Experimental investigation of the performance of a single-stage auto-cascade refrigerator

Auto-refrigerating cascade (ARC) systems possess many advantages comparing with traditional cascade refrigeration systems. This work proposed a novel ternary mixture, R600a/R23/R14, for ARC systems for 190 K applications. The performance of the ternary mixture and the influences of compositional ratio and bypass scheme were assessed in a modified domestic cooler. The results demonstrated the feasibility of the proposed R600a/R23/R14 ternary mixture as an environmental benign alternative for ARC systems. The performance varied little within a certain composition range and a mass ratio of 35/30/35 for R600a/R23/R14 mixture was recommended. It also showed that the two bypass schemes, which can regulate more effectively the refrigerant compositions, were better than the conventional hot-gas bypass approach. The variation of the evaporator temperature suggested the presence of local dryout at high heat loads (i.e., larger than the design value), which should be carefully prevented.