TY - JOUR
T1 - A Modeling-Based Flammable Risk Treatment of Refrigerant Leakage from a Commercial R-290 Refrigeration Machine
AU - Zhang, Mingkan
AU - Sharma, Vishaldeep
AU - Cheekatamarla, Praveen
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 by the authors.
PY - 2024/6
Y1 - 2024/6
N2 - Because of serious concerns about global warming, manufacturers have started phasing out high global warming potential (GWP) refrigerants in commercial refrigeration equipment (e.g., R-134a). As a potential replacement, propane (R-290) is an environmentally friendly refrigerant for commercial refrigeration equipment because its GWP is only three. However, propane is flammable and is therefore classified as a Class A3 refrigerant per ASHRAE Standards, so safety is a very important consideration when propane-based equipment is designed and deployed in buildings. In the event of a refrigerant leak, flammability of the refrigerant depends on the refrigerant’s local concentration, which is highly affected by the indoor air environment, including temperature and air flow. In this study, a ventilation system attached to a commercial R-290 refrigeration device was designed to eliminate the flammability risk. Moreover, a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model was developed to investigate the refrigerant leak, thereby evaluating effects of the ventilation system. The CFD model can visualize the flammable zones owing to the leak.
AB - Because of serious concerns about global warming, manufacturers have started phasing out high global warming potential (GWP) refrigerants in commercial refrigeration equipment (e.g., R-134a). As a potential replacement, propane (R-290) is an environmentally friendly refrigerant for commercial refrigeration equipment because its GWP is only three. However, propane is flammable and is therefore classified as a Class A3 refrigerant per ASHRAE Standards, so safety is a very important consideration when propane-based equipment is designed and deployed in buildings. In the event of a refrigerant leak, flammability of the refrigerant depends on the refrigerant’s local concentration, which is highly affected by the indoor air environment, including temperature and air flow. In this study, a ventilation system attached to a commercial R-290 refrigeration device was designed to eliminate the flammability risk. Moreover, a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model was developed to investigate the refrigerant leak, thereby evaluating effects of the ventilation system. The CFD model can visualize the flammable zones owing to the leak.
KW - CFD modeling
KW - flammable refrigerant leaking
KW - low GWP refrigerants
KW - risk assessment
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85196888554&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/inventions9030053
DO - 10.3390/inventions9030053
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85196888554
SN - 2411-5134
VL - 9
JO - Inventions
JF - Inventions
IS - 3
M1 - 53
ER -