• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.29 no.2 s.233
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• pp.271-278
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• 2005

In this paper, the performance of Kim-chi refrigerator with three evaporator and one compressor was investigated in employing $55\%$ propane and $45\%$ isobutane (R290/R600a) refrigerant mixture as an alternative refrigerant of R134a. The drop-in test was performed by varying both refrigerant charge and capillary tube length in order to find both the performance and reliability of a small multi-refrigeration system. Results show that the power consumption is decreased by about $15\%$ and COP is increased by about $10\%$, respectively as compared to the baseline system using R-134a. In addition, the propane/isobutane refrigerant mixture system took advantage of the minimization of modification and redesigning of system components because thermodynamic properties such as saturation pressure, temperature, normal boiling point(NBP) characteristics are similar to those of R134a. The reduction of sales cost is caused by the decrease of refrigerant cost per unit mass and refrigerant charge amount necessary for the refrigeration system.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.22 no.10
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• pp.710-718
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• 2010

A numerical study was performed to predict refrigerant charge amount in a mini-channel condenser for a R410A residential air-conditioning system. Multi-channel flat tubes with 12 mini-channels of 1.17 mm average hydraulic diameter for each tube were applied to the condenser. The condenser consisted of 3 passes, and the first, second, and third pass had 44, 19, and 11 tubes, respectively. Each pass was connected by a vertical header. In this study, the condenser was divided into 410 finite volumes, and analyzed by an $\varepsilon$-NTU method. With thermophysical properties and void fraction models for each volume element, the R410A amount distribution and a total charge amount in the condenser were calculated. The predicted total charge amount was compared with the experimentally measured charge amount under a standard ARI A condition. The developed model could predict the charge amount in the mini-channel condenser within prediction errors from -23.9% to -3.0%. Air velocity distribution at the condenser face was considered as non-uniform and uniform by the simulation model, and its results showed that the air velocity distribution could significantly influence the charge amount and vapor phase distribution in the condenser.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2004.04a
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• pp.1945-1950
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• 2004

In this paper, The performance of Kim-Chi refrigerator with three evaporator and one compressor was investigated in employing 55% propane and 45% isobutane (R290/R600a) refrigerant mixture as an alternative refrigerant of R134a. The drop in test was performed by varying both refrigerant charge amount and capillary tube length in order to find both the performance and reliability of a small multi-refrigeration system. As a result, Both the power consumption and COP is increased by about 15% and 10%, respectively as compared to the baseline R134a system. In addition, the propane/isobutene refrigerant mixture system took advantage of the minimization of modification and redesigning of system components because of similar thermodynamic properties with R134a such as saturation pressure, temperature, normal boiling point(NBP) characteristics

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.15-23
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• 2013

In this study, thermodynamic performance of R435A is examined both numerically and experimentally in an effort to replace HFC134a used in the refrigeration system of domestic water purifiers. Even though HFC134a is used predominantly in such a system these days, it needs to be phased out in the near future in Europe and most of the developed countries due to its high global warming potential. To solve this problem, cycle simulation and experimental measurements are carried out with a new refrigerant mixture of 20%R152a/80%RE170 using actual domestic water purifiers. This mixture is numbered and listed as R435A by ASHRAE recently. Test results show that the system performance with R435A is greatly influenced by the amount of charge due to the small internal volume of the refrigeration system of the domestic water purifiers. With the optimum amount of charge of 21 to 22 grams, about 50% of HFC134a, the energy consumption of R435A is 11.8% lower than that of HFC134a. The compressor discharge temperature of R435A $8^{\circ}C$ lower than that of HFC134a at the optimum charge. Overall, R435A, a new long term environmentally safe refrigerant, is a good alternative for HFC134a requiring little change in the refrigeration system of the domestic water purifiers.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.109-117
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• 2009

In this study, thermodynamic performance of R430A is examined both numerically and experimentally in an effort to replace HFC134a used in the refrigeration system of domestic water purifiers. Even though HFC134a is used predominantly in such a system these days, it needs to be phased out in the near future in Europe and most of the developed countries due to its high global warming potential. To solve this problem, cycle simulation and experimental measurements are carried out with a new refrigerant mixture of 76%R152a124% R600a using actual domestic water purifiers. This mixture is numbered and listed as R430A by ASHRAE recently. Test results show that the system performance with R430A is greatly influenced by the amount of charge due to the small internal volume of the refrigeration system of the domestic water purifiers. With the optimum amount of charge of 21 to 22 grams, about 50% of HFC134a, the energy consumption of R430A is 13.4% lower than that of HFC 134a. The compressor dome and discharge temperatures and condenser center temperature of R430A are very similar to those of HFC134a at the optimum charge. Overall, R430A, a new long term environmentally safe refrigerant, is a good alternative for HFC134a requiring little change in the refrigeration system of the domestic water purifiers.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.268-274
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• 2010

Because both R-134a and R-600a are used as a refrigerant of a household refrigerator in the global market, the home-appliance industry needs an optimized cycle for both refrigerants. The objective of this study is to provide the design guideline on the optimization of a refrigeration system using both refrigerants. For both refrigerants, the performance characteristics of the refrigeration system were tested by varying refrigerant charge amount, capillary tube length, suction diameter and SLHX length. The tested refrigeration system was optimized at the refrigerant charge of 60 g and the capillary tube length of 3600 mm with R-134a, and the refrigerant charge of 34 g and the capillary tube length of 3900 mm with R-600a. The COP increased from 1.63 to 1.68 for R-134a and increased from 1.37 to 1.48 for R-600a, respectively, by applying the suction diameter expansion. In addition, the COP of the R-134a and R-600a system decreased by 2.3~2.4% as the SLHX length decreased by 300 mm.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.273-280
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• 2011

In this study, the steady state performance of a $CO_2$ heat pump water heater was measured with a variation of operating conditions such as refrigerant charge amount, compressor frequency, EEV opening, and water mass flow rate. Transient state performance tests were also conducted to investigate major system effects associated with the interaction between the $CO_2$ heat pump water heater and the water tank. Optimum refrigerant charge amount for the system was 1600 g. At compressor frequencies of 50 Hz and 60 Hz, water mass flow rates of 95 kg/h and 105 kg/h, and EEV opening of 8% and 16%, the water heating temperatures were $65^{\circ}C$ and $68^{\circ}C$ and COPs were 3.0 and 2.8, respectively. In the transient condition, the instantaneous COP decreased with an increase in the inlet water temperature.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.575-581
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• 2013

In this paper, the influences of several factors, such as subcooling, superheating degree, internal heat exchanger efficiency, and etc. to the optimal amount of refrigerant charge are investigated for the case of R744-R404A cascade refrigeration system. Refrigerants used in the cascade refrigeration system are R404A in high temperature cycle and R744 in the low temperature cycle. The main results are summarized as follows : The mass flow rate ratio decreases with increasing subcooling, superheating degree and internal heat exchanger efficiency in the high temperature cycle, and evaporating temperature and compression efficiency in the low temperature cycle. And the mass flow rate ratio decreases with decreasing temperature difference of cascade heat exchanger and evaporating, condensing temperature in the high temperature cycle, and subcooling, superheating degree and internal heat exchanger efficiency in the low temperature cycle.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.12 no.8
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• pp.3366-3373
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• 2011

In this study, performance characteristics of a water source heat pump system using $CO_2$ as a refrigerant are investigated experimentally. Cooling and heating capacities and COP of the system are analyzed for various system performance variables such as refrigerant charge, expansion valve opening, compressor frequency and internal heat exchanger. Results show that optimum amount of refrigerant charge and expansion valve opening exists at maximum point of COP curve, and cooling capacity increases but COP decreases with the increase of compressor frequency. When the internal heat exchanger is installed, cooling capacity increases about 4.0% whereas heating capacity decreases about 0.89% compared to the case without internal heat exchanger.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Geothermal and Hydrothermal Energy
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.13-20
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• 2012

This is an experimental study on the performance characteristics of effective heat pump in the cooling mode using a single-stage compression $CO_2$ cycle with an IHX(internal heat exchanger). The performance of a single-stage compression with IHX was investigated according to charge amount and operating condition. Moreover, the performance characteristic of cooling operating was analyzed with the length of IHX. As a result, the optimum refrigerant charge amount was 2.2 kg. The optimal system COP for compressor frequency of 30, 40, 50, and 60 Hz was 3.493, 3.228, 2.978, and 2.659, respectively. Since the system with IHX can maintain large cooling capacity regardless of operating condition, the system performance doesn't reduce considerably under unfavorable condition. When the compressor frequency was 40 Hz, the COP for a system with IHX length of 3 m and 5 m was 3.361 and 3.51, respectively. By using the IHX into a $CO_2$ cooling system, the performance and reliability improves simultaneously.