Refrigerator knowledge explanation: what are the functions of refrigerants

When introducing refrigerator products, we will talk about the refrigerant of the refrigerator, so what role does the refrigerant play? Let me give you a detailed introduction: The refrigerant is also called the refrigeration working medium, which is the working medium of the refrigeration cycle. The refrigerant absorbs the heat of the cooled object in the evaporator and vaporizes, and transfers the absorbed heat to the environment medium in the condenser, so as to achieve the purpose of refrigeration. At present, there are about 80 kinds of substances that can be used as refrigerants, the most commonly used are ammonia, freons, water and a few hydrocarbons.

According to the chemical composition of the refrigerant, the refrigerant can be divided into four types: inorganic compounds, halogen compounds (freon), hydrocarbons and azeotropic mixtures.

(1) Inorganic compound refrigerant Inorganic compound refrigerant is an earlier refrigerant that was gradually replaced by Freon refrigerant, but ammonia and water are still used as refrigerants in the air conditioning and refrigeration industry.

(2) Halogen compound refrigerant (Freon refrigerant) Freon (English transliteration of Freon) is the most commonly used refrigerant in medium and small air conditioners, food refrigeration and household refrigerators. It is also the refrigerant with the least harm to the human body. The most commonly used Freon refrigerants are R22, R134a and R13.

(3) Hydrocarbon refrigerants Hydrocarbon refrigerants are mainly used as refrigerants in industrial refrigeration devices.

(4) Azeotropic mixture refrigerant An azeotrope refrigerant is a mixture of two or more eutectic simple refrigerants in a certain proportion at room temperature. The nature of the mixture is the same as that of a simple refrigerant, with a relatively fixed evaporating temperature and condensing temperature. Commonly used are R502, R503 and so on.

According to the temperature range of the refrigerant, it can be divided into three categories: high temperature, medium temperature and low temperature.

High-temperature refrigerants are also called low-pressure refrigerants. Its evaporating temperature is higher than 0℃, and the condensing pressure is lower than 0.3MPa, such as R21, etc., suitable for air-conditioning systems of centrifugal compressors.

Medium temperature refrigerant is also called medium pressure refrigerant. The evaporation temperature is -50~0℃, and the condensation pressure is 1.5~2.0MPa, such as R22, R502, etc. It has a wide range of applications and is suitable for refrigeration devices such as piston compressor refrigerators, small cold storages in canteens, refrigeration systems for air conditioning, and large cold storages.

Low temperature refrigerant is also called high pressure refrigerant. Its evaporating temperature is lower than -50℃, and the condensing pressure is 2.0~4.0MPa, such as R13, R14, etc., which are mainly used in low-temperature refrigeration equipment, such as cascade low-temperature refrigeration devices.

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