CHOICE OF REFRIGERANT

A refrigerant absorption pair should satisfy some primary conditions in this design

Should be able to full fill all the desirable characteristics of a normal refrigerant.
Should be able to operate in the given temperatures (evaporator 0-5,ambient 35 and generator
120)
Domestic use

The secondary conditions are

Non corrosive , non flammable , non toxic and should avoid low pressures
As we are using absorption (single) technique to compress the refrigerant , its pressure
at 120 should be high
Absorbent should have good solubility characters, good deviation from roults law.
Sufficient difference in NBP
Low discharge temperatures.
The system should be able to be air cooled.
Ozone depletion potential and global warming potential are excluded
High thermal conductivity and low viscosity.

Along with some other qualities (like leakage) and affordability (cost) we are about to choose a
refrigerant absorbent pair.

The most important property of a refrigerant is NBP , most of the other thermodynamic properties
depend on it .
Operating pressures vs. NBP

Operating pressures include standing pressure, evaporator and condenser pressures.

Evaporator pressure: this should be as close to atmospheric as possible. (Too low pressures
allow air and moisture, more difficult to maintain where as higher pressure makes the overall
pressure in systems to much more high which needs a hefty construction.)
Hence the first constraint we put , NBP(refrigerant ) must be lower than the evaporating
temperature I .e 0 .(ensuring +ve pressure)
Condenser pressure: difference in condenser and evaporator pressures determines the Pump
work. (as of now pump is the costliest part ,we ensure this difference to be as minimum as
possible)
Condenser pressure usually 3 to 4 times the evaporator pressure. So the refrigerant must have a
high saturation pressure at generator temp 120 deg.

Critical temperature:

A high critical temperature is needed for reasonable COP. as the condenser temperature line on
p-h diagram is far removed from critical point.

Action with materials of construction

-With ammonia cast iron is the only possible option, which makes fabricating difficult.

Absorber:
It should have good absorption properties with refrigerant.
Expected to have a negative deviation from roults law
Should have a NBP > 120 degree. So that it doesnt exert any partial pressures in condenser and no
rectification is needed.
This makes ammonia-water pair excluded as it needs a rectifier, which makes design cumbersome.