Title: Exergy analysis of hydrocarbons mixture refrigerants R436A and R436B as a drop in replacement for R134a with TiO₂ nanoparticles

Authors: Venkataramana Murthy V. Padmanabhan; Senthil Kumar Palanisamy

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, K.S. Rangasamy College of Technology, Tiruchengode, Namakkal District, Tamilnadu, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, K.S.R College of Engineering, Tiruchengode, Namakkal District, Tamilnadu, India

Abstract: The refrigerator exergy efficiency (EE) with nanoparticles in the working fluid was investigated experimentally. Mineral oil (MO) with TiO₂ nanoparticles mixtures were used as the lubricant instead of Polyol ester (POE) oil in the R134a, R436A (R290/R600a-56/44-weight %) and R436B (R290/R600a-52/48-weight %) refrigerator. The results indicate that R134a, R436A and R436B and MO with TiO₂ nanoparticles work normally and safely in the refrigerator. The refrigerator EE (34.1, 40.1 and 41.6%) was better than the R134a, R436A and R436B and POE oil system (23.4, 35.3 and 37.7%). The same tests with Al₂O₃ nanoparticles showed that the different nanoparticles properties have little effect on the refrigerator EE. Thus, TiO₂ nanoparticles can be used in refrigerator to considerably increase the EE.

Keywords: refrigerants; lubricants; nanoparticles; exergy flow rate; refrigerator exergy efficiency; exergy analysis; nanotechnology; hydrocarbons; mineral oil; titanium oxide.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEX.2013.054113

International Journal of Exergy, 2013 Vol.12 No.3, pp.405 - 422

Received: 29 Nov 2011
Accepted: 03 Jun 2012
Published online: 23 May 2013 *

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