Conference Year
2021
Keywords
Low-GWP refrigerants, Heat pumps, Refrigerant charge, Refrigerant distribution, Refrigeration systems
Abstract
Recent regulations in the matter of climate change and environmental protection are pushing to reduce the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The overall environmental impact of a refrigeration system can be reduced by optimizing and possibly minimizing the amount of refrigerant charge in the system. Even in the case of natural and low-GWP synthetic refrigerants, due to the well-known problems with toxicity and flammability, it is required to minimize the amount of refrigerant charged into the system to reduce the associated risks. The charge minimization process requires to know the refrigerant distribution to identify and redesign the critical components in terms of charge retention. This paper analyses numerically the influence of the refrigerant charge on the system performance and on the mass distribution in an air-to-water reversible heat pump working with R32. A mathematical model has been developed to simulate the unit during the cooling mode operation. The model uses the finite volume method to predict the refrigerant charge within the heat exchangers; the amount of refrigerant dissolved in the compressor oil is also accounted for. The results show that most of the charge is stored into the condenser and highlight the existence of an optimum charge that maximizes the system COP. The same model allows to compare various refrigerants in terms of direct and indirect impact on the greenhouse effect.