Design of an environmentally friendly refrigeration laboratory based on cooling capacity calculation for graduate students

Abstract

Lower global warming potential (GWP) refrigerants must be used in refrigeration education to integrate the environmentally responsible engineering principles in class. However, most of the refrigeration educational laboratories are still using hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) as working fluids, which are considered as greenhouse gases. This paper shows the procedure to adapt the new refrigerant R513A in a refrigeration system used for a cooling capacity educational laboratory. First, the paper describes the organization of the laboratory session, and the characteristics of the different methods of cooling capacity calculation taught to the master’s degree students. Then, the benefits of including new sensors in the experimental setup to obtain more accurate results are explained. Later, accurate new graphics and an equation to calculate the R513A cooling capacity are provided. Finally, the educational aspects worked with the students in this session, and each cooling capacity method are assessed. The procedure explained in this paper can be used as a guide for introducing lower GWP refrigerants in similar educational refrigeration laboratories.