• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
• /
• v.17 no.10
• /
• pp.883-890
• /
• 2005

In this study, 2 pure hydrocarbon refrigerants of R1270 (Propylene) and R290 (Propane) and 3 binary mixtures composed of R1270, R29O and R152a were tested in a refrigerating bench tester with a scroll compressor in an attempt to substitute R502 used in most of the low temperature applications. The test bench provided 3\sim3.5$ kW capacity and water and water/glycol mixture were employed as the secondary heat transfer fluids. All tests were conducted under the same external conditions resulting in the average saturation temperatures of -28 and $45^{\circ}C$ in the evaporator and condenser, respectively. Test results showed that all refrigerants tested had $9.6\sim18.7\%$ higher capacity and $17.1\sim27.3\%$ higher COP than R502. The compressor discharge temperature of R1270 was similar to that of R502 while those of all other refrigerants were $23.7\sim27.9\%$ lower than that of R502. For all alternative refrigerants, the amount of charge was reduced up to $60\%$ as compared to R502. Overall, these alternative refrigerants offer better system performance and reliability than R502 and can be used as long term substitutes for R502 due to their excellent environmental properties.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
• /
• v.34 no.8
• /
• pp.767-774
• /
• 2010

In a passive-type PEMFC stack, axial fans operate to supply both oxidant and coolant to cathode side of the stack. It is possible to make a simple system because the passive-type PEMFC stack does not require additional cooling equipment. However, the performance of a cooling system in which water is used as a coolant is better than that of the air-cooling system. To ensure system reliability, it is essential to make cooling system effective by adopting an optimal stack design. In this study, a numerical investigation has been carried out to identify an optimum cooling strategy. Various channel configurations were applied to the test section. The passive-type PEMFC was tested by varying airflow rate distribution at the cathode side and external heat transfer coefficient of the stack. The best cooling performance was achieved when a channel with thick ribs was used, and the overheating at the center of the stack was reduced when a case in which airflow was concentrated at the middle of the stack was used.