Experimental evaluation of low-GWP replacements of R-404A in a stand-alone commercial cabinet for fresh product

摘要

Commercial stand-alone refrigeration appliances (32 million units worldwide) are responsible of2.6% world electric energy consumption. Most commercial refrigeration systems still rely on HFCrefrigerants, such as R-134a and R-404A. However, the European F-Gas Regulation (EU517/2014) has established a GWP refrigerant limit of 150 from 1/1/2022 on for this equipment.Small systems were converted to R-290 cycles, however, medium to large ones are restricted bythe 150g charge limit in Europe (IEC 60335-2-24) and must discover new alternatives.Using a stand-alone commercial cabinet for fresh product originally designed for R-404A, this workpresents the performance and energy evaluation of the refrigeration system using low-GWPrefrigerant substitutes, all of them with a GWP below 150. The work establishes the optimumrefrigerant charge and the overall environmental impact of the cabinet using the newly developedrefrigerants R-454C, R-455A, R-457A, and R-459B.