Experimental research and optimization on the environmental friendly R1234yf refrigerant in automobile air conditioning system

Currently, the refrigerant used in the automotive air conditioning system is R134a which has a high global warming potential (GWP) value, so people are eager to find a good replacement for it. According to recent studies, R1234yf is considered as one of the top candidates to replace R134a. In this article, the performances of R1234yf “drop-in” system and the optimization to the R1234yf system are experimentally studied and investigated. The expansion valve used for the R1234yf system is optimized by changing the charged fluid and adjusting the spring force. The results indicate that it can improve the performance of R1234yf system significantly through adjusting the thermostatic expansion valve. For the thermostatic expansion valves (TEVs) charged with R134a in thermal bulb, the system performance is optimal. Compared to the original expansion valve, for the R1234yf system applying the adjusted expansion valves, under different working conditions the cooling capacity increases by 11.3% averagely and the coefficient of performance (COP) increases by 8% averagely.