Thermodynamic analysis of R152a and dimethylether refrigerant mixtures in refrigeration system

R-134a is currently used as the refrigerant in refrigerator replacing the ozone depleting refrigerant r-12. although r-134a has no ozone depletion potential (odp),it has a relatively larger global warming potential (gwp) of 1300. in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,r-152a (difluoroethane) (gwp 130) and hydrocarbons (gwp 20) are being considered as a replacement for r-134a. hc blend has a zero odp and a negligible gwp. the only drawback of hc blend is the temperature glide. the drawbacks of using r-152a and hc blend with respect to gwp and temperature glide can be overcome by the refrigerant dme. the present paper presents the results of a thermodynamic study of new eco-friendly refrigerant blends of r-152a and dme. it was carried out for a single-stage vapor compression refrigeration system. these new refrigerants are generally azeotropic. some of these new mixtures have better thermodynamic properties than those of pure r-152a. refprop software has been used to determine the thermodynamic properties of the refrigerant blends. in this analysis,experimental validation of the new refrigerant mixture (60% dme + 40% r-152a) is carried out in domestic refrigerator. the results are better than those of r-152a and r-134a. © 2015 jordan journal of mechanical and industrial engineering.