Experimental Performance Evaluation of R152a to replace R134a in Vapour Compression Refrigeration System

The performance of heat transfer is one of the most important research areas in the field of thermal engineering. There are a large number of refrigerants, which are used to transfer heat from low temperature reservoir to high temperature reservoir by using vapour compression refrigeration system. There are various obstacles faced in working of different refrigerants due to their environmental impact (CFC, HCFC), toxicity (NH3), flammability (HC) and high pressure (CO2); which makes them more hazardous than other working fluids according to safety and environmental issues. Experimentation is conducted to observe the performance of Hydro-fluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerants (R134a and R152a) in vapour compression refrigeration. Value of average refrigerating effect for R152a is about 57% more than that of R134a . Average pressure ratio for R152a was 18.92% higher than that of R134a. In this result, R152a has emerged as the most energy efficient refrigerant among both the investigated refrigerants being the one that exhibited the lowest power consumption per ton of refrigeration with the average value of 13.23% less than that of R134a.The COP of R152a obtain is higher than R134a by 3.769% .As a result, R152a could be used as a drop-in replacement for R134a in vapour compression refrigeration system. R152a offers the best desirable environmental requirements; zero Ozone Depleting Potential (ODP) and 120 Global Warming Potential (GWP).