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What Makes A Good Refrigerant?

General
At first glance properties such as lower toxicity, no flame propagation, efficiency, and cost effectiveness come to mind. Certainly these are important characteristics and ones that are well advertised. But selecting a refrigerant for use in a refrigeration or air conditioning process goes far beyond just these properties. For example, efficiency can mean many different things and can therefore cause misunderstanding and confusion. This section will delve into many aspects of what makes a good refrigerant. Most refrigerants are used in a vapor compression cycle. A basic understanding of that cycle will help one to better appreciate the complex issue of refrigerants.

The Vapor Compression Refrigeration Cycle


With the exception of absorption chillers, most commercial air conditioning systems are based on the vapor compression cycle. The process can be used to collect heat from air (an air conditioner) or from water (a chiller). It can reject the heat into air (air-cooled) or water (water-cooled). The process can even be applied as a heater by moving heat from cold fluid (outdoor air) to a warm fluid (indoor air). This is referred to as a heat pump. A water-cooled chiller will be used as an example. The chiller utilizes the vapor compression cycle to chill water and reject the heat collected from the chilled water plus the heat from the compressor to a second water loop cooled by a cooling tower. Figure 1 shows the basic refrigeration circuit. It consists of the following four main components: Figure 1-Basic Refrigeration Circuit
Cooling Water Discharge Line

Evaporator
The evaporator is a heat exchanger that removes the building heat from the chilled water, lowering the water temperature in the process. The heat is used to boil the refrigerant, changing it from a liquid to a gas.

Liquid Line Shutoff Valve

Condenser 3

Sight Glass

Hot Gas Control Valve

Compressor

Compressor
Suction Line Chilled Water Evaporator 1

Metering Device

The compressor assembly is made up of a prime mover (typically an electric motor) and a compressor. The compressor raises the pressure and temperature of the refrigerant gas.

Condenser
Like the evaporator, the condenser is a heat exchanger. In this case, it removes heat from the refrigerant causing it to condense from a gas to a liquid. The heat raises the water temperature. The condenser water then carries the heat to the cooling tower where the heat is rejected to the atmosphere.

Expansion Device
After the refrigerant condenses to a liquid, it passes through a pressure-reducing device. This can be as simple as an orifice plate or as complicated as an electronic modulating thermal expansion valve.
8 Application Guide AG 31-007

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