Performance Assessment of a Refrigeration System Charged with Different Refrigerants Using Infrared Image Processing Techniques

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the performance of R417A, R422A, R422D and R438A refrigerants as alternatives to R22, in a commercial type refrigeration system operating with R22 refrigerant. To this end, first of all, the cooling capacity and coefficient of performance (COP) values were calculated for all refrigerants used in the experimental setup. Then, two methods were proposed, Pearson's Correlation Similarity Analysis (PCSA) and surface temperature-based COP (COPST), to evaluate the success of each alternative refrigerants, and R22 with infrared image analysis, separately. The COP values obtained for the refrigerants with the mathematical method are R22 4.07, R438A 3.88, R417A 3.63, R422D 3.37, and R422A 3.18, respectively. Both the COP values and the PCSA values (R438A 0.9425, R417A 0.9343, R422D 0.9167 and R422A 0.9080) show the proximity between the R22 refrigerant and other refrigerants. Similarly, the COPST method revealed the values of R22 6.8865, R438A 5.9539, R417A 5.3273, R422D 4.9898 and R422A 4.3057, and the fact that it has the same order with the other two methods demonstrates its operability in the performance test application with the developed infrared image processing. The compatibility of the order in the experimental results obtained from the PCSA and COPST methods and the COP calculation method and has proved that thanks to infrared imaging, the remote performance analysis of the refrigeration system can be successfully performed.