Low Global Warming Potential Refrigerants for high temperature heat pumps
The project is intended to create prerequisites for the industry to develop new products and to make the right choice with regard to environmental-friendly refrigerants and lubricants in the future.
Background
The minimization of the environmental impact of the refrigeration system is in the main focus of the society and industry during last decade. HFCs are widely used as working fluids in High Temperature Heat Pumps, HTHP, applications. Use of such gases must be drastically reduced over the next few years. Performance improvement of the HTHPs is achievable through changes in the design and configuration of the system, selection of proper refrigerants and evaluation of new lubricant basestocks and additives. The efforts of refrigeration industries to mitigate greenhouse gases and improve efficiency of HTHPs could affect the performance requirements and choice of the lubricant. In another word, the changes made in moving from HFCs to HFO, HFCOs and HCs have influence on the type of lubricant basestock which can be employed in conjunction with the low GWP refrigerants. Hence, it could be said that lubrication has crucial direct and/or indirect influence on life cycle cost, energy efficiency, reliability, durability, simplicity and service ability of the refrigeration system.
The project is intended to create prerequisites for the industry to develop new products and to make the right choice with regard to environmental-friendly refrigerants and lubricants in the future. The project will be carried out in close proximity collaboration with Perstorp AB and the result has the potential to be directly commercially useful.
This project will fill the knowledge gap in environmentally friendly oils and contribute to a better understanding of the interaction between lubricants and all other components within the system. The results of this project will contribute to the improvement of existing oils as well as the development of new lubricants.
Company involved: Perstorp AB
Two studens are invited to apply and work in this project
Task description
1) Theoretical part:
Literature study regarding the interaction and compatibility of lubricants with the new low GWP refrigerants. The focus in this part is on lubricants and refrigerants interaction. This literature study will cover:
• Physical and chemical analysis of different types of lubricants suitable for high temperature applications: It includes color, viscosity, moisture level content, electrical insulation, flash point, etc.
• Compatibility analysis: It includes lubricant / refrigerant compatibility with metal components, elastomers and gaskets,
• Report on the latest research on performance HTHP in terms of COP for different lubricants and refrigerants.
2) Experimental part:
Using an experimental test rig at KTH for determining COP for HTHP with different Low Global Warming Potential refrigerants and oils.
After the degree project:
- The student must be able to build up and perform experiments on an advanced experimental high-temperature heat pump.
- The student shall be able to analyze the interaction and compatibility of lubricants with the new low GWP refrigerants.
Supervisor and Examiner
Supervisors
Morteza Ghanbarpour, Amir Farzaneh