Compressor calorimeter performance of refrigerant blends: Comparative methods and results for a refrigerator/freezer application

A protocol was developed to define calorimeter operating pressures for nonazeotropic refrigerant mixtures (NARM's) which corresponded with the saturated evaporator and condenser temperatures commonly used for pure refrigerants. Compressor calorimeter results were obtained using this equivalent-mean-temperature (EMT) approach and a generally applied Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers (AHAM) procedure at conditions characteristic of a domestic refrigerator-freezer application. Tests with R-12 and two NARM's indicate that compressor volumetric and isentropic efficiencies are nearly the same for refrigerants with similar capacities and pressure ratios. The liquid-line temperature conditions specified in the AHAM calorimeter rating procedure for refrigerator-freezer compressors were found to preferentially derate NARM performance relative to R-12. Conversion of calorimeter data taken with a fixed liquid-line temperature to a uniform minimal level of condenser subcooling is recommended as a fairer procedure when NARM's are involved. Compressor energy-efficiency-ratio (EER) and capacity data measured as a result of the EMT approach were compared to system performance calculated using an equivalent heat exchanger loading (EHXL) protocol based on a Lorenz-Meutzner (L-M) refrigerator-freezer modeling program. The EHXL protocol was used to transform the calorimeter results into a more relevant representation of potential L-M cycle performance. The EMT method used to set up the calorimeter tests and the AHAM liquid-line conditions combined to significantly understate the cycle potential of NARM's relative to that predicted at the more appropriate EHXL conditions. Compressor conditions representative of larger heat exchanger sizes were also found to give a smaller L-M cycle advantage relative to R-12.