Evaluation of R600a blended with various quantities of CuO, Al2O3 and SiO2 nanoparticles

Abstract

In this work three different nanoparticle concentrations of CuO, Al2O3, and SiO2 are dispersed in R600a vapour compression refrigeration system. The experiment was carried out using nanolubricant concentrations of 0g/L, 0.2g/L, and 0.4g/L having CuO, Al2O3, and SiO2 nanoparticles diffused in mineral oil with refrigerant mass fractions of 30, 40, and 60g. Nano lubricant was prepared at various concentrations using CuO, Al2O3, and SiO2 nanoparticles and refrigerant mass charges which were employed to perform tests. The system's performance was investigated with the variables such as coefficient of performance, refrigeration effect, compressor work, and pull down test. As a result of this study, it can be inferred that there is a significant enhancement in COP value of 2.7 by utilizing 0.4g/L SiO2 nanolubricant concentration with 40g of refrigerant. This inclusion of nanolubricant enhanced the refrigeration effect up to180W and resulted in a reduction of compressor work to 60W.The results obtained by using nanolubricants are compared with the system without nanolubricants. The pull down test with 0.4g/L SiO2 nanolubricant concentration quickly achieved low evaporator temperature compared to other conditions. The research was performed with various nanoparticles in R600a refrigeration system, the experiments were conducted with different nanoparticles by varying nanoparticle concentrations and refrigerant mass charges. From the experiments it is observed that SiO2 nanolubricant results in enhanced COP and refrigerant effect,which can be used as a better alternative to a pure mineral refrigeration system. Among three nanoparticles, SiO2 resulted in better performance and refrigerating effect with 56% less power consumption.