Experimental analysis of the use of R290 in a small ice maker

In the present paper, an experimental study of the use of R290 in an ice maker is presented. The analysis deals with a vapour compression system that originally works with R404A and produces 85 kg per day of ice with water inlet temperature equal to 10 °C and air temperature equal to 10 °C. A redesign of the system is carried out to reduce internal volume, allowing the system to be charged with less than 150 g of R290 as per international standards. The experimental results show that, in the range of the testing conditions, the ice production reduces a little, from 0.30% to 5.45% whereas the specific electric consumption significantly reduces, with measured value from 14.46% to 21.23% lower than those of R404A system. Therefore, R290 is a good candidate for refrigerant substitution in this kind of systems.