Nowadays

more and more attention is being paid to the new low Global Warming Potential (GWP) refrigerant R1234ze(E). Mixing this refrigerant with R32 has been studied in recent years. We focused on contrasting the actual performance of the R1234ze(E)/R32 mixture (mass ratio: 27%/73%

named L-41b

with a GWP value of 493) with R410A in a heat pump system. A test system of an air source heat pump was designed and built in an environmental chamber in order to compare the differences between L-41b and R410A under a wide range of working conditions. The compressor energy consumption (COP)

heating capacity

refrigeration cycle pressure ratio

and discharge temperature of the compressor were discussed and compared with R410A under similar working conditions. The results shows that

in the variable-condition experiments

the COP deviation decreased from 8.6% to 2.8% when the evaporation temperature increased from 5℃ to 13℃ at a constant condensation temperature of 38℃. The COP deviation was minimized when the condensation temperature increased from 30℃ to 42℃ at a constant evaporation temperature of 5℃. The results further demonstrate that the L-41b mixture can be used to replace R410A in a heat pump system

particularly at relatively high cycle temperatures.