Impact Factor (2025): 6.9
DOI Prefix: 10.47001/IRJIET
The primary
issue in refrigeration is environmental pollution caused by synthetic HFC
refrigerants like R-410A, which has a very high Global Warming Potential (GWP)
of 2088. As a more environmentally friendly alternative, this study explores
the potential of a mixture of R-32 (GWP = 675) and R-290 (GWP = 3). Blending
these two refrigerants aims to find a composition that significantly reduces
global warming impact—with a mixture GWP much lower than that of R-410A—while
maintaining similar thermodynamic characteristics to conventional refrigerants.
This study focuses on retrofitting an R-410A split AC system with an R-32/R-290
mixture in a 68%/32% composition using a drop-in substitute method, without
modifying the main system components. The experiment was conducted with four
variations of mixture mass charges: 54%, 57%, 60%, and 63% of the standard
R-410A charge mass of 340g. System performance was analyzed based on cooling
capacity, power consumption, and Coefficient of Performance (COP) using REFPROP
software, and the mixture variation was optimized using the Weighted Product
(WP) method. The experimental results indicate that the 63% charge variation
most closely approximates the performance of R-410A. To achieve optimal
performance, further research is recommended, focusing on the optimization of
the capillary tube's diameter and length to reduce the pressure drop. This
optimization is expected to enhance system efficiency and further reduce the
GWP from 2088 (R-410A) to 460 (R-32/R-290 mixture).
Country : Indonesia
IRJIET, Volume 9, Issue 11, November 2025 pp. 1-11