Evaluation of non-azeotropic mixtures containing HFOs as potential refrigerants in refrigeration and high-temperature heat pump systems

With the increasing environmental concern on global warming, hydrofluoro-olefin (HFOs), possessing low GWP, has attracted great attention of many researchers recently. In this study, non-azeotropic mixtures composed of HFOs (HFO-1234yf, HFO-1234ze(z), HFO-1234ze(e) and HFO-1234zf) are developed to substitute for HFC-134a and CFC-114 in air-conditioning and high-temperature heat pump systems, respectively. The cycle performances were evaluated by an improved theoretical cy-cle evaluation methodology. The results showed that all the mixtures proposed herein were favorable refrigerants with excel-lent thermodynamic cycle performances. M1A presented lower discharge temperature and pressure ratio and higher COPc than that of HFC-134a. The volumetric cooling capacity was similar to HFC-134a. It can be served as a good environmentally friendly alternative to replace HFC-134a. M3H delivered similar discharge temperature as CFC-114 did. And the COPh was 3% higher. It exhibits excellent cycle performance in high-temperature heat pump and is a promising refrigerant to substitute for CFC-114. And the gliding temperature differences enable them to exhibit better coefficient of performance by matching the sink/source temperature in practice. Because the toxicity, flammability and other properties are not investigated in detail, ex-tensive toxicity and flammability testing needs to be conducted before they are used in a particular application.