The Refrigeration Laboratory (REF_Lab) aims to analyse the use of low global warming potential (low GWP) refrigerants in vapour compression systems (VCS). An experimental set-up is available to analyse the performance (working conditions, capacity and COP) of the use of different refrigerants in drop-in application both at component and system level.
The test rig consists of three loops: the refrigerant loop, the hot water loop and the cold water+ethylene glycol loop. Both the refrigerant loop operating conditions, namely the compressor shaft rotational frequency and the vapour superheating, and the secondary fluid loops conditions, namely flow rates and inlet (or outlet) temperatures, are controlled and can be set in a broad range of operating conditions required by the test. The experimental set-up can be used to test systems with nominal capacity up to 12 kW. The secondary fluid flow rates can be as high as 2000 kg/h while the temperatures range are -15 °C – 25 °C on the cold stream and 30 °C – 70 °C on the hot stream. Pressures, temperatures, flow rates (both refrigerant and secondary fluids) and power are measured with state-of-the-art instrumentation, allowing high quality experimental results.
Contact person: Luca Molinaroli