Cycle performance of alternative refrigerants for domestic air-conditioning system based on a small finned tube heat exchanger

In order to find alternative refrigerants which exhibit both favorable cycle performance and environmental friendliness, R32 and R290 were utilized to contrast to R22 and R410A as substitutes in the present study. The experiments were conducted with a 5 mm finned tube heat exchanger based on the enthalpy method in a small split household air conditioner. The results showed that in nominal cooling conditions, the COP_R of R32 and R290 were 26.8% and 20.4% higher than R22, 7.3% and 2.1% higher than R410A. And in nominal heating conditions, the COP_HR of R32 and R290 were both 11.0% higher than R22, 5.3% higher than R410A. The systems with R290 and R32 have similar capacities to that with R22 and R410A in heating mode, but a relatively huge difference of capacities in cooling mode. In consideration of charge amount, R290 could be considered as the most superior alternative refrigerant in air conditioners with the small finned tube heat exchanger.