AStudy of Thermal Performance of a Natural Refrigerant for Ice

Machine

Putu Wijaya Sunu

, I Dewa Gede Agus Triputra

, I Wayan Edi Arsawan

I Made Ari Dwi Suta Atmaja

, Ketut Suarsana

and Hari Satiyadi Jaya

Mechanical Engineering Department, Bali State Polytechnic, Badung, Bali, Indonesia

Business Administration Department, Bali State Polytechnic, Badung, Bali, Indonesia

Electrical Engineering Department, Bali State Polytechnic, Badung, Bali, Indonesia

Mechanical Engineering Department, Udayana University, Badung, Bali, Indonesia

Mechanical Engineering Education Department, Palangka Raya University, Palangka Raya, Central Kalimantan,

Indonesia

Keywords: Ice Machine, Natural Refrigerant, R-290, COP, Ice Visualisation.

Abstract: Today, ice is frequently used for home as well as commercial purposes, including chilling and preserving

food and serving drinks, among other things. In the current study, mathematical models and practical research

have been used to examine a mini-ice machine system for making cube ice that uses natural refrigerant (R-

290). Due to environmental concerns, the development of natural refrigerant applications has surged recently.

The most recent experiment was carried out utilizing R-290, a mini-ice maker that can crank out 50 cubes of

ice every cycle. The outcome showed that the ice maker's efficiency was around 2.77 for five cycles and three

repeats. As a result, this study also includes images of ice-related items. It is clear that when the number of

ice production cycles increases, the quality of ice products also improves. The fifth production cycle produced

the finest outcomes. The investigation's anticipated findings make it possible to widespread use of natural

refrigerants, particularly for ice makers.

1 INTRODUCTION

Ice is now widely used for drinks, food preservation,

and cooling, which supports all industrial sectors and

a variety of other commercial and home functions,

particularly in tropical nations (Thongdee and

Chinsuwan, 2019). Prior to the invention of industrial

commercial ice machines, ice was manufactured in

big ice factories and provided to business users in the

form of blocks or shaved ice. The ice industry has

evolved. Ice blocks no longer dominate commercial

sales, particularly among small and medium-sized

businesses (MSMEs). In addition to direct

consumption, ice cubes presently dominate the ice

market. With a side dimension of roughly 20 mm, this

type of ice is becoming increasingly popular due to its

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shape, which is suited for modern industry. Ice cubes

are made in a vertical freezer equipped with

numerous 20-mm cube molds. A bundle cube is a

mold with a stainless-steel casing. Water from the ice

raw material enters the freezer through a nozzle

sprayed from the top of the cube bundle. A circulation

pump pumps water from the bottom of the water

reservoir to the nozzle. The refrigeration system's

refrigerant cools the cube bundle, which serves as the

evaporator. The refrigerant absorbs heat from the

water as it passes. The temperature of the water

progressively drops until it becomes ice. The

transformation to ice begins on the outside of the

mold and gradually moves within.

Sunu, P., Triputra, I., Arsawan, I., Atmaja, I., Suarsana, K. and Jaya, H.

AStudy of Thermal Performance of a Natural Refrigerant for Ice Machine.

DOI: 10.5220/0011713300003575

In Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Applied Science and Technology on Engineering Science (iCAST-ES 2022), pages 101-106

ISBN: 978-989-758-619-4; ISSN: 2975-8246

101

The main refrigerant for the ice machine system is

known to be R-134, which has a rather high global

warming potential value of roughly 1300 due to its

fluorine component. Climate change will accelerate

as a result. As a result, the industry has begun to be

encouraged to move from R-134a to a more

ecologically friendly refrigerant under the Kyoto and

Montreal protocols. (Gurel et al., 2020) performed a

thermodynamic analysis on four different types of

refrigerants as reduced GWP alternatives to replace

R-134a in the refrigeration system. R-290, R-600a, R-

1234yf, and R-1234ze were the alternative

refrigerants investigated. As a consequence, R-600a

and R-1234ze were identified as the two best

contenders to replace R-134a in refrigeration

applications. In contrast to the previous study,

(Cleison et al., 2020) shows the ideal design,

environmental analysis, and energy optimization for

R-290, R-1234yf, and R-744 as R-134a replacement

refrigerants. R-290 has been chosen as the best choice

in terms of global warming impact and energy

efficiency. Hydrocarbon refrigerants, particularly

propane, butane, and isobutene, are being considered

as an ecologically benign replacement to R134a.

Hydrocarbon refrigerants also outperform R134a in

small-capacity residential refrigerator applications

(Reddy et al., 2016). In a separate application, they

simulated a system employing the refrigerants R-

134a, R-1234yf, R-290, R-744, and R-600a in a water

heater with a heat pump using solar energy (Willian

et al., 2019).

The R-290 result has the best performance.

According to the aforesaid assessment, there is a

possibility of replacing HCFC/HFCs with

ecologically benign refrigerants. The usage of

hydrocarbon refrigerants is fairly satisfying and

suitable since it meets all of the requirements as an

alternative refrigerant, with the exception of its

drawbacks, which are that hydrocarbon refrigerants

are highly combustible. Energy performance

evaluation of hydrocarbon refrigerants (R600a,

R290) and R152a as low-GWP alternatives to R134a

(Global Warming Potential). Another study in the

realm of ice manufacturing machines and their

optimization (Pannucharoenwong et al., 2017) looked

at how wavy fin optimization may boost efficiency in

tubular ice production. Increased efficiency is

attained by increased production and freezing process

speed. The ice storage method is also related with

environmental challenges, namely how to decrease

peak load in the application (Jia et al., 2015; Murphy

et al., 2015; Lo et al., 2016; Song et al., 2018; Hao et

al., 2020). When the ice production process was

examined using the direct contact approach

(Wijeysundera et al., 2004; Hawlader et al., 2009), it

was discovered that the thermal resistance is low and

the thermal efficiency is good, but there are

limitations, such as nozzle blockage.

The system comprises of two circulation pumps

and a cube-shaped heat exchanger. The pump

circulates the feed water to the heat exchanger, which

transfers the heat to the refrigerant. To determine its

performance, performance metrics from the

refrigerant side will be recorded. The goal of this

paper is to test and utilizing cool pack software to

determine the operating parameters of an ice cube-

type commercial ice maker that employs refrigerant

R-290 (Sunu et al., 2017, 2020). To improve

component function for ice cube manufacturing, ice

cube machines are developed and manufactured to be

evaluated for vapor compression cycle performance.

2 EXPERIMENTAL METHODS

In the refrigeration laboratory, a prototype of an ice

cube machine was built, as shown in Fig. 1. The

experimental test rig consists of an evaporator in the

shape of a cube mold with 50 cubes, a water

circulation pump, a water pump for pumping the

source water, and a set of refrigeration equipment,

which includes a compressor, condenser, and

capillary tube. The hermetic compressor consumes

220 W of power, has a voltage of 220-240 V, and a

frequency of 50 Hz. This ice maker is constructed

using an ecologically friendly operating fluid, R-290.

The use of a capillary tube on an ice maker will make

it easier to start since the pressure on the condenser

and evaporator is always the same while the system is

not running.

The refrigerant liquid (R-290) is compressed to a

superheated vapor state inside the compressor at high

pressure and temperature. It condenses into a

completely liquid state once it enters the condenser

coils of the air-cooling condenser. The process then

proceeds to the capillary tube, where it enters the

evaporator as a liquid-gaseous combination with a

decrease in temperature and pressure. The circulation

pump circulates water, which warms the evaporator,

which then returns to a superheated vapor state.

iCAST-ES 2022 - International Conference on Applied Science and Technology on Engineering Science

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Figure 1: Experimental setup.

This is a preliminary study to determine the

suitability of R-290 as an alternative refrigerant in ice

machine systems. The test findings include

information on pressure, temperature, electric

current, and time of ice formation. The temperature

and pressure data points collected are the evaporator's

exit temperature, the compressor's exit temperature,

the condenser's exit temperature, the evaporator's

inlet temperature, the temperature of the water

leaving and entering the evaporator, and the low and

high pressures of the refrigeration system. Five

rounds of the ice-making process are recorded. Figure

2 depicts the process of heat entering and exiting the

system, as well as the work done by the compressor,

allowing the COP of the refrigeration system to be

calculated as follows:

Figure 2: P-h Diagram.

The following is the fundamental formula for

estimating the performance of the refrigeration

system:

In the evaporator, heat is absorbed.

= h

-h

(1)

Coefficient of performance (COP),

COP= Q

/ (h

- h

) (2)

Where Qe is heat absorbed by evaporator [kJ/kg]; h1

is enthalpy of R-290 at outlet evaporator [kJ/kg]; h2

is enthalpy of R-290 at outlet compressor [kJ/kg]; h4

is enthalpy of R-290 at outlet capillary tube [kJ/kg];

and COP is Performance coefficient.

K-type thermocouples attached to the copper tube

wall and inserted within the water were used to

measure the temperatures of the water. All

temperature data was translated to digital form and

saved in computer memory using a data logger with a

frequency of 1 Hz. A digital ammeter with a data

collecting precision of 0.1 A was utilized to monitor

the compressor's current. Two analog pressure gauges

were utilized to monitor the refrigerant pressure at

each refrigeration system state point in the cycle. The

goal of this investigation is to determine the

theoretical value of an ice cube refrigeration system's

coefficient of performance (COP). The temperature is

used to calculate the enthalpy of each location and its

COP.

AStudy of Thermal Performance of a Natural Refrigerant for Ice Machine

103

3 RESULT AND DISCUSSION

Every minute, data from all of the experimental

variables was collected. The theoretical parameters of

system performance were then computed using

equations 1-2. Figure 3 depicts the analysis display on

the Coolpack 1.5 program. The pressure-enthalpy

thermodynamic study of the refrigeration system

from the first to the fifth cycle is shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3 shows that the cycle line is near the bottom

of the first cycle. This is due to the fact that the

average system pressure is still lower than in previous

cycles, and the system has not yet achieved

operational stability.

Figure 3: The p-h diagram from coolpack 1.5.

The quantity of heat absorbed by the evaporator,

compressor work, and the performance coefficient (COP)

of the refrigeration system all indicate this operating

situation. As shown in Figure 4, as the working time

increased, the cooling load dropped somewhat as the

temperature of the ice water fell. As seen in Figure 5, this

circumstance reduces the amount of work done by the

compressor.

Figure 4: Heat absorp by the evaporator system per-cycle.

Figure 5: Theoritical work of compressor refrigeration

system per-cycle.

Figure 6: COP refrigeration system per-cycle.

Figure 6 depicts the entire system, with the COP

value gradually increasing. This phenomenon is

induced by the evaporator's temperature and the

temperature of the ice water, which are both growing

cooler, reducing the system's cooling burden.

Figure 7 depicts the ice quality generated

throughout each ice-making cycle. As the number of

cycles rises, there is a visible improvement in ice cube

cooling, particularly at the level of ice thickness.

264

266

268

270

272

274

276

278

0246

Qe(kJ/kd)

Numberofcycle

96,5

97,5

98,5

99,5

100

100,5

101

0246

W(kJ/kd)

Numberofcycle

2,72

2,73

2,74

2,75

2,76

2,77

0123456

COP

Numberofcycle

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Figure 7: Ice display per cycle.

4 CONCLUSIONS

The goal of this research is to acquire experimentally

the operating parameters of an ice cube type

commercial ice maker that employs R-290

refrigerant. An experimental setup was created to

validate the influence of the number of ice-making

cycles on the refrigeration system's performance

parameters and the visual look of the ice cubes. Based

on the findings of this study, it is possible to conclude:

1. The suggested technology may be used for

environmental sustainability by employing

the natural refrigerant R-290.

2. Based on current operating circumstances,

the best COP achievable is around 2.77,

which occurs during the fifth ice-making

cycle.

3. As the number of cycles increases, the

aesthetic attractiveness of the resultant ice

cube improves.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors would like to thank Direktorat APT,

Kemdikbud-Ristek, Republic of Indonesia for the

research grant No.

085/SPK/D4/PPK.01.APTV/VI/2022. Politeknik

Negeri Bali also has a research project number of

3159/PG/PL8/2021.

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