Comparative study of the performance of a heat pump for heating with R410A and R32 as refrigerant, using the software IMST-ART

[EN] According to the European Commission, at this moment, heating and cooling in buildings account for half of the energy consumption, while only a 16% of the energy used in this issue is obtained employing renewable sources. One of the possible solutions to improve the current situation is the use of heat pumps for the air conditioning of buildings. However, the refrigerants used at this moment are hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and they have a global warming potential (GWP) elevated so that new refrigerants which can substitute the current ones are being searched. The most used refrigerant for heating applications is the R410A, which is a mixture of HFCs. Its immediate retrofit is one of its components, the R32, due to the compatibility of both refrigerants with the materials and its similar performance. Furthermore, the R32 has a value of GWP approximately of a third of the R410 s value. The objective of this work is to evaluate the main differences between the results obtained with both refrigerants and to find out the main changes to be done to obtain at least the same performance. In this work, a model of IMST-ART of an air-water heat pump is presented using both refrigerants. In the model, both refrigerants are evaluated for different conditions of heating at low temperature. Lately, a summary of changes is proposed in order to cover the same functions, or more, than the original heat pump.