Special Issue Published in International Journal of Trend in Research and Development (IJTRD),

ISSN: 2394-9333, www.ijtrd.com

Refrigeration System Using Nano Fluid: A Review
Article
1
V Mahanandi Reddy, 2G Siva Prasad, 3G Nagaraju
1
Sr.Assistant Professor, 2Assistant Professor, 3P G student
1,2,3
Department of Mechanical Engineering
1,3
G.Pulla Reddy Engineering college (AUTONOMOUS), Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh, India
2
G.Pullaiah college of Engineering and Technology, Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh, India

Abstract— Refrigeration is a process of removing heat from
one place to another place.The refrigeration process is done by
using a special device is known as refrigerator. Researchers are
trying to use new generation heat transfer fluids called nano
fluids in refrigeration systems. This research mainly focuses on
cuO-nano lubricant in the refrigeration systems. cuO nano
particles introduced into the system through lubricant to
improve its heat transfer performance. A concentration of 0.05
to 1% of cuo polyester oil was tested along with suitability and
environmental friendly refrigerant R134a. Results show that
cuO nano particles concentration of 0.05 to1% is optimal and
gives highest heat transfer enhancement and improve the
coefficient of performace (cop), reduce the power consumption
and comparing thermal conductivity, dynamic viscosity.
Keywords— Nano lubricant, Refrigeration ,Cop,
Polyester oil
I. INTRODUCTION
The most common refrigerant in current time is R134a in all
the refrigeration systems like vapour compression refrigeration
system, domestic refrigerators and air conditioners. But the
only problem with this type of refrigerant is they need the large
amount of electric power. Now for the time demand we need
something new that will be able to replace alternative
refrigerant with some advanced thermo-physical properties like
high heat transfer, low power consumption in order to make
the refrigeration process more effective and efficient so that we
will have a chance to save the environment. The new
technology is being introduced in present time that is,
nanotechnology by the help of technology nano refrigerants are
form.
Since refrigeration deals completely with the transfer of heat,
to better understand how the refrigeration process works, these
necessary to first understand the nature of heat. Then we can
control the transfer and removal of heat reduce and maintain
the temperature of a space or material below its natural
surrounding temperature. While evaluating performance of
refrigeration system, effect of nanofluid preparation method,
effect of various types of nanoparticle materials, variation of
sizes of nanoparticles, variation of concentration of
nanoparticles, variation of suspension concentration in
refrigerant needs to be investigated. Available nanoparticle
materials are limited, however there are too many
combinations of base fluid (refrigerants & oils) with
nanoparticles and too many variables (sizes, concentration) &
alternatives to explore & research. Development of
nanoparticle production & dispersion technique will further
enhance nanofluid research possibilities. Any new
development of nanoparticle material shall also go through all
production, research, & experimentation steps. Public concern
about nanoparticles safety both in production and in use shall
also be required to be considered. Possibility of using non-
toxic or biodegradable nanoparticles can also be explored. Low
cost, high volume production of stable green nanofluids
suitable for refrigeration application is one of the most
challenging objectives.
II. NANO FLUIDS
Nanofluids are engineered colloidal suspensions of
nanoparticles in base fluids at modest concentrations showing
significant enhancement of their properties. Compared to
normal solid liquid suspensions nanofluids have 1) higher heat
transfer between particles & fluids due to high nanoparticles
surface area 2) better dispersion stability with predominant
Brownian motion 3) reduced particle clogging & 4) reduced
pumping power compared to base fluid. Nanoparticles can be
added to the lubricant (compressor oil) and the lubricant
nanoparticles mixture is known as nanolubricant. Similarly
cuO,
nanoparticles can be added to the refrigerant and the refrigerant
nanoparticles mixture is known as nanorefrigerant.
Nanolubricant-refrigerant can be prepared by mixing pure
refrigerant with nanolubricant. Nanolubricant, nanorefrigerant
& nanolubricant-refrigerant are type of nanofluids. In
refrigeration systems, nanolubricant improves tribological
characteristics improving compressor performance;
nanorefrigerant improves thermo-physical properties,
improving refrigerating effect. Presence of nanoparticles
enhances solubility between oil & refrigerant and returns more
oil back to the compressor.
III. PREPARATION OF NANOFLUIDS
Cuo nanoparticles are added to refrigerant by dispersing in the
host lubricant POE (Poly Ester) in the compressor of the air-
condition unit. POE is widely used in the industry for
refrigeration and air-condition. Cuo Nanoparticles with
concentration of 0.01wt%, 0.05wt% and 0.1wt% were
measured by digital weight balance. Each mass fraction of
nanoparticles is mixed with base lubricant and the amount of
each sample of nanolubricant prepared was 700 grams.
Resultant nanolubricant was homogenized for 15 minutes
followed by sonication for up to 4 hours using a water bath
sonicator.
Refer Table 1 below, CNT has highest thermal conductivity.
Aligned CNTs are easier to disperse. However it is most
expensive option. Natural Diamond has second highest thermal
conductivity with no significant health risks but is second most
expensive option. CuO & ZnO can be dangerous for health.
Al2O3 reacts with water & heat is generated. Oil has low
thermal conductivity whereas refrigerant has very low thermal
conductivity. For other nanoparticles study is limited.
Table 1: Thermal conductivity of different materials

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pressure and temperature. Some of the liquid refrigerant
evaporates as it passes through the expansion valve, but the
greater portion is vaporized in the evaporator at the low
pressure and temperature.
e. Evaporator
An evaporator usually consists of coils of copper pipe in which
the liquid-vapour refrigerant at low pressure and temperature is
evaporated and changed into vapour refrigerant at low pressure
and temperature. In evaporating, the liquid vapour refrigerant
absorbs its latent heat of vaporization from the medium (air,
water or brine) which is to be cooled.
f. Actual Test Setup

IV. XPERIMENTAL SET

Figure 2: Actual Test Setup of VCRS with Nano Refrigerant

Experiment was conducted using the above setup using R134a
pure refrigerant and the actual and theoretical COP of solenoid
valve and expansion valve expansion are calculated and the
following results are obtained.
Figure 1: Simple Vapour Compression Table2. Performance of VCRS using pure
R134a
A. Components of Vapour Compression
Refrigeration System
a. Compressor
The low pressure and temperature vapour refrigerant from
evaporator is drawn into the compressor through the inlet or
suction valve and it is compressed isentropically to a high
pressure and temperature and discharged into the condenser
through the delivery or discharge valve.
b. Condenser
V. LITERATURE SURVEY
The condenser consists of coils of thin copper pipe in which
the high pressure and temperature vapour refrigerant is cooled Here are the applications of nano refrigerants. The researchers
and condensed by the process of forced convection. The have found the advantages by using nano refrigerant in place of
refrigerant, while passing through the condenser gives up its alternative refrigerant. They have proved that the nano
latent heat to the surrounding condensing medium which is refrigerant is more efficient as compared to refrigerant.
normally air or water. A. Nomenclature
c. Receiver NP Nanoparticles
The function of the receiver vessel is to store the condensed NPC Nanoparticles concentration
vapour-liquid mixture at high temperature and pressure and
supply pure liquid refrigerant to the expansion valve so as to CNP Carbon nanoparticles
get better throttling and controlling effect. MO Mineral oil
d. Expansion Valve CNT Carbon nanotubes
It is also called throttle valve and the function of this valve is MR Migration Ratio
to allow the liquid refrigerant under high pressure and
temperature to pass at a controlled rate after reducing its HTC Heat transfer coefficient

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POE Polyester oil NPVF Nanoparticle volume fraction (%)
SWCNH single wall carbon nanohorns COP Coefficient of performance
NPMFL Nanoparticle mass fraction in lubricant (%)

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VI. RESULT AND DISCUSSION b. Thermal conductivity

A. Analysis and comparison of thermo physical properties of
nano refrigerants
The thermo physical properties such as heat transfer
coefficient, thermal conductivity, specific heat capacity and
dynamic viscosity of CuO–R134a nano refrigerant.and their
properties for optimized nano concentration are tabulated
below.
a. Heat transfer coefficient

Figure 4: Analysis and comparison of thermo physical

properties of nano refrigerants
The above graph shows the variation between the different
nanoparticles concentration and the thermal conductivity of
different nano refrigerant. It is found that the thermal
conductivity of the different nano refrigerants are increases
with the different nanoparticles concentration. Among these
CuO nano refrigerant gives the higher thermal conductivity
than the other nano refrigerants.
Figure 3: Analysis and comparison of thermo physical
c. Specific heat capacity
properties of nano refrigerants
The above graph shows the Variation of the evaporating heat
transfer coefficient for different values of nanoparticles
concentrations. It is noticed that the variation of the
evaporating heat transfer coefficient is increases with the
increase of nanoparticle concentration. Also the heat transfer
coefficient increases upto 42kw/m2 .

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Figure 1: Analysis and comparison of thermo physical properties
of nano refrigerants
The above graph shows the variation of the different
nanoparticles concentration and specific heat capacity of
different nano refrigerants. CuO nano refrigerant specific heat
capacity value is higher than the other nano refrigerants with
the different nanoparticles concentration.Other nano
refrigerants specific heat capacity is decreases with the
increases the nano particle concentration.
d. Dynamic viscosity
Figure 1: Analysis and comparison of thermo physical properties
of nano refrigerants
The above graph shows the variation between the different
nanoparticles concentration and the Viscosity of different nano
refrigerant. It is found that the Viscosity of the different nano
refrigerants increases with the different nanoparticles
concentration. Among these CuO nano refrigerant gives the
higher Viscosity than the other nano refrigerants.
CONCLUSION
CuO nano particles with R134a refrigerant and polyester oil
can be used as an excellent refrigerant to improve the heat
transfer characteristics and performance in a refrigeration
system. A successful model has been designed and the basic
theoretical heat transfer analysis and performance analysis of
the refrigeration system has been done The obtained
evaporating heat transfer coefficient and coefficient of
performance result have been optimized at its maximum value
for the best CuO nano particles concentration in R134a
refrigerant. From the analysis it can be concluded that the heat
transfer and performance characteristics of the system is higher
with the usage of CuO nano particles with R134a refrigerant
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compared to other nano particles. but its application is hindered
by many factors like poor long term stability, high pressure
drop, high pumping power, low specific heat and high
production cost.
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