Environmental implications of hydrocarbon refrigerants applied to the hermetic compressor

This paper describes the environmental impacts of hydrocarbon refrigerants deployed in the domestic refrigerator hermetic compressor. In-use durability is examined from a tribological viewpoint. Experimental tribological information is presented from physical test procedures involving sliding tests to establish wear mechanisms and friction coefficients within critical components. Hydrocarbon refrigerant R600a is compared with hydroflourocarbon R134a using aluminium on steel samples within a novel pressurised micro-friction test rig. The refrigerant R600a is tested for its influence upon the tribological performance of mineral oil (MO) and poly-ol-ester (POE) lubricant, whilst an R134a/POE charge combination is used as a benchmark. Tribological data is used to model long-term performance and subsequent environmental costs.