Performance evaluation of R22 and R407C in a vapour compression plant with reciprocating compressor

In this paper, the problem of R22 phase-out in refrigeration plants is addressed. A comparison is performed between R22 and R407C. The latter seems to be a promising drop-in substitute for the former. Experimental tests are performed in a vapour compression plant with a reciprocating compressor. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the compressor performance using R407C in comparison to R22. The plant overall energetic performance is also evaluated. R22 performance is consistently better than that of its candidate substitute. The difference stems from the different irreversibilities of the plant components arising when using R22 and R407C, respectively. Specific attention is devoted to compressor irreversibilities. Performance indices related to the semi-hermetic compressor are evaluated when using either refrigerant fluid. The investigation has revealed that R22 performs better than R407C mainly because of a better compression process due to a number of factors, including the facts that the isoentropic and volumetric efficiencies of the semi-hermetic compressor are better than that of R407C