Retrofitting of Vapour Compression Refrigeration Trainer by an Eco-friendly Refrigerant

After years of successful deliberations for tackling the grievous problem of ozone depletion, the United Nation's environmental protection agency concluded multinational agreement called 'Montreal Protocol' for controlling the use of gases threatening the ozone layer. The successful implementation of the 'Montreal Protocol' in developed countries is being appreciated for its significant reduction in emission level of ozone depleting substances Now it is the turn of developing countries to fulfill their obligation of Montreal Protocol. The dead line for complying with the phase out of chloroflurocarbon in developing countries like India is 2010. The refrigeration industry has accepted the challenge of chloroflurocarbons phase out and new eco-friendly refrigerant like hydroflurocarbons and hydrocarbons are replacing chloroflurocarbons in all commercial and industrial application. Vapour compression refrigeration trainer is an important equipment of thermal engineering lab of mechanical engineering department which operated using chlorofluorocarbon 12. CFC12 is the most important member of CFC refrigerants which are being targeted for phase out in India by 2010. In this paper, performance valuation of many eco-friendly hydrocarbon refrigerants for replacing CFC12 in the trainer has been done and a suitable drop in alternative refrigerant for retrofitting has been identified.