Feasibility of R1270 as an Alternative Refrigerant to Replace R134a in Refrigerator

Abstract

This study aims to determine the feasibility of R1270 as an alternative refrigerant to replace R134a in the refrigerator. The test is carried out on a showcase refrigerator with a volume capacity of 210 liters. The research method used experiment with drop in substituted refrigerant technique. In the initial stage, the performance measurement of the refrigerator using R134a is carried out as the base line. After that, the refrigerant is replaced by R1270 by charging the weight of the refrigerant as much as 30% of the base line. The test data was collected for 60 minutes by recording the parameters of pressure, temperature, electric current and cooling time every six minutes. In the final stage, data processing and analysis are carried out to determine the feasibility of using R1270 as refrigerant in refrigerators. The results showed that COP increased 26% and the evaporator temperature was 6 C lower after replacing R134a by R1270. These results have implications for the feasibility of R1270 to replace R134a as the refrigerator working fluid.