Performance Characteristics of Automotive Air Conditioning System with Refrigerant R134a and Its Alternatives

摘要

In this paper, the thermal performance characteristics of automotive air conditioning are carried out. Experimental analysis of R134a automotive air conditioning system with variable speed compressor is investigated. The purpose is to present a clear view on the effect of compressor speed, and condensing temperature on the thermal characteristics of automotive air conditioning. This study is exteneded theoritcally to cover more alternatives of the current R134a due to its impact of the Global Warming Potential GWP. The possibility of using low-GWP refrigerants of R152a, R1234yf, and R1234ze as alternatives to R134a in automotive air conditioning has been assessed. The refrigerants are investigated over a wide range of condensing temperature, evaporating temperature and refrigerant mass flow rate. The assessment is accomplished with cooling capacity, compressor power, coefficient of performance, pressure ratio, and condenser load. The results indicated that, the refrigerant R1234yf is much more environmentally accepted and has the best thermal performance among all investigated refrigerants.