Drop-in replacement of R22 in heat pumps used for district heating – influence of equipment and property limitations
Journal article, 2001

In Swedish district heating systems several large (25 MW) turbo-compressor driven heat pumps using R22 are installed. The only commercially available alternative is R134a, but its use could decrease the heating capacity by 35%. In this paper a method for finding the best working fluid for a specific heat pump plant is presented, and applied to a district heating plant. First, a screening is made among almost 2000 mixtures, using criteria such as condenser pressure, Mach number and temperature glide. Simulations of the plant are then made to investigate the change in heating capacity and COP when using a mixture instead of R134a. The results show that there are mixtures that can offer a substantially higher heating capacity than R134a, but there is a decrease in COP. The importance of considering the limiting parameters of the heat pump, such as maximum volume flow to each compressor stage and minimum evaporator pressure, is shown.

Drop-in

District heating

R22

Heat pump

Replacement

Refrigerant

Author

Cecilia Gabrielii

Department of Heat and Power Technology

Lennart Vamling

Department of Heat and Power Technology

International Journal of Refrigeration

1404-7098 (ISSN)

Vol. 24 660-675

Subject Categories

Chemical Engineering

DOI

10.1016/S0140-7007(00)00083-9

More information

Created

10/8/2017