlorine, fluorine, and carbon and are considered the most
damaging because their molecules are not destroyed as they reach the
stratosphere

As of July 1, 1992, it became illegal to intentionally vent CFC refrigerants into

the atmosphere

Mechanical Engineering Dept. CEME NUST

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Refrigerants
Important Refrigerants
HCFC Refrigerants

These have much less potential for ozone depletion because they tend to break
down in the atmosphere, releasing the chlorine before it reaches and reacts with
the ozone in the stratosphere

However, the HCFC group is scheduled for a total phase out by the year 2030
Mechanical Engineering Dept. CEME NUST

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Refrigerants
Important Refrigerants
HFC Refrigerants

HFC

molecules contain no chlorine atoms and will not deplete the earths
protective ozone layer
HFCs do have small global-warming potentials

Mechanical Engineering Dept. CEME NUST

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Refrigerants
Important Refrigerants
Refrigerant Blends/Mixtures

Ozone

depletion and global warming issues have caused a need for much
research on refrigerant blends

Blends can have as many as four refrigerants mixed together to give properties
and efficiencies similar to the refrigerants they will replace

Azeotropic blends
Consists of two

or more substances that can not be separated by

distillation.

An

Azeotrope evaporates and condenses as a single substance with

properties that are different from those of either constituent.

It is designated by 500 series

For example R-502 is a mixture of 48.8 % R 22 and 51.2 % R 115
Mechanical Engineering Dept. CEME NUST

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Refrigerants
Important Refrigerants
Refrigerant Blends/Mixtures

Zeotropic blends
Consists of two or more substances that have different boiling temperatures
It is designated by 400 series
For example
R404A : Mixture of R 125 (44%), R 143a (52%) and R 134a (4%)
R407A : Mixture of R 32 (20%), R 125 (40%) and R 134a (40%)
R407B : Mixture of R 32 (10%), R 125 (70%) and R 134a (20%)
R410A : Mixture of R 32 (50%) and R 125 (50%)

Mechanical Engineering Dept. CEME NUST

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Refrigerants

Assignment 1
Discuss Ozone Depletion Potential of different types of
refrigerants by explaining it as a phenomenon and what steps
are being taken to counter this problem.
Assignment Submission:
13th April, 2015

Note:
Late submission will be awarded with 20% reduction of maximum
marks per day

Mechanical Engineering Dept. CEME NUST

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