Available online at www.sciencedirect.

com
APPLIED
ENERGY
Applied Energy 85 (2008) 896–900
www.elsevier.com/locate/apenergy

Performance of R433A for replacing HCFC22 used

in residential air-conditioners and heat pumps
Ki-Jung Park, Yun-Bo Shim, Dongsoo Jung *
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Inha University, Incheon 402-751, Republic of Korea

Received 25 October 2007; received in revised form 24 November 2007; accepted 27 November 2007
Available online 14 February 2008

Abstract

In this study, thermodynamic performance of R433A and HCFC22 is measured in a heat pump bench tester under air-
conditioning and heat pumping conditions. R433A has no ozone depletion potential and very low greenhouse warming
potential of less than 5. R433A also offers a similar vapor pressure to HCFC22 for possible ‘drop-in’ replacement. Test
results showed that the coefficient of performance of R433A is 4.9–7.6% higher than that of HCFC22 while the capacity
of R433A is 1.0–5.5% lower than that of HCFC22 for both conditions. The compressor discharge temperature of R433A is
22.6–27.9 °C lower than that of HCFC22 while the amount of charge for R433A is 57.0–57.7% lower than that of HCFC22
due to its low density. Overall, R433A is a good long term environmentally friendly alternative to replace HCFC22 in res-
idential air-conditioners and heat pumps due to its excellent thermodynamic and environmental properties with minor
adjustments.
Ó 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Natural refrigerants; Propylene; Propane; R433A; Air-conditioners; Heat pumps

1. Introduction

For the past few decades, HCFC22 has been predominantly used in residential air-conditioners and heat
pumps. The parties to the Montreal protocol, however, decided to phase out HCFC22 eventually since it con-
tains ozone depleting chlorine [1]. Hence, the regulation for HCFC production has begun from 1996 in the
developed countries and for new equipment HCFC22 is not currently used in European Union and it cannot
be used in United States from 2010.
For the past years, various alternatives for HCFC22 have been proposed [2–4] and tested [3,4] in an effort
to comply with the Montreal protocol. At this time, HFC refrigerant mixtures such as R410A and R407C are
used in some countries to replace HCFC22 [2,5]. At the same time, many companies expend much effort to
develop their own alternatives for HCFC22. Especially, refrigerant mixtures composed of environmentally

*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +82 32 860 7320; fax: +82 32 868 1716.
E-mail address: dsjung@inha.ac.kr (D. Jung).

0306-2619/$ - see front matter Ó 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2007.11.003
 K.-J. Park et al. / Applied Energy 85 (2008) 896–900 897

Nomenclature

COP coefficient of performance

GWP global warming potential
PR pressure ratio
Q capacity [W]
T temperature [°C]
W compressor work [W]

Subscripts
c condenser
dis discharge
e evaporator

safe pure refrigerants have gotten a special attention from the industry with the expectation of possible energy
efficiency without major changes in the system [6].
These days, greenhouse warming has become one of the most important global issues and Kyoto protocol
was proposed to resolve this issue, which classified HFCs as greenhouse gases [7]. With this global trend in
view, HFC134a will be banned in mobile air-conditioners of new vehicles from 2011 according to EU F-Gases
Regulation and MAC directive which specifically bans the use of refrigerants having global warming potential
(GWP) of more than 150 [8]. For reference, the GWP of HFC134a is 1300. At this time, many EU countries
seriously consider the ban of the use of even HFCs in residential air-conditioners and heat pumps [9]. Even
though HFC refrigerants of R410A and R407C are used in some systems, their future is not certain since their
GWPs are 1700–2000 which is even higher than that of HFC134a.
One of the possible solutions to avoid HFCs of high GWP is the use of natural refrigerants such as hydro-
carbons. For the past few decades, flammable hydrocarbon refrigerants have been prohibited in normal air-
conditioning applications due to a safety concern. These days, however, this trend is somewhat relaxed
because of the environmental and energy issue. Therefore, some of the flammable refrigerants have been
applied to certain applications [10,11]. Propane (R290) and propylene (R1270) are used for heat pumping
applications in Europe [12]. It is well known that hydrocarbons offer low GWPs of less than 5, low cost, avail-
ability, compatibility with the conventional mineral oil, and environmental friendliness [10,11].
In 2007, ASHRAE listed R433A as a possible candidate to replace HCFC22 [13]. R433A is a near azeo-
tropic mixture composed of 30% propylene and 70% propane by mass. It has no ozone depletion potential
and very low GWP of less than 5. Its gliding temperature difference during phase change is 0.4 °C with normal
boiling point of 44.6 °C. Even though this is a mixture, heat transfer degradation is not expected since its
gliding temperature difference is very small [14]. In this study, thermodynamic performance of R433A was
measured in an attempt to examine the possibility of substituting HCFC22 for air-conditioning and heat
pumping applications.

2. Experiments

2.1. Experimental apparatus

In this study, thermodynamic performance of R433A is measured using the similar experimental apparatus
as described in Ref. [3]. As seen in Fig. 1, the apparatus has the water cooled condenser and water heated
evaporator with a nominal capacity of 3.5 kW. A rotary compressor designed originally for HCFC22 was
used to lift the pressure while a hand expansion valve was used for regulating the mass flow rate. Since
Ref. [3] contains all the details of the test apparatus, measurements, test procedures, data verification, etc.,
an interested reader is referred to Ref. [3]. In this paper, only test condition and measurement accuracies will
be described.
898 K.-J. Park et al. / Applied Energy 85 (2008) 896–900

Cond. Water/Evap. Water

Heat Exchanger

Condenser Evaporator
T P T P

T T
T T
Expansion
T Valve T
T T
Water T Flow T Water
Chiller T meter T Heater
TP (Ref.) TP
T T
T Filter T
T Drier
T
T T
Sight
T Glass T
T T

T T
T T

Flow meter T P T P
(Cond. Water) T
3-Way Flow meter
Valve (Evap. Water)
T SLHX
T
Evap. Water T T: Temperature
T
T P: Pressure
Cond. Water
TP: Thermopile
Refrigerant SLHX : Suction Line Heat Exchanger
Compressor
Fig. 1. Schematic of a heat pump bench tester (Ref. [3]).

2.2. Test condition

To compare the performance of refrigerants correctly, a fair test condition should be employed. For this
purpose, all tests were conducted with the heat transfer fluid (HTF) temperatures fixed in this study. For
air-conditioning simulation, HTF (water/ethylene glycol mixture in the evaporator and water in the con-
denser) temperatures at the inlet and outlet of the evaporator were set to roughly 26.0 °C and 11.0 °C, respec-
tively, while those at the inlet and outlet of the condenser were set to roughly 30.0 °C and 42.0 °C, respectively.
Even though the external condition was the same, the resulting saturation temperatures of HCFC22 and
R433A in the evaporator and condenser were different (roughly 7 °C and 45 °C) due to differing heat transfer
characteristics of these fluids.
For heat pumping simulation, HTF temperatures at the inlet and outlet of the evaporator were set to
roughly 10.0 °C and 1.0 °C, respectively, while those at the inlet and outlet of the condenser were set to
roughly 30.0 °C and 39.0 °C, respectively. Under this condition, the saturation temperatures of HCFC22
and R433A and in the evaporator and condenser were roughly 7 °C and 41 °C, respectively. In fact, for both
conditions the HTF temperatures at the outlets of the evaporator and condenser varied a little bit due to the
difference in capacity between two refrigerants tested. Calibrated pressure transducers of 0.1% FS accuracy,
coriolis mass flow meters of 0.2% accuracy, and a digital power meter of 0.1% accuracy were used in the mea-
surements. In this study, the uncertainty in temperature measurement is less than 0.1 °C.
For all tests, the superheat at the evaporator exit and subcooling at the condenser exit were kept to be 5 °C.
The amount of charge was adjusted to maintain the same superheat and subcooling under the same external
condition. Finally, as for the lubricant, a conventional mineral oil was used for both R433A and HCFC22.
 K.-J. Park et al. / Applied Energy 85 (2008) 896–900 899

3. Results and discussion

Tables 1 and 2 list various measured system parameters such as the coefficient of performance (COP),
capacity, compressor work, pressure ratio, discharge temperature, and amount of charge for HCFC22 and
R433A obtained under air-conditioning and heat pumping conditions, respectively. For each refrigerant, tests
were performed at least three times and test results agreed within 1% repeatability.

3.1. Coefficient of performance

In refrigeration and air-conditioning, COP is a measure of energy efficiency for a given device charged with
a specific refrigerant. Hence, it is important to examine, first of all, the COP of R433A against HCFC22. As
listed in Tables 1 and 2, the COP of R433A is 4.9–7.6% higher than that of HCFC22 under both conditions.
One of the reasons for the improved efficiency is the decrease in pressure ratio (PR) across the compressor. As
listed in Tables 1 and 2, the PR of R433A decreased 15.7% as compared to that of HCFC22. The decreased
pressure ratio in turn results in a decrease in compressor work, which was also seen in Tables 1 and 2. Test
results demonstrate that R433A is a good alternative to replace HCFC22 in air-conditioners and heat pumps
from the standpoint of energy efficiency.

3.2. Capacity

The capacity is as important as COP in refrigeration. Tables 1 and 2 show the evaporator cooling capacity,
Qe for air-conditioning and the condenser heating capacity, Qc for heat pumping as well as changes in capacity
(difference in Qe and difference in Qc) of R433A as compared to HCFC22 for a given compressor. R433A
showed 1.0–5.5% lower capacity under both conditions. In this test program, a compressor designed for
HCFC22 was used. Hence, by optimizing the compressor with R433A, this difference can be easily overcome.
Also, in practice, the capacity difference of 5.0% is not a big problem.

3.3. Compressor discharge temperatures

The lifetime and reliability of the system as well as the stability of the refrigerant and lubricant should be
considered when alternative refrigerants are considered. These characteristics can be examined indirectly by
measuring the compressor discharge temperature (Tdis). As listed in Tables 1 and 2, R433A showed 22.6–
27.9 °C decrease in discharge temperature. From this observation, it can be safely concluded that R433A
would be appropriate from the viewpoint of system reliability and refrigerant stability. Especially, this is a
good feature for low temperature heat pumping application where compressors often break down due to
excessive discharge temperature. Since the discharge temperature of R433A is low, a liquid line/suction line
heat exchanger may be considered for further increase in system capacity and efficiency [15].

Table 1
Test results for HCFC22 and R433A under air-conditioning condition
Refrigerants COP Diff. in COP (%) Qe (W) Diff. in Qe (%) W (W) Diff. in W (%) PR Tdis (°C) Charge (g)
HCFC22 3.41 3734 1096 2.99 84.7 1300
R433A 3.67 7.6 3527 5.5 960 12.4 2.52 62.1 550

Table 2
Test results for HCFC22 and R433A under heat pumping condition
Refrigerants COP Diff. in COP (%) Qc (W) Diff. in Qc (%) W (W) Diff. in W (%) PR Tdis (°C) Charge (g)
HCFC22 3.68 3472 943 4.27 94.1 1350
R433A 3.86 4.9 3436 1.0 891 5.5 3.60 66.2 580
900 K.-J. Park et al. / Applied Energy 85 (2008) 896–900

3.4. Refrigerant charge

Most of the hydrocarbons have smaller density than that of the halocarbons and hence the amount of
charge decreases significantly with hydrocarbons [10]. As listed in Tables 1 and 2, R433A showed a decrease
in charge of 57.0–57.7% as compared to HCFC22. This will help alleviate further the direct emission of refrig-
erant which is responsible for the greenhouse warming.

4. Conclusions

In this study, thermodynamic performance of R433A and HCFC22 was measured in a breadboard type
heat pump/air-conditioner under typical air-conditioning and heat pumping conditions. Various performance
characteristics were measured and following conclusions were drawn:

(1) The COP of R433A is 4.9–7.6% higher than that of HCFC22.

(2) The capacity of R433A is 1.0–5.5% lower than that of HCFC22.
(3) The compressor discharge temperature of R433A is 22.6–27.9 °C lower than that of HCFC22.
(4) The amount of charge for R433A is 57.0–57.7% lower than that of HCFC22 due to its low density.
(5) R433A is a good long term environmentally friendly alternative refrigerant to replace HCFC22 in res-
idential air-conditioners and heat pumps due to its excellent thermodynamic and environmental proper-
ties with minor changes.

Acknowledgements

This study was supported by MK Chemical, Inc. and Inha University.

References

[1] United Nations Environmental Programme. Montreal protocol on substances that deplete the ozone layer. Final act, New York,
United Nations; 1987.
[2] Cavallini A. Working fluids for mechanical refrigeration. Int J Refrig 1996;19:485–96.
[3] Jung D, Song Y, Park B. Performance of HCFC22 alternative refrigerants. Int J Refrig 2000;23:466–74.
[4] Park K, Jung D. Performance of alternative refrigerants for residential air-conditioning applications. Appl Energ 2007;84:985–91.
[5] Calm JM, Domanski PA. R-22 replacement status. ASHRAE J 2004(August):29–39.
[6] Didion DA, Bivens DB. Role of refrigerant mixtures as alternatives to CFCs. Int J Refrig 1990;13:163–75.
[7] Global Environmental Change Report. A brief analysis of the Kyoto protocol, vol. IX, No. 24; 1997.
[8] Directive 2006/40/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council. Off J Eur Union 2006.
[9] Cox N. Energy comparison of a ground source heat pump using hydrocarbon refrigerants. In: Proceedings of the 6th IIR Gustav
Lorentzen natural working fluids conference, Glasgow, UK; 2004.
[10] Maclaine-cross IL, Leonardi E. Why hydrocarbons save energy? Aust AIRAH J 1997;51:33–7.
[11] Jung D, Kim C, Song K, Park B. Testing of propane/isobutane mixture in domestic refrigerators. Int J Refrig 2000;23:517–27.
[12] International Energy Agency’s Heat Pump Center. Informative fact sheet: hydrocarbons as refrigerants in residential heat pumps and
air-conditioners; 2002.
[13] ANSI/ASHRAE Addenda a, b, c, d, e, f, g, and h to ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 34-2007. Designation and safety classification of
refrigerants. ASHRAE; June 2007.
[14] Jung D, McLinden M, Radermacher R, Didion D. A study of flow boiling heat transfer with refrigerant mixtures. Int J Heat Mass
Transfer 1989;32:1751–64.
[15] Klein SA, Reindl DT, Brownell K. Refrigeration system performance using liquid-suction heat exchangers. Int J Refrig
2000;23:588–96.