Experimental Investigation of Vapour Compression Refrigeration Systems using 0.4g 13nm Al2O3-lubricant based LPG Refrigerant as Working Fluid
Vol 3, Issue 1, 2020
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Abstract
Application of nanoparticles have been proven to aid heat transfer in engineering systems. This work experimentally investigated the performance of a domestic refrigerator under the influence of Al2O3 nanoparticles dispersed in mineral oil based lubricant at different charges (40, 60 and 80 g) of LPG refrigerant. The performance of the system was then investigated using test parameters including: power consumption, evaporator air temperature (pull-down time), to attain the specified International Standard Organisation (ISO) requirement for standard evaporator air temperature with small refrigerator size. Results showed improved pull down time and steady state evaporator air temperatures for the nano-lubricant based LPG. Improvement of about 11.79% in coefficient of performance (COP) was obtained with Al2O3-lubricant based LPG at 40g charge on the refrigerator system, while reduction of about 2.08% and 4.41% in COP were observed at 60 and 80 g charge of LPG based on Al2O3-lubricant respectively. Furthermore, reduction of about 13.4% and 19.53% in the power consumption of the system were observed at 40 and 60g charges of Al2O3-lubricant based LPG, whereas at 80 g, an increase of about 1.28% was recorded. Using Al2O3-LPG nano-refrigerant in domestic refrigerators is economical and also a better alternative to pure LPG.
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.24294/tse.v3i1.454
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