Experimental studies on domestic refrigeration system with brazed plate heat exchanger as condenser

摘要

In view of Kyoto protocol, there is a pressing need to reduce the energy consumption and environmental impacts of domestic appliances. In the total energy consumption of household appliances, domestic refrigerator plays a vital role. Alternate refrigerants and improvement in the performance of the components can contribute to tackle the above issue in a domestic refrigeration system. In this paper, the performance of a domestic refrigeration system with brazed plate heat exchanger as condenser, and working with refrigerants such as R290/R600a and R134a was studied using experimental method. The result showed that the system with water-cooled brazed plate heat exchanger reduces the per day energy consumption of a system from 21% to 27% and increases the COP from 52% to 68%, when compared to conventional system. The compressor discharge temperature and dome temperature are also dampened. For R134a and R290/R600a, the TEWI of the system with water-cooled brazed plate heat exchanger is lower than that of the system with air-cooled condenser by 26.8% and 21%, respectively. Among the refrigerants, R290/R600a showed higher performance than R134a.