Experimental Investigation of the Performance of a Laminate Evaporator with HFO-1234yf as the Working Fluid

Tests were conducted with a laminate evaporator for an automotive application. The tests were conducted with HFO-1234yf as the working fluid on an AC system bench. A laminate evaporator from MY 2008 medium sized sedan was used for this investigation. Tests were first conducted with R-134a and were then repeated by maintaining each test condition by changing the working fluid from R-134a to HFO-1234yf. Charge determination tests were also conducted with the new refrigerant. The refrigerant was used as “drop-in” refrigerant in the existing system. All original OEM parts were used with the alternate refrigerant. Same TXV set-point and lubricant type and quantity was used with HFO-1234yf. The new refrigerant has advantages due to the refrigerant thermodynamic properties that helps reduce the pressure ratio. Detailed test results have been presented in this paper.