An experimental investigation on mass effect of hydrocarbon refrigerant (R600a) on household refrigerator energy consumption

The choice of refrigerant in a refrigeration system plays an important part in reducing the impact of global warming and also the use of energy consumption. This study presents the effect of mass refrigerant on increasing energy consumption utilized by household refrigerators. Experiments were carried out in a conditioned room which is usually called a room chamber with a controlled temperature of 32 °C. Refrigerant mass varied between 38 gr, 48 gr, and 58 gr. From the experimental results obtained, there was an increase in energy consumption when the refrigerants were 38 gr, 58 gr of 0.97 kWh and 1.05 kWh compared to the 48 gr of refrigerant mass at 0.76 kWh. Thus, the use of 48 gr of refrigerant mass will make energy consumption of household refrigerators more efficient.